Posted on 06/01/2005 6:50:25 AM PDT by Radigan
In its 85 years of existence, Smith Brothers Dairy in Kent has survived all manner of misfortune and mistakes.
There was the Depression, when milk sales plummeted. There were cow-killing floods. There were modern times, when it appeared the old-fashioned idea of fresh milk delivered to the doorstep had died.
And there was the crackdown when society realized cow manure could be as toxic to fish as anything produced at a nuclear plant.
"None of that compares to this," says Alexis Smith Koester, 60, dairy president and granddaughter of the founder, Ben Smith. "This is the biggest threat we've ever faced."
She's talking about the federal government.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture has proposed new rules that could force Smith Brothers to either give up half its business or close up shop entirely, Koester says.
What are the feds trying to stop? They're trying to keep Smith Brothers Dairy from selling its milk for less.
And we call this a capitalist country.
The dairy, which is small enough that the president answered the phone when I called, is being punished for doing too much too well.
For 75 years, milk has been heavily regulated by price and marketing controls.
People who know more about it than I do say the system works well. It protects those who own only one part of the milk business — say, a farmer with cows but no milk-processing plant — from being gouged by big agribusinesses.
But Smith Brothers has always been exempt from these regulations because it is so independent. It does it all. It is one of only 11 dairies left in the Northwest that raise and milk the cows as well as pasteurize and bottle the milk.
Its business model is so antiquated that most dairies like it long since went under.
Smith Brothers survived by discovering that what was old is new again. Home delivery of milk is hot. Especially if people know who owns the cows so there's a guarantee no growth hormones were used.
Remarkably, Smith Brothers now delivers milk to 40,000 homes in and around Seattle, the most in its history. And it is so efficient it does so at the same or lower prices you get in many stores.
Yet the feds, backed by the biggest dairy processors in the West, want to force Smith Brothers and other do-it-yourself dairies to sell through the government-regulated system. They say this will help the small farmers who already sell milk to big processors.
But Smith Brothers, no milk monopoly with just 1 percent of the market, would have to pay subsidies to its competitors that exceed the dairy's yearly profit. Or it would have to break up its business, and no longer provide its unique cow-to-carton-to-doorstep service.
So what we have is the government, prodded by large corporations, saying it is helping small family farms by destroying one of our most successful small family farms.
Come to think of it, I guess that is American-style capitalism after all.
Danny Westneat's column appears Wednesday and Friday. Reach him at 206-464-2086 or dwestneat@seattletimes.com.
http://www.smithbrothersfarms.com/
I've always wondered, why a gallon of milk costs more than a gallon of gasoline. The oil comes form the other side of the planet, whereas the cow is standing in a pasture down the road. The oil is refined in a highly dangerous and technical operation whereas milk is just pasturized and homogenized, but its still milk.............
"The dairy "industry" has been up to this kind of dirty trick for decades. When margarine first came out, it was the dairy industry that forced the makers of margarine to separate the fat from the food coloring. They forced customers (there were no "consumers" yet) to hand-mix the food coloring into the white fat portion. Just to humiliate and denigrate margarine makers and create a "better" image for butter.
Do you have any idea whatsoever what it takes to feed and maintain a dairy cow? No, I didn't think so.
"Yet the feds, backed by the biggest dairy processors in the West, want to force Smith Brothers and other do-it-yourself dairies to sell through the government-regulated system."
First, keep in mind all the loafers that want to suckle at the government sow's teat--the USDA Food Stamp program REALLY has helped them over the years (yes, there are people who NEED staples but the Food Stamp program for decades let them purchase non-BBQ convenience foods like TV dinners--and LUXURY items like lobster tails, I'VE SEEN IT HAPPEN.)
Meanwhile, these smart, hard-working entrepreneurs create a racehorse of a business and the gummit wants to turn it into an ox to plow in the USDA harness. Health and safety are important, but with 40,000 customers (apparently happy and healthy!) there is no AMERICAN reason for the Orwellian Ministry of Farm Bureaucracy to cr@p in their water trough.
I'm a man but if this was my business this would put my tit in a wringer too! USDA has long been WAY too big for its britches and it's time to rein them in.
BTW don't let any slight humor in this post detract from the RIGHTEOUS INDIGNATION and call for action.
Simple solution - Shut down all the North American dairy farms and only allow the sale of dairy products imported from China or India. Do it for the sake of the children.
They're ALL socialists. They just call themselves by different names, but it's still the same God-forsaken religion of Socialism.
A CHRISTIAN DEMOCRAT: You have two cows. You keep one and give one to your neighbor.
