Posted on 07/13/2023 10:50:41 AM PDT by Red Badger
* There is an oversupply of milk in the U.S.
* Cows have to be milked. If not, could cause bruising, sickness, even death
* Demand for milk is down 20% this year, the cost dropped to $1.78 per gallon
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CHICAGO (NewsNation) — There’s no shortage of milk in the U.S. these days. In fact, there is so much of it that farmers are being forced to get rid of it.
The issue at hand is that milk is a daily commodity. Whether there’s a demand for it or not, the cows have to be milked. If a cow is not milked, it could cause bruising, sickness and even death.
Once the milk is collected, it must be transported to a dairy facility for processing.
However, now there’s too much milk and it’s forcing farmers to dump it because the facilities can’t keep up with the demand and have run out of space to store the milk.
The processing plants are dealing with labor shortages, especially on the weekends, which means there’s less production of milk products.
In the upper Midwest, the demand for milk is down 20% this year. A Wisconsin-based dairy publication, The Milkweed, said that the daily loss of sales in the region equals about 25 semi-trailers of milk per day.
Because the demand for milk is down, so are the prices.
In June 2022, milk was at $2.30 per gallon, and the latest figures available from the U.S. Department of Agriculture show the price in April has dropped by more than $.50 per gallon to about $1.78 per gallon.
The price of class 3 milk, which is used to make cheese, is also on the decline. In June 2022, the price was $24.33 per hundredweight, and in May, it dropped by more than $8.
Cheese production facilities can’t take advantage of the cheaper milk prices because they also don’t have space to keep refrigerated products such as cheddar and mozzarella cheese.
The last time American farmers were forced to dump so much milk was during the COVID-19 pandemic when schools and restaurants were shut down. During that time, the demand for milk took a huge hit, but eventually was able to bounce back.
Farmers are hoping that happens again.
In the meantime, some Minnesota dairy farmers are downsizing by selling cows to try and balance out their over-supply issues.
“So why is the price so high if there is so much of it?”
Well, you see, there are 2 components to the increased price of a good like milk. One is the increase due to demand exceeding supply. Once that evens out, the price can normalize and go down again.
The other is the increase due to excessive money printing. That increase will never go away, not unless we stop spending money we don’t have until increases in the nations’ productivity catch up to all the money we have already printed.
Buy store brands.
Use to always get the name brand raisin bran until the small box went to $5.99.
Decided to try the store brand which was Great Value Extra raisins.
It was a big box, had a Ton of raisins and is better than the Kellogg’s brand!
Price? $1.99!
Same with Kroger, their cereals run around $1.19 to $1.99 and are excellent!
Same with all of the store branded products, much less expensive and usually better than the the name brands!
I don't. Except for an ounce of cream in my coffee...my go to breakfast drink is generic/house brand V8 vegetable juice, Tastes better and is good for you. I hope.
Our Whatcom County Costco sells more milk than any other Costco in the country. It goes mostly to Canadians, who buy five or six gallons at a time. They say that what they don’t drink in a month, they use to make yogurt.
Cows must be milked every 12 hours, every day. Farmin’ ain’t easy work.
The excerpt of the article says there is not enough refrigerated storage for it.
Seems like there should be some ready contingency plan.
I forget how much cheese is in federal storage in refrigerated caverns near Springfield, Missouri. Hundreds of millions of pounds I recall. Wonder what the shelf life on that is?
If any farmers in the Dane County region need to get rid of milk, I’d be happy to take some off your hands!!
I even know how to navigate the raw-milk loopholes!
yup, this is just sooo wrong...
At nighttime I switched from ice cream to having a little bowl of cereal with 2% milk. Super cold is even better.
As for cheese why not make more velveeta cheese that can be stored on the shelves. Prices for velveeta cheese are ridiculous too which is why I refrain.
Up until about 1980 the US had massive stores of cheese in underground storage facilities. It was released by Reagan and given to low income needy people, who were grateful for it. “Government cheese” was a part of the response to the severe inflation from the Carter years.
No reason it couldn’t be done again. the caverns are still there.
And butter.
Milk allergies and lactose intolerance are real conditions.
May they visit you to prove it.
So why not, what are the consequences of adults drinking milk?
Dried milk. Used to have the EPA all iver milk spills as Toxic waste. Now?
As it says above your reply: Cheese production facilities can’t take advantage of the cheaper milk prices because they also don’t have space to keep refrigerated products such as cheddar and mozzarella cheese.
Another consequence of contraception, and inactivity=obesity plus green prop. Less children, less milk drinkers. Milk is said to be fattening, and bad for environment.
Energy intensive. Cost is rather high.
Sorry, but I worked at a dairy, and it is not a very profitable business. According to the USDA, the average gallon of whole milk is $3.04 a gallon which is close to 2 Liter Bottle of coke. But for milk, you need *Acres of expensive land expensive cows
massive amounts of feed and water
Expensive vet services
*Milking at least twice a day
*Constant refrigeration from then on
*Transportation from multiple farms
*Pasteurization and other processing.
*Short shelf life
*Delivery at least twice a week due to the above.
*Etc.
Due to the short shelf life and cost of refrigeration, excess milk is duped to make room for more. Milk is about 97% water anyway.
Many people are ignorant of all this, and more.
“He said, blessed are the cheesemakers.”
I blame East and West coast Soy Boys and their OBSESSION with ‘nut milks’ and craft beers. ;)
This is a NORMAL fluctuation in the milk market. It was exacerbated and is now a reason to PANIC ‘whenever’ thanks to the fake, phony, ridiculous covidBS-19 shut down of our LIVES and LIVELIHOODS.
Never forget: Mother Government is evil...and she’s none too pleased with YOU and your sassy ‘free market ways.’
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