03/05/07 Organic dairies in need of organic feed

Washington Ag March 5, 2007 The number of organic dairies is growing at a rapid pace in Washington and Oregon. So much so that farmers are finding it difficult to locate enough local suppliers of organic feed and hay to support nearly 30,000 organic milk cows in the two states. Cows must be fed organic feed for their milk to be certified organic. The Washington State Department of Agriculture (WSDA), along with the Washington State Dairy Federation and Washington State University, are hosting two meetings in mid-March for farmers who have an interest in growing and supplying organic feed for dairies. Jay Gordon, Executive Director of the Dairy Federation almost says if you grow it, they'll buy it. Gordon: "Our main message from the dairy community to our fellow crop farmers on the eastside of the state has been, we have a market. We'd rather buy it from Othello than China, or Illinois or Canada. You know a lot of times you have to worry about the market and in this case the dairy farmers are standing up and saying there is a market here. Our cows are gonna eat this stuff from somewhere. We'd rather buy it local." One of the meetings on organic feed is in Ellensburg March 14th at one p.m. at the Washington Cattlemen's Association Office. On March 16th there will be a meeting in Olympia at one p.m. at the Natural Resources building. I'm Bob Hoff. For more information, contact Katherine Withey, WSDA Organic Food Program specialist, at (360) 902-1882 or kwithey@agr.wa.gov.