The State of Milk in Idaho
A look at the dairy dilemma. I’m David Sparks. That report in just a sec. Midwest dairy farmers struggling through poor economic times say they are not as bad off as their counterparts in Western states. In Idaho and California, hundreds of thousands of dairy cows are being sent to slaughter. Brent Olmstead, Executive Director of the Milk Producers of Idaho discusses some of the discrepancies between the Midwest and West, starting with the cost of production in the Midwest: “It’s approximately $16.74/hundredweight, Idaho is $17, California the cost of production is over $19.”
And the Midwest has:
(Olmstead) “More of an advantage in distribution, they’re closer to the major markets, it’s easier for them to get their products to market, in the Midwest they do more Class 1 milk, fluid milk for drinking. It comes in at a higher price than we have out here with most of our milk going to cheese. More cows are going to be sent to slaughter and we expect that will help us a lot with the price by taking some of the product off of the market. By late summer early fall you’ll see some turnaround in the market.
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