Milk Prices

I've gotten down on cow numbers the last year or so and have been thinking about buying a few replacements. Then I started thinking about milk prices and now am wondering if I can keep hitting the agitator paddle the first milking for awhile longer until more cows start to freshen in July-August. If I buy any heifers I won't be making any money on them, that's for sure.

Jennifer

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-Northern NYS

We havent been hit by high milk prices. Right now its on sale for .99/half gallon and not on sale its never really been over $2.85 a full gallon. So powered milk for us isnt saving money unless you count using it instead of running to the store to get a gallon. Powdered milk, even the gereric kind, comes to about $2.50 a gallon. The powered stuff is expensive around here.

Yeah, we're pretty spoiled in that regard. We even quit milking and sold our milk cows, 'cause we could get the milk from them. I got the last two cows that we were milking from them, and I was buying some of their custom mix feed to feed'em. So, I figured if I was milking their cows, and feeding their feed, I'd be getting the same milk if I bought it from them. At $2.00 a gallon it just wasn't worth having to go out in the cold and the rain.

OH YA IF you are GOING to BUY Organic YOU are going to pay through the Nose~!!!! But the Farmer that Sells Organic milk gets between 4 and 6 dollars a hundred wt. more for his then a regular dairy farm selling their milk.
Because of the small amount of people that really are buying the organic IT IS WAY higher in price then any other dairy product. But then I don't buy Organic and Never intend to buy Organic. But I do raise my steer organically so I have nice beef to eat . but as far as milk, ice cream etc. No Way will I pay that high price when I drink as much milk as I do in a weeks time~!!

You like all that pus in your BST milk?

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Please show us proof to back up your statement.There are Federal requirements on Grade A milk, Texas has even more strenious regulations as well as the processors requirements.A statement such as yours is very irresponsible.

University of Wisconsin.
http://www.uwex.edu/milkquality/PDF/tensmartthings.pdf (PDF)
The problem of mastitis causing a high culling rate and a high Somatic cell count (pus) going into the bulk milk tank.

The Somatic cell count is considerably higher in cows receiving BST than in those that are not. The rate is also higher in confined vs. pastured cows.

I can dig up a few more if you would like.

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That comes Direct from the PAGES of What ANY PETA Person would say........ That was uncalled for and per dumb IMO
I am 56 years old and have been drinking that amount of milk about 1 gal every 2 to 3 days now for that long~! Some days I have downed ONE Full gal... And I rarely even get a cold and sure nothing so bad to even see a doctor about in those years. That is just PURE POPPY COCK. Theres pus in the milk How DARE YOU~!!!!!! Veggie~!

I'm a little confused. Are you directing that post to me or milkinpigs?

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Directly from the FDA website. Sometribove (Posilac) is known by Monsanto and the FDA to increase SCC:

http://www.fda.gov/ohrms/dockets/98fr/cv0374.pdf
Note especially page 4.

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You have to have a nice cold glass of milk to go with fresh baked cookies !

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Please Put Your Location In Your Profile ... TY

The consumer should first understand that milk buyers pay dairy farmers on a sliding scale which incentivizes low somatic cell score milk. Somatic cells are white blood cells which naturally occur in cows and are nature's way of fighting off infections. A dairy farmer who ships milk to town with a high somatic cell score is financially penalized, so all dairy farmers work hard to produce a clean, healthy product. Some of us also just flat out take pride in our work and our product regardless of pricing.
LadyCat I have to agree with MilkinPigs that your above statement is irresponsible. The words "all that pus" is a gross misrepresentation when you are talking about somatic cell scores that are measured in Parts per MILLION.
Furthermore, Organic production milk cows get mastitis too. If there is some minute amount of high somatic cell milk entering the food chain, it will be present in Organic milk as well.
Another gross generalization is the use of the words "your BST Milk".
This implies that all dairy farmers use BST , and that all non-organic milk is full of BST, which is far from the truth.
On our dairy farm, we have never used BST. Many dairy farmers I know never use BST. I personally think it is economic suicide and an unneccesary product. However, unless the federal Government outlaws it, some Dairy farmers may use it and it is their legal right to do so. That said, the milk being produced by farmers using BST is greatly diluted from all the non-organic, non BST milk being produced by dairy farmers who work hard to produce a clean, wholesome product for this nation's consumers.
We respect your right to purchase organic products, but it is hardly fair to hardworking families across this nation to trot out University studies made under controlled conditions to support Sensational statements.

