The Milk Producer - September 2011 - (Page 8)

DAIRYUPDATE Pooling resources Bulk tank calibration unit crosses provincial boundaries to benefit all producers in the P5 S hortly after it is fully commissioned and field-tested, the spanking new Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) calibration truck and its operators will be making their way from farm to farm calibrating bulk tanks—in Nova Scotia, not Ontario. Dairy Farmers of Nova Scotia (DFNS) will be footing the $35,000 bill for the work. However, Ontario won’t be making a profit. The work will be done strictly on a cost-recovery basis only, says Brian Johnson, DFO’s measurement and technical support manager. Johnson has been asked several times why DFO would dispatch its calibration truck, decked out with highly specialized equipment, to dairy farms in other provinces. He offers a straightforward, simple explanation: “Pooling.” The P5 pool—Nova Scotia, Prince Edward Island, New Brunswick, Quebec and Ontario—is really like one huge province, he says. All producers share all markets and revenues. So, if there is a bulk tank calibration issue in one province, it affects the returns of all producers in the five provinces. Since an issue has arisen in Nova Scotia, it only makes sense to address it for the benefit of all producers in the pool, Johnson says. As a producer, you are paid by the volume of milk you ship, multiplied by your tests for butterfat, protein and other solids. Transporters mea8 | September 2011 | MilkPRODUCER DFO’s calibration truck heads east in September to help a P5 partner. sure volumes with a bulk tank dipstick when they pick up your milk. Volumes multiplied by component tests are also how the pool’s provincial milk marketing authorities bill processors. Determining these volumes, however, are calibrated meters at processing plants. Total farm volumes are generally slightly higher than total volumes received by plants. The industry refers to these differences as shrink. Across the P5 pool, the average shrink is about 0.25 per cent. “In Nova Scotia, our average shrink is almost double the P5 average, and varies considerably from month to month,” says Brian Cameron, DFNS general manager. A higher shrink in one province reduces the blend price for all P5 producers, he notes. “Understandably, there is mounting pressure to reduce our shrink.”

Table of Contents for the Digital Edition of The Milk Producer - September 2011

The Milk Producer - September 2011
Contents
Editor’s Notes
DFO Chair’s Message
Dairy Update
Johne’s Update
DFC Promotion
Producer Profile
Cover Story
Research
Applied Science
Ruminations
Alternative Energy
Markets
New 'N' Noted
Back Forty

The Milk Producer - September 2011