Brief Editorial by Farm Director, Pam Jahnke
You have no idea how difficult bringing this news to our loyal farm audience is – especially for me, a dairy kid and life long lover of Wisconsin agriculture. Since Covid-19 has changed all our world’s, I’ve been asked to try and connect the dots on this latest destruction of Wisconsin’s dairy industry and why it’s happening.
I am not an expert, and we’re diligently working to gather all the facts as I type this – but I’ll give the basics.
Wisconsin’s dairy industry was just looking forward to a slight recovery when Covid-19 hit the world in January. Here’s what it did to agriculture almost immediately.
Schools closed. The number one market for fluid milk in the United States is the school lunch program. Although schools are still trying to make that milk available to students, the volume is down considerably. That immediately impacted where fluid milk could go.
Covid-19 impacts farm, agribusiness and food processing workers too. Even with social distancing, some Wisconsin food processors have been impacted be the lack of available workers to keep all production lines fully rolling. That means generating fewer products and using less raw dairy.
You cannot “shut off” a milk cow. At this time of the year, Wisconsin traditionally sees an uptick in the amount of milk produced. We call it “spring flush” because many calves are born in spring, and milk production on farms escalates. Experts didn’t believe the spring flush would be as great this year because of a fairly mild winter – but they didn’t expect Covid-19 at all.
Why is milk still being limited at grocery stores? That’s a judgement call by every food retailer out there. The same judgement they make about pricing of fluid milk or any other dairy product. There is very little correlation to what farms are paid for their milk. Obviously there is fluid milk available, but if it can’t be processed – they have concerns about still having product available for their customers.
What else can be done with this milk? Well today Wisconsin’s Acting Ag Secretary, Randy Romanski, is asking the U.S. Department of Agriculture to immediately begin purchasing dairy products that can be funneled to food banks and other government assistance programs across the United States. I also know there are other states making the same plea. Wisconsin dairies work cooperatively to “share” milk supplies when they can and channel more towards cheese, butter, yogurt and other dairy products. Right now between the employee impact of Covid-19, distance and demand – processors feel this is their only option on the short-term.
How long will it last? Nobody knows. How long will Covid-19 impact your life? Nobody knows.
What can I do as a consumer to try and help? There’s a few things.
1) Of course, buy more dairy as you can. People have suggested using fluid milk to make your own butter if you don’t routinely drink much milk. That’s possible, but generally the fluid milk you would drink doesn’t contain enough cream to really make butter. You can also try making ice cream. The Wisconsin Ag In The Classroom has directions on how you and your kids can try this together on a smaller scale. Remember, you can successfully buy and freeze cheese and butter too.
https://www.wisagclassroom.org/wp-content/uploads/2019/09/Hands-On-Activities-Booklet.pdf
2) Donate milk to your local food bank. Here’s one link that can get that done. Because of Covid-19, you cannot just bring milk to the food bank. Financial donations are the only real way to go for now. This particular link allows only for the purchase of Wisconsin milk/dairy.
https://www.secondharvestmadison.org/events/featured/adopt-a-dairy-cow
3) Write your state and federal officials an email and let them know your opinions. Don’t stop there – communicate directly with the governor, the U.S. Department of Agriculture in DC, and even the president. Yes, Covid-19 is terrible and they are busy trying to manage through that – but this situation may literally mean the death of a dairy operation.
Federal Information –
http://Ask USA.gov a Question
Call 1-844-USAGOV1 (1-844-872-4681)
State Information:
Governor: Tony Evers.
Email: [email protected]
Phone Number: 1-608-266-0382
4) And maybe most importantly – express your support for Wisconsin dairy farms. Big or small, this is impacting them all. If you know a dairy farmer or their family – call them, email them, send them a message of hope. People are being encouraged to show support throughout social media with: #FarmNeighborsCare
5) It may not be fashionable, but pray. In whatever form you want. Pray that Covid-19 dissipates. Pray that life begins to return to a somewhat normal patterns. Pray that this milk dumping situation is just a temporary story. Pray for all the farm families that are trying to make their way through this.
