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Oh noes! I'm making half a dozen kinds of icecream next month! Doh!
Oh noes! I'm making half a dozen kinds of icecream next month! Doh!
poor milky moo moos :(
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This is the way the market is supposed to work.I have raised cattle (beef and dairy) and the fastest way to end up with a hundred thousand dollars worth of cows is to start with a million dollars worth.
Any farmer will tell you that it is the middleman that makes the folding money.
\"remove the billions of dollars of market-distorting aid that flows out of our pockets and into the pockets of Big Agra.\"
Yep . We'll get right on that. Should be done by Thursday . Friday at the latest.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-16563-100x100.png\")
@Snarkysnake: No, how markets are supposed to work is to remove the billions of dollars of market-distorting aid that flows out of our pockets and into the pockets of Big Agra.
What we have now is a manipulated market being further distorted by Big Agra gaming the system to drive consumer prices even higher.
Talk about biting the hand that feeds you...
Well, that sucks.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-513573-100x100.png\")
@Psychosocial: Yup. With four kids our house averages almost one gallon per day (not to mention all the cheese). Bummer.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-482291-100x100.png\")
Low demand?!
Clearly they don't know me. Milk is the most delicious drink on the face of this planet. It's so sweet and yummy. Many times have I gone through 3 gallons in a week because I can't help myself.
Which reminds me, I'm currently out of milk... dammit.
Also, Oh my god the preview button is back!!!!
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Agreed! Milk is delicious! It's my favorite drink.
Today with my lunch, I had strawberry milk. :)
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-762676-100x100.png\")
...be careful with that. I had a friend get serious kidney stone problems because he drank milk all the time...that excess calcium goes somplace - often into kidney stones that you have to pass or get surgery for.
Beer is the logical alternative.
@YouDidWhatNow?: you don't get kidney stones from drinking too much milk. it's not the same kind of calcium, and it doesn't have to go \"somplace\".
you get kidney stones from drinking a lot of tea or eating a lot of chocolate.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-159466-100x100.png\")
@BlackMage66652: @WraithSama: @Ichiro51: @ajlei: @ceriphim:
You people disgust me. How can you drink that stuff? *shudder gag puke*
@trujunglist: Well, we grew up on it. I had lots of goats milk when I grew up. To be honest I hated the taste, but it was cheap. Now I am raising some goats hopefully so I can make some cheese out of their milk so long as they don't all have twins or triplets next spring.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-268564-100x100.png\")
@BlackMage66652: For real, right? I go through 3-4 gallons of whole milk a week. Delicious! I don't know how I would gain weight without milk...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-500755-100x100.png\")
@BlackMage66652: No kidding! I have to get lactose-free milk due to being moderate to severely lactose intolerant. It's already $3-4 for just a half gallon, I hate to think how much I'll have to pay to enjoy my cereal next year. :( This sucks.
Oh, and I am also out of milk. Damn.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-6536-100x100.png\")
@ajlei: I tried lactose-free milk once. It didn't work out.
Lactaid is expensive so I just have dairy less often. Luckily, I'm OK so long as I don't have too much.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-469751-100x100.png\")
@BlackMage66652: I beg to differ. Beer is the most delicious drink on the face of this planet. It's so sweet and yummy. Many times have I gone through 3 gallons in a week because I can't help myself.
Which reminds me, I'm currently out of beer... dammit.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-151293-100x100.png\")
@HurtsSoGood:
Myself, I can go through an entire gallon of milk in a single day if I'm not careful.
To be fair, though, I believe it was Benjamin Franklin who said that, \"Beer is proof that God loves us and wants us to be happy.\"
Beef, it's whats for dinner.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-471364-100x100.png\")
Ugh. Time to look more seriously into milk substitutes. I hate soy milk, and almond milk is somewhat tolerable, but doesn't have the smoothness of the real thing. Next I guess I try rice milk.
@AbsurdHero: Also, don't forget dry milk. For cooking and in cereal, it's hard to tell a difference. And so much cheaper!
Some don't mind drinking it straight, either, just be sure to store it in a glass pitcher, not plastic. It tastes better that way, for whatever reason.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-926607-100x100.png\")
@AbsurdHero: Sweetened soy milk is probably your best bet. It sounds like maybe you've only tried unsweetened? Sweetened tends to be thicker as well, depending on the brand.
