May 24, 2022, 10:30 am, Mike’s Catfish

Dr Hutchison welcomed members and guests of the Florida Parishes Dairy Advisory Committee. Present were Daryl Robertson, Paul Alford, Kenneth Gill, Charlie Hutchison, Patrick Babineaux, Dusty Schilling, Curtis Faunce, Phillip Roberts, Larry Miller, Bobby Bingham, Stewart Leblanc, Megan Roberts, and Melissa Ordoyne.

A copy of the 2019 meeting minutes and treasurer’s report was given to all attendees. A motion was made by Daryl Robertson and seconded by Paul Alford to accept the minutes of the last advisory meeting. The motion carried.

Dr Hutchison discussed the Dairy Day Program for this year’s plaques will include multiple years for the awards since it hasn’t been held the last three years but that should not increase the cost that much although some farmers will still get multiple awards if they switched shippers. Motion was made by Daryl Robertson and seconded by Paul Alford and approved to do the plaques in the above-mentioned manner.

A motion was made by Dusty Schilling, seconded by Darryl Robertson to accept treasurer’s report after a brief discussion. The motion carried. Dr Hutchison asked for a volunteer to be treasurer and after a short discussion Daryl Robertson volunteered to be treasurer. Paul Alford made a motion to accept Daryl Robertson as treasurer and was seconded Dusty Schilling and motion passed.

Dr. Hutchison also went over some updated AgSummary statistics on the dairy industry, prices, and production trends from Louisiana’s dairy reporting parishes. He discussed how the quality awards are calculated and that he did get the numbers every year even though Dairy Day was not held.The remaining 63 active dairy farms down from 2019’s 80 farms receiving awards are divided into Washington with 21 qualifying dairies, Tangipahoa with 30, and St Helena with 6 dairies qualifying for awards, there were also 6 non-Florida Parishes dairies qualifying for a total of 30 awards for this year from our local dairies. Comments also included the increased pricing of the beef tenderloin for this year’s event and the sponsorship that used to come from SUDIA may or may not come from Dairy Max this year.

Patrick Babineaux gave a report on USDA programming and newer updates about to be rolled out. He discussed the ongoing livestock drought program and NRCS’ damage assessment program has ended. He also covered feed costs, but new cost calculations are not out yet. The new programming coming out will help the dairy farms but no details available yet.

Kenneth Gill advised Kentwood Co-op will continue their support of Dairy Day wherever needed.

This year’s Dairy Day is set for Wednesday, June 15, 2022, at the LSU AgCenter Southeast Research Station located at 41217 Par Rd 139, Franklinton, LA off of Hwy 16. Awards and plaques will be given out for milk quality and production winners from the Florida Parishes. There will again be the Dairy Foods contest and Dairy Judging Contest. Winners from the 4-H Dairy poster contest will also be recognized.

Educational topics were discussed for Dairy Day and who would cover them.

There will also be a plaque sponsored by Farm Bureau presented at Dairy Day to Mr. Eugene Robertson for his continued years of support and dedication to the dairy industry.

Dr. Hutchison thanked everyone for all their support through the years.

Paul Alford motioned to adjourn the meeting seconded by Patrick Babineaux. Motion carried and we adjourned. Lunch was served.