A SOCIALIST: You have two cows. The government takes one and gives it to your neighbor.
AN AMERICAN REPUBLICAN: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. So what?
AN AMERICAN DEMOCRAT: You have two cows. Your neighbor has none. You feel guilty for being successful. You vote people into office who tax your cows, forcing you to sell one to raise money to pay the tax. The people you voted for then take the tax money and buy a cow and give it to your neighbor. You feel righteous.
A COMMUNIST: You have two cows. The government seizes both and provides you with milk.
A FASCIST: You have two cows. The government seizes both and sells you the milk. You join the underground and start a campaign of sabotage.
DEMOCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. The government taxes you to the point you have to sell both to support a man in a foreign country who has only one cow, which was a gift from your government.
CAPITALISM, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. You sell one, buy a bull, and build a herd of cows.
BUREAUCRACY, AMERICAN STYLE: You have two cows. The government takes them both, shoots one, milks the other, pays you for the milk, then pours the milk down the drain.
AN AMERICAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You sell one, and force the other to produce the milk of four cows. You are surprised when the cow drops dead.
A FRENCH CORPORATION: You have two cows. You go on strike because you want three cows.
A JAPANESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You redesign them so they are one-tenth the size of an ordinary cow and produce twenty times the milk. You then create clever cow cartoon images called Cowkimon and market them World-Wide.
A GERMAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You reengineer them so they live for 100 years, eat once a month, and milk themselves.
A BRITISH CORPORATION: You have two cows. They are mad. They die. Pass the shepherd's pie, please.
AN ITALIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows, but you don't know where they are. You break for lunch.
A RUSSIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You count them and learn you have five cows. You count them again and learn you have 42 cows. You count them again and learn you have 12 cows. You stop counting cows and open another bottle of vodka.
A SWISS CORPORATION: You have 5000 cows, none of which belong to you. You charge others for storing them.
A BRAZILIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You enter into a partnership with an American corporation. Soon you have 1000 cows and the American corporation declares bankruptcy.
AN INDIAN CORPORATION: You have two cows. You worship both of them.
A CHINESE CORPORATION: You have two cows. You have 300 people milking them. You claim full employment, high bovine productivity, and arrest the newsman who reported on them.
AN ISRAELI CORPORATION: There are these two Jewish cows, right? They open a milk factory, an ice cream store, and then sell the movie rights. They send their calves to Harvard to become doctors. So, who needs people?
AN ARKANSAS CORPORATION: You have two cows. That one on the left is kinda cute.
A MEXICAN RANCH: You have a herd of 500 cows. 495 have foot "in" mouth disease, just like the President of Mexico.
As a matter of fact, I do. I was raised on a farm. My mother and aunts and uncles all had dairy cows or worked for dairys. I used to hitch rides to town on the milk truck that picked up the cans from the local farms and delivered them to the dairy. I find the smell of dairys to bring back memories rather than make me roll up the window as I drice by. The whole purpose of my post was to get the ball rolling and apparently you picked it up and ran with it...........
If that is the case, I how no problem with this so-called business being plowed under.
Most do not have a clue. There are so many facets they would be way to many to mention. The profit margin just isn't that high that is why it takes a such high volume to make it profitable.
bookmark for later printing
How many miles of solid cow do you have to drill through to find milk?
Here in california we have a milk board the decides on mile prices. We cannot import milk as e have laws that require we put non-fat milk into milk that no other state has. Like our gas, we can export but cannot input either gas or milk.
If you look in the dictionary and define fascism, socialism, capitalism and look at all the government control over private industry - what would you you choose that the USA has become?
My guess is you would agree with Ben Franklin when he warned us this would happen.
Thank you... I needed this this morning.
without taxpayer subsidies one of two things will happen, one the free market will cause the escalation of food prices to soar uncontrolably or two, we would jepordise the nations food supply and would have to depend on imports that we have no control over.Go to the grocery store and compare organic grown vegetables, mostly grown here to the others that are mostly imported. The American farmer is subsidised to protect and insure our food supply is never interupted.
LOL!! You remind me of the chicken little socialists who say without Social Security, most seniors will be eating dogfood.
I didn't buy their arguement, and I don't buy your arguement.
How long do you have to feed a calf after being weened from the cow before it is old enough to breed to start the milk making process, not to mention having to feed the cow before she weens the calf, oh and lets not forget about feeding the bull to get the calves. Lets see 2 -3 gallons of milk per milking twice a day then seperate the fat, the cost of refrigeration. The list goes on and on. The cost of oil today is because it is not subsidised and the free open market dictates the price. I don't think we need to do that with our food.
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.