Rice milk tends to be thinner, I find.
Try hazelnut or oat milks as well.
Of course, as far as creamy and delicious goes, nothing beats sweetened vanilla hemp milk.. but since our War on Drugs® has gone so well and it's not legal to produce here, it tends to be expensive Canadian imports. Seriously, we just happened to pick up some boxes of this brand on sale... so good.
You can always make your own almond milk, too! Get some bulk almonds and make up a batch whenever you need some. Soak them overnight, blend with 1 part almonds to 3 parts water, strain through cheesecloth, sweeten, and add your favorite flavors and hooray! Milk!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-493399-100x100.png\")
@AbsurdHero: If your big on milk-like smoothness, try oat milk. It's not an overpowering taste and it's a little thicker than most milk substitutes.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-106827-100x100.png\")
@AbsurdHero: Some substitutes aren't that bad, but it is definitely a matter of personal tastes. Most health food stores have little single-serve portions of various milk substitutes in their refrigerated section, so pick up a few and test them out to find what you like best.
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@AbsurdHero: Something I was surprised to discover is that the flavor of soy milk depends on the brand--Silk tastes nothing like EdenFarm, for example. If you have the opportunity to test out a couple of different brands, you may find one you like.
For those who don't drink soy milk, it primarily has a sort of mildly nutty flavor. It tastes nothing like milk, and doesn't really have the same mouth feel, so if you drink it expecting a 1-for-1 milk substitute you're going to be angry. You may want to give it a shot, thought, if milk prices climb above soy milk prices in the coming year.
You might also want to try it over cereal instead of as a big glassful by itself, esp. if you're trying to see whether you'd like it. I think it makes a great substitute for \"cereal milk.\" (Not so much for coffee or cooking, though.)
(I honestly have no idea which food has a deeper negative impact on the environment, so best of luck with that.)
@AbsurdHero: I love Rice Milk. I am Lactose Intolerant and have been drinking it for several years. I also Agree that it is best over cereal as it is a little bit sweeter then regular Milk.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-409488-100x100.png\")
@Saboth: In my neck of the woods, soy milk is cheaper than hormone-free/organic milk by about $1 per gallon.
We used to buy milk for cereal, coffee, cooking and drinking, now we use soy milk in almost everything, and buy a little milk every month to cook with.
I don't mind the taste of soy milk but I feel like such a damn hippie keeping it around.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-56339-100x100.png\")
Isn't this, like, market manipulation?
@Tzepish: The answer is a resoundingly obvious yes, and that's the whole point. The prices are so low compared to the costs that only the largest producers are able to break even, let alone make a profit. Killing the cows also helps decrease their costs in addition to raising prices. The way it is now, the large producers ('big agra') would just let the small guys lose everything then do this anyway with less competition meaning prices wouldn't ever need to go down.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-323201-100x100.png\")
@Tzepish:
This would never fly in many other industries. Staple foods should have more regulation. Imagine:
The American Medical Association will pay hospitals to demolish 103,000 U.S. hospital beds in coming months, says the article, causing health care costs to skyrocket. The U.S. Surgeon General is forecasting organ transplant, mastectomy, and tumor removal prices will be painful in 2010. Consumers can expect emergency room prices to double.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-851357-100x100.png\")
@Wireless Joe: The number of people utilizing the medical industry is on the rise, not in decline.
Using your analogy, if Springfield, IL has five hospitals serving 1,000 daily and for some friggin' reason the number of people using these facilities decreased to 500/day, you wouldn't think it was reasonable to close one of the hospitals and send the patients to one of the other facilities?
You expect these dairy farmers to operate at a loss or would you have the government subsidize them just to save the lives of some cows?
@Wireless Joe: the government is one of the reasons this is happening. their subsidizing of the ethanol industry is pushing corn prices, which leads us to higher costs of milk production. just one more reason the government should think very carefully before artificially manipulating prices (as they are by subsidizing ethanol) because there will be unintended consequences.
@craptastico: Add: perhaps killing the Ethanol program (which isn't green anyway) would be a way to address this? Less pressure on grain prices, thus making the equilibrium that existed before for dairy farmers come back?
@craptastico: Yup. Between farm price support (e.g., market manipulation), Ethanol (wrong-headed energy policy driven by Big Agra) and now these same beneficiaries of taxpayer-funded billions of corporate welfare slaughtering their milk stock to jack consumer prices into the stratosphere, we have the worst of all worlds.