The dairy industry was a segment of agriculture that Mosanto was not profitting on.Then came Posilac;a product developed under the guize of"humanitarian" efforts tohelp feed the third world people, a product that would help low producing cows give more milk to feed the starving.Of course, for the Posilac to be effective, the cattle would have to be fed more of a higher quality feed. Common sense will tell you that would cause the cows to produce more naturally.The fine folks at monsanto then got FDA clearance to sell it to U.S. farmers.Dairy farmers are their own worst enemies and those tha could care less about the quality of milk they sell or the welfare of their animals took advantage of government approved Posilac anddid whatever to get ahead.The co-ops, such as DFA panders to the large Mega dairy types and allowed producers to use bst.As Tad said, when an "artificial" shortage of bst occured, milk prices did rise.The consumer needs to get involved and push to have bst eliminated. We recently got a newsletter from DFA that said the processors are know looking at bst free milk and more milk procuced from grass based dairies.The consumers speak loudly with their dollars and if everyone from this site contacted the folks at Borden, Hood, land O' lakes and others, the true family farm could survive, producing a superior product that is both nutritious and delicious.

With comments like that, you become irrelevant to any discussion.

All milk, _all milk_, has SCC. It is related to low-level infection which all mammals have, not to 'all that pus in BST milk'.

Lovely organic milk has SCC too, and unpasturized milk can be a problem for human consumption because some live things can be in there.

You are being extremely dramatic, at the cost of anyone bothering to take you seriously about anything any more.

If you don't know better, please learn more about the topic. Your sources are mis-construing facts into whatever bias they want you to believe.

If you only wish to be a blow-hard - that's your call.

I find your comments very rude & uninformed.

All I have to say on this, had my soapbox, won't clutter the forum with more on it. You had your say, I had mine, I'll move on.

--->Paul

Another misconception about milk in this country is thinking that most of it is consumed in the form of fluid milk. The Lion's share of milk goes into high profit(for food companies) items. These include but are not limited to:
Every Snickers, Butterfingers, Hershey's Milk Chocalte bar made. Whoppers and malted milk balls. Your root beer float at A&W, your Blizzard or Dilly bar at Dairy Queen. A whole host of products such as shakes, malts, sundaes, yogurts consumed by millions at McDonald's, Burger King, KFC, Hardees, Sonic Drive-Ins, and on and on.
Your triple cream Lattee at Starbucks to your coffee creamer at a family restaurant. What is sweet corn without slathering it in real butter? Yogurt is a big product now too, as is sour cream, cottage cheese, and cheese curds.
What family birthday party is complete without Ice Cream & Birthday Cake?
And when you enjoy a good Pizza dripping with cheese, you are consuming vast quantities of fluid milk used to produce it.
Somewhere a husband and wife milked cows twice or 3 times a day thru Christmas, Memorial Day, Labor Day, the Fourth of July, and their anniversary to produce these products for your benefit.
This go-around of low prices will be especially hard on dairy farmers and all the rural businesses they support. We have been thru $10 milk before, but this time it is coupled with $2.85 Diesel fuel, double and triple costs for tractor and machinery repairs(anything made of steel), and escalating land rents, propery taxes, health insurance and electricity.
This country is blessed with ample supply of high quality food, which is good. Killing the goose that laid the golden egg is not a way to contine that tradition. The Federal Government banning the use of BST would reduce the PERCEPTION of oversupply that floor traders use to set milk pricing futures, and it would restore consumer confidence in the product.

It's in ALL milk. It's in breast milk that babies consume. But it's in greater supply in BST milk. This is known. Monsanto, FDA, USDA, and NIH all know this.

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(Shudder) Skim milk? That's really watered down milk. Yuck.

No thanks, I'll take my fresh, raw milk direct from the farmer's bulk tank at $1.50 / gallon!

(And yes, I do know the "risks" I'm taking with raw milk. That was on another thread months ago!)

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Michael W. Smith in North-West Pennsylvania

"Everything happens for a reason."

Consumption of fluid cow’s milk has not been demonstrated to be particularly beneficial or particularly harmful to most people. Some are allergic and some lack digestive enzymes. Perhaps some benefit from nutrition they would not get elsewhere because of dietary preferences.

Note: Cows’ milk and its products are an expensive source of calcium. Alternatives include:
Cow’s milk and artificial formulas are evidently inferior to mother’s milk for infants. Adults have no particular need for milk – from mothers or cows.

The benefits of milk consumption are promoted in a powerful and sustained (multi-generational) marketing program by dairy interests in an effort to enhance profits, not to enhance health.

In the absence of evidence of significant beneficial or harmful effects upon the population in general, discussion of its merits or lack thereof appears to be belaboring a non-issue – and to be based upon personal preference and emotion (with inconclusive supporting evidence offered to support either viewpoint).

As an aside: A college biology student was asked on a test to identify five advantages of mothers’ milk over cows’ milk for infants. He ran out of answers after a couple and adlibbed – “it’s farther from the floor, the cat can’t get to it, and the containers are more attractive”.

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Whether you believe you can or you believe you cannot – you are usually right.

This does not include flying or moving mountains unassisted or attempting to prove the existence of an “afterlife”.

ladycat

With comments like that, you become irrelevant to any discussion.

My OTHER Post WAS Directed at You and this now lets your fanatical outlook on NAIS also went out the Window with OFF The Cuff Remarks that you have Just Done .. Your Credibility just went to the Outhouse~!!!

Read the documents I posted.

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