Again – I’m no expert. But I am dedicated to doing whatever I can to try and share the stories of Wisconsin farm families with those of you that may not know as much about the industry that’s still the backbone of this state.
Thanks for your thoughtful explanation, as always, Pam. Luckily, two of my BIG dairy consumers are home from college helping the cause.
Thank you Pam for caring about dairy farming.We have the same challenge in Uganda.We need to network
if milk is not contaminated why is it being wasted are the cows being tested???
This farm is Grade A certified and inspected. This is a lack of processing capacity due to employees impacted by covid-19. This is absolutely no reflection on the more than 115 large dairies that are being asked to dump their milk.
So it all has to do with not enough employees? Does the unemployed public know this? Lower the consumer’s price and well buy more! Keep politics out of this.
Very good information!
We are buying more milk because we are home more, but are being limited by the stores at how much we can buy at once. This is a really good article and most importantly… PRAY!!! You hit the nail on the head there.
Thank you for doing this work. It’s always good to get true information. Our family is originally from Wisconsin, and all were raised on real milk products, where they couldn’t have been better. Good luck with all this. I so wish all this milk and milk products could be enjoyed by all the hungry families out there right now. Our weekly grocery list always contains many of our favorite dairy products. Thank you for your concerns and work.
Thank you for explaining this. I live in Chicago and we are limited to purchasing 2 gallons of milk at a time. Usually I purchase between 4 to 10 (sometimes 12) gallons at a time. We have seven people in our family and everyone drinks milk. What a sad state of affairs.☹
Exactly. This limiting is fine for some. I feed 8. A stick up to most is a weekly grocery shop for me. Makes it difficult. We should be able to get a something to prove this and be able to buy what we need or accepted as needed to feed our larger family. Which means less exposure to catch the virus.
Being as you regularly buy more than 2 gallons at a time, I would go back in and purchase another 2 gallons, send in family members… this doesn’t sound like a proper way to manipulate the system, but other people are doing the same thing with the toilet paper…. you can always freeze what you can’t use right away. This is a different world we’re living in right now and we need to adjust. Hopefully it won’t get worse before it gets better….
Thank you Pam. No other words. 🙏
excellent explanations. Thank you!
Thank you Pam. My husband and I are in our 80s and we use a lot of dairy products. My dad was a farmer so I am aware of how hard they work. 🙏 for all of our hard working farm families.
Great job, Pam!
As a former Wisconsinite, my heart goes out to the farmers and their families in this time. Prayer is a great suggestion, and we can do that. Thank you for your informative comments on the situation there. I hope this and the Covid virus will be short-lived. It is comforting to know that there are good people working on this issue all the time. Thank you.
Thanks Pam for the information.
I am buying extra milk but curious if the calves can be left with the mothers longer?
I appreciate your idea. Unfortunately, there’s not enough calves on the face of the earth to drink this much milk.
It is not really feasible to do this. Calves need to be separated for numerous reasons and dairy farms cannot operate efficiently if this was possible and death rate among calves would increase because of physical injuries. I am reminded cruelly time to time why they need to be separated on our farm.
I do not know how you an buy more dairy when the stores are limiting the number that a person can buy. the shelves for whole milk are practically empty. the consumption of whole milk has risen but yet the processors are not able to meet the demand. It is not necessary to dump this milk when it is so badly needed.
In the early 50’s one of my uncles used to work at a dairy and would take left over milk to feed the hogs on his property. Could there be a use of this milk by hog ranches . I know it’s a lot of milk going to waste but there could be a use.
Praying for all our hard working farmers in Wisconsin. Please use the address and link to contact our state representatives. These farmers are the real unsung heroes 365 days a year!
Just reading this now and am so sorry, here in Austin milk, butter cottage cheese everything milk products are in very short supply. We are praying for the end of this terrible virus to come to an end and praying for all the dirty farmers and their families.
Thank you for this info, Pam. It is much appreciated!
Here is the perfect opportunity to process the milk and can it to help with the world hunger situation.
Thank you for your explanation! And more importantly your reason number 5. Pray! We all need to do more of that!
Great Info But when price of raw milk drops below our cost of production. And the price in the store goes up isn’t that price fixing ? They should lower price in stores and help the public with food costs.