Particularly aggravating is that the end result is that, in the end, it'll be families trying to literally feed their children healthy meals who'll be getting the shaft.
Since Big Agra is already wallowing in the trough of this largess, they shouldn't be allowed to cull their stocks - or if doing so, their price support monies accordingly reduced.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-87429-100x100.png\")
Hmm somehow raising prices dramatically doesn't make me want to buy something.
Hell, I drink a lot of milk, and if prices skyrocket, I will probably buy a lot less. That's just common sense.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-954103-100x100.png\")
@Saboth: The law of demand says that you will probably consume less milk, but they are banking on your milk demand being relatively inelastic--the price increases (here, doubles) but your consumption falls by less than half. Hence, you are spending more money on milk. Perhaps you, yourself, will consume no (or very little milk), but on the whole, people consume a fairly fixed amount of milk--Mr. Ruthless loves having a glass of milk in protein-shake form; I make oatmeal with milk and have a splash in my coffee in the morning. We are very fluid soy- to cow's-milk switchers (and I have developed a serious preference for soy milk to go on my Kashi when I'm treating myself to that), but we drink ~1 gallon of milk or milk-ish product a week.
@babyruthless: I'd gamble they're also relying on the fact that \"milk\" isn't just the stuff in the bottle. Unless you're vegan or only eat American cheese, something you're purchasing likely has a milk product component.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-352008-100x100.png\")
@Drew5764: Good point. The customer isn't the only one setting demand. Food producers, restaurants, etc will be right there cutting back on milk purchases and finding alternatives, maybe even dairy from oversees (if the government allows that).
It's ironic that, to prop the milk industry up against falling demand, they intend to nearly double the cost of dairy products. What possible outcome is that going to have besides further reducing demand and setting margins right back to current levels?
Wouldn't it make more goddamned sense to track down the reason for high production costs and try to combat them? Why should feed be so expensive now when that's clearly not always been the case? Start from the problem and work backwards, don't just keep pushing buttons until the system crashes.
@Saboth: Yes, you will buy a lot less, but the issue is not that insufficient money in general is coming in, it is that insufficient money OVER EXPENSES is coming in. The less cows they have, the less their expenses are, and the less milk they have to sell anyhow. The whole point is that if they raised prices now, there would be a glut of milk available and the prices would be forced back down to get rid of it. This is getting rid of the glut so prices won't immediately go back down when they raise them.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-940937-100x100.png\")
@Saboth: I wouldn't be willing to cut my milk consumption even at double the price. Buying less is \"just common sense\" if all else is equal - I'd find something else to cut.
@Saboth: true, but lower supply will increase prices. like the article said, it costs them $17 to make $10 of milk. either lower the cost of production, or raise the price. they can't lower cost of feed, but cutting supply will increase price
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I think it's time to make a Costco run and stock up on butter. As for the milk increase...I've got kids and will just have to pay.
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I RTFA...and it blamed the price of feed for the imbalance...most notably the price of corn ($4/bush!).
Corn belongs on your plate, not in your gas tank.
@zentex: Unless they can perfect cellulosic ethanol, which would be awesome. But I agree, people didn't realize the impact using corn for fuel would have on the rest of the economy...
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-487473-100x100.png\")
@ceriphim: Even Cellulosic Ethanol has been shown to not be a solution. the issue is that the amount of land to grow enough plants producing ethanol based on the amount of energy provided by the sun and subsequently stored by plants is just not enough to meet enough demand to be worth while, not to mention the fact that ethanol burns at lower temperatures, and actualy can harm engines ( [www.businessweek.com] ).
I would say that bioelectricity would be a solution, but it really wouldn't solve anything, and like corn or cellulosic ethanol, both would continue to drive the price of food up do to increased competition for crop land.
@ceriphim: Castro did...but that's a whole 'nother can-o-worms....besides, who listens to an island-nation dictator?
@zentex: YES. With corn being so ubiquitous, I'm surprised we haven't seen a greater overall increase already.
\"No one is making money producing milk,\" Wells Fargo's Swanson said by telephone from Minneapolis. \"The milk price remains well below the total cost of production.\"
That is impossible. Unless you have someone making it cheaper in large quantities, the price can't drop below the cost. The only way that could happen is if farmers are purposely selling the milk for less than it costs. The solution is simple. Charge more.
