U.S. dairy farmers get ‘moo’ving

Apr 04, 2018

Producers stay positive by participating in the #DairyDanceOff

By Kaitlynn Anderson
Staff Writer
Farms.com

Dairy farmers across the U.S. are showcasing their resiliency to difficult times through a new movement – literally.

The #DairyDanceOff quickly gained popularity last week after Jessica Peters and Katie Dotterer-Pyle, dairy farmers from Pennsylvania and Maryland, respectively, shared their choreographies on social media.

In another video, the ladies encouraged their fellow producers, who are currently facing low milk prices, to stay positive by dancing.

“We’re showing the world that, even though we’re down right now, we’re definitely not out,” Peters said in the video.

The duo encouraged people around the world to beat the market blues.

“You don’t have to be a dairy farmer to join in on the fun,” she said. “You like to eat? Show us your moves!”

And the public responded.

These ladies from Mapleview Dairy in New York, for example, shared some well-practiced moves.

Entire families participated in some videos.

Producers danced to a wide range of music, too.

Some farm dogs even joined in on the action.

Peters and Dotterer-Pyle are very happy with the responses from U.S. producers.

“I can't help my smile and laugh every time I see a new one,” Dotterer-Pyle told Farms.com today. “The best part is receiving messages from farmers we've never even met.”

Producers have thanked the ladies for bringing smiles to their faces.

“That was our goal: to lift farmers up out of this dark time we're facing,” she said.

Video: US Soy: Pig growth is impaired by soybean meal displacement in the diet

Eric van Heugten, PhD, professor and swine extension specialist at North Carolina State University, recently spoke at the Iowa Swine Day Pre-Conference Symposium, titled Soybean Meal 360°: Expanding our horizons through discoveries and field-proven feeding strategies for improving pork production. The event was sponsored by Iowa State University and U.S. Soy.

Soybean meal offers pig producers a high-value proposition. It’s a high-quality protein source, providing essential and non-essential amino acids to the pig that are highly digestible and palatable. Studies now show that soybean meal provides higher net energy than current National Research Council (NRC) requirements. Plus, soybean meal offers health benefits such as isoflavones and antioxidants as well as benefits with respiratory diseases such as porcine reproductive and respiratory syndrome (PRRS).

One of several ingredients that compete with the inclusion of soybean meal in pig diets is dried distillers grains with solubles (DDGS).

“With DDGS, we typically see more variable responses because of the quality differences depending on which plant it comes from,” said Dr. van Heugten. “At very high levels, we often see a reduction in performance especially with feed intake which can have negative consequences on pig performance, especially in the summer months when feed intake is already low and gaining weight is at a premium to get them to market.”

Over the last few decades, the industry has also seen the increased inclusion of crystalline amino acids in pig diets.

“We started with lysine at about 3 lbs. per ton in the diet, and then we added methionine and threonine to go to 6 to 8 lbs. per ton,” he said. “Now we have tryptophan, isoleucine and valine and can go to 12 to 15 lbs. per ton. All of these, when price competitive, are formulated into the diet and are displacing soybean meal which also removes the potential health benefits that soybean meal provides.”