Pam, thanks for sharing your farm knowledge. I grew up on a dairy farm (milking cows, feeding calves, cleaning the barn, field work, stacking straw & hay bales, etc.).
Thanks Pam for trying to explain. It’s kinda hard to support the dairy farmer and buy more milk when you are only allowed 2 gallons at a time.
Well said ,Pam thank you for words of wisdom.
Great piece Pam. A concise and readable summary of what is going on. Thanks
Thank you Pam. Great job in explaining it.
As an ex-dairy farmer, I always pay attention to dairy news, especially how it affects the small family farm as Pam described . My weekly bible is Farm and Dairy newspaper published in Salem, Ohio . We used to only have to dump milk in the ’40s, when the snow made roads impassible .
Make it available to the daycares or ones providing care for the kids of essential workers.
Thank you, especially, for your second to last paragraph! It may not be fashionable, but I’m so glad to have the courage to ask us to pray!!!
Thank you Pam. We need to call for a stop to limiting purchases at the store on perishables like milk
Thanks to you Pam for this. My wife and I both grew up on farms. We always buy dairy products when we can. We pray now and going forward that God will keep his hand on this situation and turn this around. We pray for the strength of the hard working farmer that never gets a day off. We pray they see a glimmer of hope at the end of this tunnel.
My wife’s niece has taken over their family farm outside of Marshfield and we try to encourage her and her family when we can. God Bless the farmer (back bone of this country and God bless America. Merl and Kathy Freund
Thanks for the great explanation on this subject pam.
Hello Pam,
Thanks for taking my question today. You sure are in early for work!! I did google for more information. I’m in the home building business….this like our company building a house and then the powers that be, asking us to burn it down before it’s even on the market. How awful. As usual putting yourself in someone else’s shoes really helps with perspective.
Glad I listened to the report as it made me go find out more about this.
Darci Strobel
CONTACT AMPI MILK PLANT IN BLAIR WI. THEY NEED MILK, WHY NOT DRY IT FOR INSTANT MILK? MAKE MILK REPLACER OUT OF IT AND CHEESE, SPORT DRINKS ETC.
Well thought out…THANK YOU for the explanation and the suggestions going forward!
Outstanding reporting, as usual! Thanks for that story Pam!
Pam, thank you for providing awareness that dairy farmers are struggling in this unprecedented environment. Growing up on a SW Wisconsin dairy farm, I remember dumping milk in the 1960’s to try to move milk prices higher. Ask your local store’s manager to insist on more milk supply; call and email store chain HQ with the same insistence. My wife and I pray that COVID 19 is defeated soon and that everyone stays healthy!
Ron Schmitz
Do you need financial assistance to pay off your bills? Are you looking for a loan to start up your own business? Here’s your chance to get a financial services from our company.
We offer the following types of loans:
* Personal Loans.
* Business Loans.
* Investments Loans.
* Home Loan
* Car Loan
* Student Loan and many more …
Mobile: ((214) 935-0508
E-mail: [email protected]
Hopefully, the dairyman got paid for dumping his milk! Seeing as how he’s dealing with DFA, I think not! Mid-Am / DFA has proven, in my opinion, to be disreputable, unethical, unfair, to the dairymen, and women, who they allegedly support! In the past, when California & New York dairys were getting $ 18 – $22 for their milk, in Nebraska, with DFA, I was getting $ 12- $14…..Why? There are stories of underhanded dealings, stories I have heard numerous times, but have not been substantiated, so I will go no further! I just hope this latest craptastic event doesn’t torpedo the dairy industry for good!
I grew up in a cheese factory in South West WI, during the 50’s and 60’s. I remember a time when farmers were dumping milk because of price. It was sad then and its very sad now. I realize that the covid 19 virus has taken over and needs to be fore front, but our farmers are the backbone of our country and if they are no more then where will we be! I just feel that our representatives in DC don’t have a clue about the Midwest. You don’t just go to the store and buy your groceries, they come from farmers. They need to WAKE UP!
My husband and I dairy farm and thankfully not asked to dump our milk yet. I hope we never will. Maybe with all the families struggling with limited income the price per gallon could be lowered to make it more affordable to everyone with families.