@Corporate_guy: hmmmmm. Isn't that the same problem the auto industry has? Before the great re/depression, I read that GM was losing $2000 on every car they sold. Raise the price?
@Winteridge2: Pretty much. But in the case of auto's the problem wasn't competition selling their stock for a loss. They just made them with less overhead. There was no reason GM and Chrysler couldn't match the same costs and efficiency of Toyota. The techniques Toyota uses weren't a secret.
@Corporate_guy: It's a classic case of prisoner's dilemma. Production exceeds demand. I can keep the same price as you and only sell half my milk and let the other half spoil for a big loss. But if I cut my prices below yours I can take a small loss on the whole batch (still a loss, but less so)... Except when we both take this strategy, we cut prices and still only sell half our batch for a major loss.
It's only impossible in long term because it's a self balancing problem. People go out of business, cows get slaughtered until production is reduced. In the short term people selling for a loss is just an unfortunate part of business. It happens all the time and probably has affected every business at some point. The market isn't omniscient, people misjudge and make poor investments.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-681073-100x100.png\")
@Corporate_guy: So a farmer has cows, still has to feed the cows, still has to milk the cows, and then is going to tell people that he wants X for the milk, when the buyer will only pay >X? So the milk (which is generally picked up every day or two) will sit there and rot in the tank with no one to buy it? The farmer is not the bad guy here, the farmer has almost no say in the price his milk is purchased for. The middle man (the company who buys milk, pastuerizes it and bottles it) is the one making all the money here, and then sticking it to the farmers. The farmer's are just trying to stick it to someone else. Wouldn't you do the same? Or should all the farmers just go broke?
@jfielder23: Sounds like the farmer should create a factory to process his milk and therefore profit and protect themselves from middlemen. Clearly an independent farm is not going to work anymore.
@Corporate_guy: I don't know if this is still true but some states had price supports for milk (this is in addition to any federal program) and limited the price below which milk could not be sold. Not exactly a free market.
@Corporate_guy: When you're producing a perishable commodity, you can't just wait for someone to offer you more. Once it goes bad, it's a complete loss.
@Corporate_guy: The market sets the prices. Yes you can absolutely run into the red. Given Veeber's example above, at the point that you are sitting on 1000 gallons of milk, if the market price has dropped below your cost to produce it, it isn't a question of how much your going to make but how do you minimize your loss. If you don't sell the milk, you're out $17k. If you sell the milk, you're out $7k and shutting down your operation over a short term loss is fiscally unsound - how much do you have sunk into your operation that you would also stand to lose if you shut it down?
@fantomesq: So there you go. Some farms are willing to sell at a loss and as a result undermine everyone. If farms didn't sell for a loss, they wouldn't lose money.
@Corporate_guy: Are you daft? Say you have a farm, safeway, and your teeming masses.
If the farm makes 1000 gallons a week at 3.40 a gallon, but at 3.40 a gallon people are only willing to consume 500 gallons a week. Safeway is not going to keep buying 1000 gallons a week at 3.40 since they can't sell it. So, they only buy the 500.
This leaves you with 500 gallons a week that you're eating the cost of since warehousing it costs money that you don't have. You can't just stop producing milk because that is what cows do when they are healthy. So, you're spending 3,400 a week but only getting 1700. You have to cut costs in hope that people will buy more so that you come closer to even. No one is underselling you, it is market forces.
@Corporate_guy: Milk is essentially a commodity. The producers do not get to set the price. Just like corn, orange juice ... The cows will keep producing milk. They could throw away the milk but they still had to pay to feed the cows. If you have 1000 gallons of milk that cost you $17,000 to produce do you not sell it if no one will offer you more than $10k? The only control farmers have is on their own output. If enough producers cut their output the price should rise.
Oil prices operate in the same way. OPEC tries to control pricing through supply. It works to an extent but lately the price has fluctuated due to so many other factors that they don't have as much control as in the past.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-4147-100x100.png\")
@Corporate_guy: If no one is buying it, and you have tons of cows already set up, what are you going to do, stop feeding them?
I'm going to start hoarding milk now and store it in a 50 gallon steel drum in my garage. It will suck trying to pour it out of the drum into a used milk jug, but I'm willing to go through the pain.
