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INTERVIEW WITH DAIRYMAN JOHN ANDERSON
Boise--We caught up with dairyman John Anderson at the Western Idaho State Fair in Boise. Anderson is a member of the Farm Bureau's Young Farmers and Rancher program and runs the massive Double A Dairy in Jerome. He had just heard that Idaho had surpassed New York in dairy production.
John, Whats your reaction to the news?
“We did know that it was coming fairly soon, I didn’t know it had happened until you told me today, but we knew it was soon to be, we are moving into the number 3 spot behind California and Wisconsin and I would expect that we will continue to increase production, as some point overtake Wisconsin and some of those smaller dairies as we add larger dairies in Idaho.”
The Nature of Idaho’s Dairy industry, its not just milk it’s a lot of by products, whey and cheese…
“Not only that, I think it’s the products that were used to keep the cows fed. Feed prices have doubled over the past couple of years, it’s a lot hay and corn that Dairies use, not only helps the dairy industry, but we are helping a lot of farmers as far as finding alternative crops that they can raise, in the area.”
The Nature of Idaho’s Dairy industry, its not just milk it’s a lot of by products, whey and cheese…
“Not only that, I think it’s the products that were used to keep the cows fed. Feed prices have doubled over the past couple of years, it’s a lot hay and corn that Dairies use, not only helps the dairy industry, but we are helping a lot of farmers as far as finding alternative crops that they can raise, in the area.”
And hay?
“Hay prices are at an all time high, this year we have never seen prices like this before. We in the dairy industry hope that dairy prices stay high enough that we can afford to pay those prices.”
Were you up in July?
“We were up in July, we shipped more milk in July than we have ever shipped, we were down a little bit in August, the heat starts to catch up with us in August, but we were up in production as well.”
Why the visit to the Western Idaho State Fair?
“Were here because this is our hobby, we mess around with registered cows, we enjoy the genetic part of the business, it also gives our kids something to do, and they get experience showing cows.’
What do you look for when showing cows?
“Its something the judges like to see in a dairy cow. You like to see a good balance of strength and dairy-ness, it’s the opposite that you would see in a beef cow. Roundness, you like to see sharpness over the shoulder, sharpness here through the rump. And then in a milk cow you like to see the udder blend into the body wall a cow that will carry that udder above the hock. As she gets older she maintains that above the hock. You like to see a cow with a nice deep, open rib. When I talk about an open rib, you’re looking right here you see a lot of space and then also depth of rib and all those things attribute to high milk production. Do you have enough strength through the chest, you want cows that will stick around and be profitable for a long time.”
“Hay prices are at an all time high, this year we have never seen prices like this before. We in the dairy industry hope that dairy prices stay high enough that we can afford to pay those prices.”
Were you up in July?
“We were up in July, we shipped more milk in July than we have ever shipped, we were down a little bit in August, the heat starts to catch up with us in August, but we were up in production as well.”
Why the visit to the Western Idaho State Fair?
“Were here because this is our hobby, we mess around with registered cows, we enjoy the genetic part of the business, it also gives our kids something to do, and they get experience showing cows.’
What do you look for when showing cows?
“Its something the judges like to see in a dairy cow. You like to see a good balance of strength and dairy-ness, it’s the opposite that you would see in a beef cow. Roundness, you like to see sharpness over the shoulder, sharpness here through the rump. And then in a milk cow you like to see the udder blend into the body wall a cow that will carry that udder above the hock. As she gets older she maintains that above the hock. You like to see a cow with a nice deep, open rib. When I talk about an open rib, you’re looking right here you see a lot of space and then also depth of rib and all those things attribute to high milk production. Do you have enough strength through the chest, you want cows that will stick around and be profitable for a long time.”
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