In the meantime, in Florida, we are limited to 1 gallon per shopping trip…
Hi Pam! Orion is doing his part….he goes through 2 gallons of milk a week! Stay well, Farm Babe!
Let the sweet little calves drink it.
Oh believe me they are – but there’s not enough calves in this country to absorb the milk produced by even 2 of these farms. Remember, not all those cows just had babies.
Who has supply we can sell in our wi grocery stores. Distributors claim to not have supply. There are stores looking for supply. Please provide names or numbers we can call to get shipments.
great info pam listen to you on local radio stations every day retired milk hauler
Where can sw wi grocery stores get supply? Distributors claim to have little. A published list of names or numbers we can call would really help the cause.
Pam, nice article… did you see the article on foodnavigator-asia.com titled “Fighting Covid19 with Dairy? It speaks to the benefits of drinking milk to boost the immune system!
*I too grew up on an dairy Fram which is still ran by 3 brothers in IN.
I did see the article and we’re reaching out to Wisconsin dairy researchers to try and verify what it’s promoting before we circulate any of that news. It’s coming out of China and I have reason to pause. Thanks though!
Another niche is to dry the milk, sell it to the baking industry or distribution to pantries. Right now in India the government is buying the milk and paying local cheese companies to dehydrate and package it. This increases the shelf life so it can be easily be distributed amongst the poor.
Thank you for a wonderfully written and easy to understand article. One thing I have difficulty conveying to non-farm populations is that in these cases there is likely no compensation to the farmer for the dumped milk. There are cases in which there may be compensation, but I don’t believe this is one of them and wondered if you could speak to this subject? Thank you.
Pam, nice to see you are still trying to bring help to the farmers and accurate info to the public. We milked for 20 years and retired from dairy 20 years ago. We were faithful listeners of your reports while in the dairy business. Lookin good Pam, keep up the good work.
I am from Wisconsin and now live in Washington. My friends sent this to me on facebook and I was
stunned! This happened during the Depression, w
here people were starving for lack of money to buy food while farmers were burning crops. CRIMINAL!
Many hungry people here would love to have quesadillas or a grilled cheese sandwich every day.Our government needs to stop this if we want to keep people farming the land and have local food security. We could all use more cheese,butter, yogurt etc. In our diets and fewer cheap carbs!
can you next explain why the price for beef is dropping to the farmer and i got neighbors calling saying the price for hamburger has went up some say $1.00 a pound in stores? or can you explain why fertilizer dealers are telling us fertilizer is going to go up and on normal years they say well fertilizer is going up cause the price of fuel is going up. can you explain why farmers prices are dropping but my local john deere dealer just took a $5.00 a hour shop charge increase? can you explain why banks all of a sudden dont want to talk to us farmers? have heard of a lot of guys NOT getting operating loans have talked to a few of them. can you explain why farmers are treated like garbage? i mean we all need a doctor, dentists, police, firefighter, military, at some point and time in our life but we need a farmer every day 3 times a day 365 days a year and i have friends in every field i mention and EVERY one of them say they will NEVER be a farmer cause they want to make money!!! some thing has to change pam i like what you do but my brother works at a factory for years and he always makes more money 8 hours a day than i do 14 hours a day to feed him. i do NOT need the product he produces but he needs me every day
Thanks Pam for shedding light on this issue. You are the person who gives the truth so we can believe. God be with all.
Is there an option to freeze dry it and possibly rehydrate it at a later date when fluid milk is in demand again?
That requires infrastructure we do not have. Plants are working as fast as possible to try and retrofit existing facilities where they can but it doesn’t happen very quickly and is not necessarily very financial attractive. Never heard of freeze drying milk – we usually turn it into powder but all those plants are running at capacity in the west.
This is ridiculous! I go to the grocery store multiple times a week and you can’t find milk. The only choice, if you do find it is the organic, $6/gallon milk.
I understand, though I don’t agree with workers who pasteurized the milk being out sick. But where I am from in NC and people I talk with elsewhere, there is absolutely no decrease in demand. The supply is less than demand.