Either that or I get my own cow and store her in the garage.
@rpm773: Be careful with that. If you get milk in your gas tank, it could really mess up your engine.
@WraithSama: But good gosh it's less than a gallon of Visine or printer ink, or all sorts of other crap you'll never use a gallon of in a year (and possibly not in a lifetime)
Well, let me tell you, if you want to make more money, you should definitely raise prices.
Why not put the cows in, say, a field of grass? Maybe that would lessen the need on the grain? I am not a dairy farmer, so I'm just grasping here.
Honestly, I've got four kids. If the price of a gallon of milk goes to $5-6/gal, we can find other things to drink, like water.
![\"user-pic\"](\"/mt-static/support/assets_c/userpics/userpic-4587-100x100.png\")
@thereij:
In Pennsylvania, we have state minimum pricing for milk. Not sure about other states, but if they want to make more money they'd have to raise the state minimum.
According to Dirty Jobs, a cow's diet is difficult and important to regulate. I don't think its sufficient to merely eat grass.
@Greg []: There are many smaller farms that raise \"all natural\" beef by only letting them eat grass and they sell those cows to people wanting leaner healthier beef. A grass only diet is very sufficient for a cow.
@COWser_Soze: I buy my meat and cheese at a super-natural co-op at a farmer's market, and the meat is raised on grass only, the milk cows are raised on grass supplemented with grain, because otherwise they have a hard time eating enough to have adequate milk production.
@HiPwr:
I do believe they do. Wouldn't the price of powdered milk be affected by this as well?
That being said, what if this is just a ploy to get more people to drink powdered milk? What's next? Soylent Green?!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-332258-100x100.png\")
Let them eat steak!
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-52435-100x100.png\")
So, will Tuscan Whole Milk have some of it's miraculous features removed to keep the bottom line low or will the price go up from $70/gal?
While I adore dairy products in general, less cheese, butter, and frozen desserts will probably make me a healthier person. (Trying to find a silver lining here...)
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-352646-100x100.png\")
@ElizabethD: I'm guessing the grocery shrink ray is also going to be hitting the ice cream folks again next year. So, we all might be shrinking then too.
Cows are built to eat grass, not \"feed.\" If you let them eat grass, not only do you save money you would otherwise spend on feed, but you save money on the antibiotics that you would otherwise have to use to prevent them from getting sick from eating an improper diet. You'd also get more nutritious milk. Why is something as basic as this a foreign concept to most dairy farmers?
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-759041-100x100.png\")
@BobbieErechtheus: It's hard to argue with your 'cows are meant to eat grass' statement. But it's only that simple if you're working on a subsistence farm or a relatively small scale. Until we find a way to help stabilize milk prices at the producer level, farms will continue to push their animals beyond subsistence level milking. So think of your non-lactating cow as an average person, who can get by just fine on a diet around 2,000 calories. And think of your lactating cow as Michael Phelps during the Olympics… swimming a lot (producing an average of 58-ish pounds of milk per day in the case of the cow) and consuming 12,000 calories a day. A grass diet just wouldn't cut it on a modern dairy, just like any upper-echelon athlete would have difficulty competing on an average person's diet. We need corn, considered high-energy, in their diet to increase production enough to sustain most farms' livelihood.
@BobbieErechtheus: According to the movie \"Food, Inc.\" cows are fed corn to fatten them up faster. If they ate only grass, they would be healthier, but thinner, and probably produce less milk. Its all about the bottom dollar, not the cows' health our our health.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-132151-100x100.png\")
@BobbieErechtheus: To strech their profit they chose quantity over quality. They focused so much on quantity that surprise, surprise they have too much.
@TinkishDelight: Sort of? I don't think the blame lies at the producer level, because I don't know any filthy rich farmers. And I know farmers don't get into farming because it's a highly profitable enterprise. It's a busted system altogether, and I know farms in the US were hurt recently when overseas demand for whey protein and powdered milk products decreased significantly. Milk's a tricky commodity because in its fluid form it has a much shorter shelf life than most items, and you can't halt milk production at the farm level to allow demand to catch up to supply.
@TinkishDelight: @BobbieErechtheus:
Not entirely. It takes ALOT of land to feed a cow if you just put them to pasture. Alot of farmers don't have that much land, don't have access to that land even if they wanted to buy more, and then of course its far FAR more cost effective in many cases just to feed them feed.
