Dairy farms of all sizes got some surprising news in a letter from Foremost Farms, headquartered in Baraboo. The dairy farm cooperative announced that it would be deducting $.90/hundredweight, effective immediately, on all milk production.
The letter was sent to the Midwest Farm Report, and we had an opportunity to visit with some of the impacted producers. Rachel Schroeder of Simply Crazy Farms, LLC in Watertown was one dairy impacted – and shocked at the content of the letter. “We really had the feeling that we (Foremost Farms) had some good contracts with our customers and that we were really on track to make some profit this year, so it came out of the blue” Schroeder says.
Schroeder and her father, James McManama, farm in partnership milking about 90 cows and managing about 500 acres. She says the other reason the letter is such a shock is because they’ve had positive experiences with leadership at the cooperative. Schroeder says they’ve been told that the deduction might be only temporary until the beginning of the new calendar year when new customer contracts might come into play.
“What made me the most angry was how they said their cost of production is up this year and they had to take this deduction,” Schroeder says. “That makes me very angry if they are so naive that my cost of production is probably as high as it ever went.” Schroeder continues, “They are using the farmer as an ATM.”
MICHAEL KOHN says
MANAGEMENT MUST REALLY BE BRIGHT SEND A LETTER TO FARMERS BECAUSE OF HIGHER OPERATING COSTS
CUT YOUR COSTS OR MAKE LESS PROFIT
THAT’S WHAT THE PRODUCER IS TOLD TO DO CUT COSTS OR YOU CAN GET MORE EFFICIENT OR PRODUCE MORE WITH LESS
THE PRICE IN THE STORE SURE HASN’T WENT DOWN
BUTTER UP
CHEESE UP
MILK UP
ICECREAM UP
YOU GET THE POINT