Seminar offered for beginning farmers

PAUL SMITHS -- An agricultural venture for beginning farmers will be sponsored by Cornell Cooperative Extension Saturday from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at Paul Smiths College.

The cost is $15 including lunch and materials. To register, call 962-4810.

Subsequent classes will be held on Tuesdays in November by video conferencing at the local Cooperative Extension Office for a cost of $20.

September milk production up in state

ALBANY -- New York dairy herds produced 983 million pounds of milk during September, according to Stephen Ropel, director of USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service, New York Field Office. Milk cows declined from the previous year while milk per cow increased from the previous year resulting in a 3 percent increase in milk production compared to September 2006.

The number of milk cows averaged 626,000 head, down 5,000 head from September of the previous year. Milk per cow averaged 1570 pounds, up 55 pounds from the September 2006 rate.

Dairy farmers in the Empire State received an average of $22.80 per hundred pounds of milk sold during September, up 10 cents from August and $9.60 above September a year ago.

Milk production in the 23 major states during September totaled 13.7 billion pounds, up 3.1 percent from September 2006. August production, unrevised at 14.3 billion pounds, was up 3.6 percent from August 2006.

Production per cow in the 23 major states averaged 1,644 pounds for September, 31 pounds above September 2006. The number of milk cows on farms in the 23 major states was 8.34 million head, 91,000 head more than September 2006 and 12,000 head more than August 2007.