Also, they don't give them antibiotics to keep them from getting sick they give them antibiotics to keep bacteria and other crap out of the milk which would be there even if they did eat grass.
I think a parody of the \"Happy cows are from California\" ad would be appropriate right now. They can't be too happy right now if they're about to get slaughtered.
They all get slaughtered sooner or later - that is the cycle. As soon as there are \"too many\" or they aren't \"productive\" their off to the butcher. Drinking milk supports a horribly cruel industry. And dairy products aren't great for the human body either... www.humanemyth.org
@Gramin:
Cows are supposed to eat grass, not corn. If dairy farmers didn't try to run industrial milking parlors and gave their animals a nice pasture to graze in, and sold the milk locally as opposed to multinational corporations, they wouldn't be in this mess.
Go see Food, Inc!
@SavitriPleiades: I agree with cows eating grass and that makes them healthier and the milk they produce should also be healthier, but I have a few goats and I let them eat mostly all grass and tree leaves, but I can't help but give them some corn each day. They just like it so much.
@SavitriPleiades: I'm sure grass-fed cows produce different tasting milk than their corn-fed sisters.
It's been this way for years. Not to this extent, but dairy subsidies exist for a reason.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-55114-100x100.png\")
Item one in the economic suffering to be caused by the global warming hysteria. Feed prices are up because the corn is being turned into ethanol.
Wait until they get cap and trade passed. Then the real hurt will come.
@Murph1908: Can only blame this fiasco on Ethanol being crammed down our throats (thanks, lobbyists!) as a \"green\" solution. Although, \"green\" as in, \"lining the pockets of Big Agra\" turned out to be true. So, win?
At Kroger right now milk is $1.98 a Gallon.
@Reid Antonacchio: Seriously? Daaaamn, I wish we had those here. Milk's been bouncing between $2.89 and $4.09 a gallon since I moved here a year ago.
![\"user-pic\"](\"http://consumerist.com/assets_c/userpics/userpic-1713-100x100.png\")
So, uhh, does this mean cheap beef in the near future?
@B: Yeah, I read something about this months ago. I would think this would mean cheap beef very soon if it's not already started to happen.
@Gokuhouse: Surely you jest! Maybe at the local butcher but I don't see your local supermarket dropping the price (especially if the scaremongering of \"price increases are a comin!\" gets rolling).
@veronykah: It's hilarious to read what folks who've never been near a dairy farm think they know. For the record, EVERY dairy cow (unless disease prevents it) that's culled is slaughtered for its meat. Ground beef and animal feed, mostly (it's mainly steers that are raised for steak) but they don't get funerals, they get eaten.
I like half and half the most. That is a creamy drink. I can go through a half gallon a day if I wanted to....it's just so darn expensive for it.
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Love the photo. I've driven past and marveled at that sign (outside of Upton, KY on I-65) a number of times, but driving by on an interstate highway is a poor position from which to take a picture.
@jackbishop: I just looked at it again. It says \"Used.\" How do you even buy a \"new\" cow? Get 'em right when they're born?
Maybe they could sell more of them if they used that wonderful auto dealer term: \"Pre-Owned\"?
@nybiker: I'm thinking \"used\" means they're old enough to milk and have been where \"new\" would mean they're not being milked yet.
@nybiker: Regarding \"used\" cows.
Well, it gets lonely on the farm, you see. And farm boys, struggling through adolescent hormonal urges develop unsated needs, you'll admit. And cows have beautiful deep brown eyes and a certain come-thee-hither walk, from the right angle, it should be noted.
Thankfully, it's hard to \"tend\" cows while holding a video camera, so YouTube is safe from the documentary evidence. So you'll just have to trust me on this...
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Milk is murder?
I already drink Almond Milk and cut out cheese a few months ago so this news isn't sad.. Now its time for Almond Milk (Blue Diamond) to broaden the scope and try to penetrate Walmart and other grocery chains instead of just Publix.
Classic ripple effect here. Farmers fed cows corn because it was the cheapest feed commodity around. In fact corn for many years was selling below cost to produce. Difference was made up by tax dollars given to farmers through the farm bill.
Read Michael Pollan's great book \"Omnivore's dilemma to learn more.
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Almost $5 a gallon and no one is making money?? If the Arabs and ExxonMobil can make record profits on gas at $2.50 a gallon, surely milk at $5 a gallon is making someone rich.. Just saying.
