Friday, May 30, 1997

The dairy farmer continues to be caught in a tight squeeze.

By J.T. Smith / Abilene Reporter-News

Jack Parks, an Erath County dairyman, and U.S. Rep. Charles Stenholm recently testified at a congressional hearing on the dairy industry.

Parks said, "Dairy (business) is in big trouble - especially the smaller, family operated dairies. There has to be some way to price milk to meet the current costs faced by the dairy producer."

Erath County, with Stephenville as the county seat, is Texas No. 1 dairy county. But prices paid for milk to dairy producers in Stephenville have fallen by 20 percent since last October, and are expected to drop further into the summer.

Citing the collapse of farm milk prices and the potential threat to dairies nationwide, Stenholm urged USDA to use all of its tools to boost marketing opportunities for dairy producers. He criticized the Clinton Administration for not doing more to open markets to U.S. dairy products.

"The Europeans continue to heavily subsidize their dairy exports as a surplus disposition measure - yet, this year the Administration will use no more than half ot its authority to respond," Stenholm said. "I strongly urge the Administration to use the Dairy Export Incentive Program (DEIP) to the maximum extent possible."

DEIP enables the USDA to facilitate the export of dairy products and to help develop foreign markets.

Beef cattle market remains strong

The auction of cattle via video continues to move a bunch of livestock.

Superior Livestock Auction offered more than 19,000 cattle at its regular video auction from Fort Worth on May 23.

Both stocker and feeder cattle were offered by consignors form 20 states and Mexico at last week's sale.

An example was David Key of Munday, who received $78.75 per hundredweight for 123 feeder steers based on a 760-pound average.