Big Drop in Milk Price

[milkinpigs]

The price dairy farmers receive for their milk will drop by $5.02 in February

No reason for prices to be as high as they are for milk,cheese,butter,etc.

The consumers and farmers are being ripped off by the processors..

For those that support the dairy farmers, we thank you very much...

[DJ in WA]

I'm a bit ignorant here. If the money is in the processing, why do farmers not form co-ops and do their own processing? Gain some control.

[geo in mi]

A couple of smaller dairy operations near me look like they have nearly gone out of business this winter. I do feel for them, and for those who have been under the extreme pressure in the last six monthes or so as prices and conditions have changed so drastically.

Might be a lot of fifty cent Big Macs in the near future as those cows get ground up into burgers. And maybe the Jersey "homestead cow" will make a comeback?

[kruizeag]

Originally Posted by DJ in WA

I'm a bit ignorant here. If the money is in the processing, why do farmers not form co-ops and do their own processing? Gain some control.

To start up a Co-op to process their own milk would require capital and an investment beyond the means of most dairymen.

I milked cows in the mid ninetys. Back then the milk price was the same as it was in the early eighties. We struggled to make it then. We had 270+ dairy farms in NJ back in 1993 when I was milking cows. By 1999, we were down to around 100. The guy I milked for quit milking when I left in 96 because he couldn't get help and the price was so bad. He went to raising hay and grain. I went to growing vegetables.

[EDDIE BUCK]

I read recently where most west coast dairys were going out of business,seems that would up the milk prices.

[Backfourty,MI.]

We have a friend thats a dairy farmer & he say's what they get paid for milk is going down but the prices at the store keep going up. It's like gas prices & everything else anymore. I don't understand how all these big corporations can rip the consumer off like they do & get away with it. What's wrong with this country?

[michiganfarmer]

Originally Posted by Backfourty,MI.

What's wrong with this country?

that's a whole nuther thread Katie

[Backfourty,MI.]

Yeah Max, I know we got lots of problems!

[arabian knight]

It is not fun to be a farmer right now. Listen to this guy and how much he is losing every day.

Killian says the price of milk is so low he loses almost $1300 every day. It is literally costing him money to milk.
"It's very frustrating," he says.
Killian says his 250 cows produce 15,000 pounds of milk every day.
His operational costs are $2700 daily. In February and March, Killian says he'll only make about $1400 every day. His loss: $1275 dollars a day.

http://www.weau.com/home/headlines/37691229.html

[layria]

We buy all our Milk and meat products direct from local farmers in our area. The farmers then make a reasonable profit and can afford to continue to run their farms. We do pay a small amount more than what we could buy it for in the grocery stores, but we know where it came from and how it was raised.

Last year we paid about 15% more to buy local but it was well worth it for the peace of mind about where our food came from and the satisfaction of supporting our local farmers.

[texican]

Originally Posted by DJ in WA

I'm a bit ignorant here. If the money is in the processing, why do farmers not form co-ops and do their own processing? Gain some control.

From my personal experience, having worked on dairy farms, I can say truthfully that dairy farmers have only a few waking moments when they're not working, hard, just to keep the dairy running.

And, like most other farmers and ranchers, they're an independent lot, and don't really agree on too much.

[suitcase_sally]

Seems to me that farming is the only business that the customer sets the price paid. Can you imagine if we could do that to oil and gas?

[highlands]

Originally Posted by DJ in WA

I'm a bit ignorant here. If the money is in the processing, why do farmers not form co-ops and do their own processing? Gain some control.

Some do. It takes a lot of time, money and gumption.

Don't expect the price of milk in the store to go down just because the farmers are getting paid less.

[arabian knight]

Milk prices Have dropped in stores,, butter prices as well have dropped, and so has bread prices. Meat prices as of yet have not dropped though.

[RandB]

Who is dropping the price paid to the farmers, and why??

If it is the government, what do they think will happen when all dairy farms are out of business? Are they going to bring in milk from China?

[Up North Louie]

I guess milk from China wouldn't be all that big of a surprise. I want extra melamine in mine.

Beyond that, a big part of the problem, at least in my area, is the marketing order, which dates from the New Deal. Prices paid for raw milk increase the farther away you get from Eau Claire, WI. This is what enabled the California mega-farms in the first place, which doomed small, efficient producers in the mid-west. They had to get huge to compete in that false economy of scale. Most have been gobbled up or gone under. The marketing order is a broken relic, but the way the "farm" bill is made, it will likely outlive all of us. There is not one remaining dairy in my county, where there were once nearly 200, including our farm. We milked a small herd of about 20 and shipped Grade B for cheese until about 1971. The milk check, while not huge, made a big difference to us. Now I have to work off the farm, of course.

We would milk one at home, but there aren't enough of us to use up the milk, and you're on dicey legal turf in Wisconsin even if you give the surplus away. The liability isn't worth the risk.

Don

[arabian knight]

Originally Posted by Up North Louie;3579714. [B

Prices paid for raw milk increase the farther away you get from Eau Claire, WI. [/B] Don

That was Changed a few years ago,, the Price is now based on a city and I can't remember which one, but it is now on the East Coast and Eau Claire is not being used anymore. I live just 16 miles South of Eau Claire BTW.

[Up North Louie]

East?? That makes even less sense, if such a thing is possible. Although, having missed the move, there must be a lot I don't know. Still...

[Beeman]

I've never understood farming or at least the money part of it. I don't see any drop in the use of milk or dairy products. What I do see is the trucking of milk and milk products way further then they should be trucked. Makes no sense to me why food isn't localized but isn't that all part of the hole we've dug ourselves into? Farmers have gotten themselves painted into a corner especially with any product that spoils.

[Danaus29]

Milk went up here, along with butter, cheese, and yogurt. I haven't priced ice cream but I bet it's up too.

How in the world do these dairies stay in business if they are losing so much money? You just can't keep throwing money you don't have into a business and not go bankrupt.

I would buy from a local producer but far as I know we don't have any, thanks to Ohio laws. Milk has to go through several middle-men until it gets to the consumer.