@allstarecho: There is also a much shorter shelf life on dairy products. You can't sit on supply to increase demand on milk, cheese, yogurt, etc. like you can with oil.
Farmers are indeed getting paid less than the cost of producing milk. Store prices are lower than a year ago, but prices paid to farmers have dropped much more. If this goes on much longer, many dairy farmers will be out of business. Supply will drop and higher prices will result. The ignorance of some of these comments is appalling.
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t bffls m whn th dry ndstry mplctly pshs th msss t by mr mlk. W r th nly spcs tht drnk mlk frm NTHR spcs. r bds r nt dsgnd t prcss tht; mst f s lck th gns t prcss th mlk. f y dn't hv lcts t brth y r gng t b lcts ntlrnt; vn th spld drvtv: chs s nt vry wll dgstd by th stmch (nd t smlls qt bd). W d nt nd mlk; thr r PLNTY f clcm ltrntvs t thr wtht th ddd ft. Bt, t's ftl t tll tht t smn wh hs bn drnkng mlk fr yrs... my tw cnts.
I'd like to see the source you're basing your statements on. Humans evolved the ability to digest milk in adulthood some time ago. (A large evolutionary advantage in that it provides another source of food for a species that does not have natural hunting tools like claws or large teeth) Those that are lactose intolerant are certainly not in the majority outside of African and Asian populations.
@giggitygoo: Very true giggi. Humans did evolve for the ability to digest milk and is based on whether you are African, Asian, White, Hispanic, etc... ([www.medicinenet.com]) Having said that, the article suggests that we kill innocent cows because the industry can't make enough money from milk. I am not so sure we need milk that bad. Do u?
@biledemon: If you are not lactose intolerant, milk is an excellent source of protein and calcium. I happen to love the taste of milk and drink about a gallon a week.
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Everyone, just a reminder to keep your comments appropriate for the article. If you are only here to post for an anti-dairy agenda or, alternately, to mock vegetarians, please take your comments elsewhere. The sniping is distracting and boring. We don't need to hijack yet another interesting comment thread with vegan/anti-vegan back-and-forth.
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That is fine. We will shift the pain right back by buying less.
I am not into drinking moo juice much. So this dairy product consumer. Is unhappy about the retail prices rising. Since I eat a lots of yummy for the tummy. Cheese, cottage cheese, cream cheese and yogurt.
So even though I do not drink a lot of bovine fluids. I do like the many products that are derived from it.
I hope it does not get bad enough where I do not want to make grilled cheese and tomato soup. The cost of my favorite breakfast, French toast. Like anyone can make it without heavy cream, whipped topping and butter..
Beyond my own hunger concerns. What about baby formula. Which some folks go through a lot with hungry babies.
There is a lot of products that have dairy in them. So this is going to effect more than one type of food product.
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In other news, the Department of Labor has determined that minimum wage is too low and will be paying shop owners to slaughter 3.2 million minimum wage workers over the next year in order to reduce supply and hopefully raise the Federal Minimum Wage by July 2010.
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@luckybob343: Announce this policy for illegal immigrants, then get out of the way as they run for the border.
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\"... farmers are being paid to slaughter dairy cows in order to 'shift the pain to consumers,' says Bloomberg.\"
I'd say the \"pain\" is being shifted to soon-to-be-slaughtered dairy cows.
I also want to say a slaughter house is like \"ConAgra's four-story Slap-Chop,\" but I don't know if the dairy cows will simply be shot and burned, or sold to meat packing plants to make people food.
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Our main milk-drinker is heading for college this Fall, so our household milk consumption will drop off dramatically. Score one for good timing!
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I wonder if selling cow meat (beef) is worth more money than producing milk. It probably is!
Well, now that ethanol is in the tank (!) corn prices will drop as existing supplies are no longer headed to fermentation. Teere will be some ripples as herds have to redevelop, but in the end it will all be good.
Something like 95% of the dairies in the US are owned by 4 or 5 companies. They've bought them up, keeping local names on them, to make folks think they are small non-corporate dairies. One of them is owned by the same company owning Jimmy Dean sausage, for example. So, dairy subsidies primarily support corporate owners - though they are critical for the remaining 5%, consisting of mainly small mom&pop dairies.
