11-25 FB Get Milk

 A candid chat with Executive Director of The Idaho Dairymen’s Association Bob Naerebout concerning the bill of health for Idaho dairymen. It has been a little while since I have checked in with Bob Naerebout who most of you know to be Executive Director of The Idaho Dairymen’s Association. Goodness knows the dairy industry has suffered in the last several years  and I asked Bob for an update. “The overall bill of health is tenuous right now. This is because the cost of imports are so high, we have had a very strong price of milk which right now is filtering down, it is still around $18 a hundredweight, but your input costs are extremely high and at $17-$18 hundredweight that is about breakeven. As you look out in the futures and you look at the state of the whole economy in this country there are a lot of dairy producers who are nervous as to whether or not we will be able to maintain $17-$18 milk which is  what they need, in fact they obviously need more than that to recover some of the equity that they have lost in the last few years but that is a critical benchmark right now. Is the public still drinking milk? Demand is still strong whether that is in the form of fluid or cheese.”