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Hell, I'm already paying 4-5$ per HALF gallon for local creamtop glass-bottle milk (and chocolate milk! OMG YUM). If this puts megadiary milk on par with localdairy costs, then I have no excuse NOT to go local!
Also, plz bring back milk truck delivery. kthx.
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I stopped drinking milk ages ago when I learned about the antibiotics and other toxins (including fecal matter) in it. ewwwwwww!
You should watch \"Fast Food Nation\" to learn something about the meat industry (I realize this is stretching the topic, but this movie needs more attention). And btw I'm mostly conservative in money matters, but when it comes to education, healthcare, health in general, and a few other social issues, my stance is neither con nor libbie - they BOTH have it wrong, as they are both 2 sides of the same freakin' coin - we all need to wake up and realize our politicians, including our lord and savior nObama, belong to those who run the world (the ones with all the money - the ones you never hear about because they're so rich they can buy secrecy, even from the freakin' press).
Think about it a bit, and do your own research - the truth IS out there!
...including our lord and savior nObama...
@banmojo: You know, that's a pretty long comment to write just to end it with, \"Pay no attention to anything I've said! I HAVE ZERO CREDIBILITY!\"
@banmojo: The truth IS indeed out there! I'm a lifelong milk drinker, drink about three to four gallons per week, and am pretty darn healthy.
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In related news: All beef hotdogs on sale, 1 lbs package 2 for $4.
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Speaking of supply and demand - Why don't we slaughter more people to reverse the ratio of, for example, people to jobs? Fewer people and more jobs would bring us out of this recession! Just think: less traffic, more food to go around, less overcrowding.
Bleh. It's always easier to destroy something to 'fix' a problem short-term than it is to sit down and think of a long-term solution.
Now where's an earth-bound comet or asteroid when you need one? One that'll hit the planet's big red 'Reset Button'
Why don't we slaughter more people to reverse the ratio of, for example, people to jobs?
@Makrel: Because that's murder? Because murder is illegal? Because we're not cannibals?
@ingenieur: I'm sure I can live without milk - or a number of things. But. I. Don't. Want. To.
Try your mind control somewhere else.
Great... just as we ween our baby off of formula to milk...
isn't there something in the bible specifically against that?
How many industries are there where the government tells the producer how much he can sell for? Tobacco, maybe? Even when farmers are allowed more for their milk, it doesn't cover rising overhead costs. The solution? Add more cows, increase production, then the price dives again. Why not just buy all our milk from New Zealand?
This is just sick to me... they want to kill their dairy cows on purpose, to reduce supply and increase the price of dairy products for the consumer. I'm cutting out dairy from my diet.
Vegetarian for over 13 years, and now I'll finally go vegan.
It's a shame that we treat living animals as products to be done away with, purchased, or created, based on our \"needs\" or convenience. Being human doesn't give us this \"right\". Don't consume or purchase animal products - and do the whole earth a favor.
This seems like the right thing to do.
Their costs are exceeding the amount they can charge. Left alone, the dairy farms would run as long as possible on credit, until enough failed (taking their milk out of the market) that demand and price increased and the others could recover.
This way, the loss is shared by all the farms, no one has to go bankrupt, and less money is lost to interest on loans...
people are still buying milk huh ? Might want to educate yourselves. I still love ice cream but damn its fattening
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They are cutting supply to respond to weak demand. That makes sense. Have no fear, if demand picks back up, there will by dairy cows to fill it. The cows are not in short supply... and this does increase the supply of beef.
@fantomesq: Well I've been vegetarian for 13 years (almost half my life) and this has finally inspired me to cut out dairy.
It's a dirty business and I don't want blood in my yogurt.
@fantomesq: Doesn't the UN help agricultural nations plant more crops and raise more cattle? Why not send some over there so they could have fresh milk?
@fantomesq: The reason demand dropped is because the retail price was too high. At $5/ gallon people start diluting it with water or going without. If the dairy cartel demands that price, then a lot of people are going to be too poor to afford milk.
@fantomesq: Ok, the beef comment was tongue in cheek... and human edible beef or not, it is still beef.
@fantomesq:
It is sad that this \"cutting of supply\" equates to animal sacrifice, taking the lives of a living, breathing creature.
I think beef for people comes primarily from steers. I have seen some ethnic restaurants specifically advertise \"cow beef,\" though.