| | Stock Up On Meat & Dairy Products Now! Storm Coming in 2010
| PA Patriot Guy
User ID: 630142
10/27/2009 5:23 PM
Report abusive post | Stock Up On Meat & Dairy Products Now! Storm Coming in 2010
| Quote |
Low milk prices have dairy farmers killing cows
By MICHAEL J. CRUMB (AP)
DES MOINES, Iowa — After burning through $1 million in savings and seeing no end to their losses, dairy farmers Jake and Lori Slegers figured they didn't have much choice — they had to kill the cows.
So one day last summer their sons tagged all 1,571 cows, loaded them onto trailers at their farm south of Fresno, Calif., and watched them rumble away to a slaughterhouse.
Lori Slegers said her husband came into the house and broke down.
"He said it was the hardest thing he ever had to do," she said. "Luckily, my boys could do it."
Growing demand in developing nations drove up milk prices when times were good, and dairy farmers expanded their herds. But the global recession hurt exports and left farmers with too much milk on their hands. Milk processors cut the price they were willing to pay farmers, in many cases below what it cost to produce milk.
In the past year, hundreds of farmers have come to the same conclusion as the Slegers: The only way to raise prices is to reduce the supply, and that means killing cows. In some cases, whole herds have been turned into hamburger. In others, farmers have kept their best producers and sent the rest to slaughter.
The Slegers turned to an industry-run program called Cooperatives Working Together, or CWT, which pays farmers going out of business to kill — rather than sell — their cows and help remaining dairy operations by reducing the milk supply. Until this year, the 6-year-old program had paid for about 275,000 dairy cows to be slaughtered. This year alone, it has paid for more than 225,000 to be killed.
In addition, individual farmers are sending cows to slaughter at a pace of about 55,000 per week, said Robert Cropp, a professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin. At that rate, about 3 million cows could be killed in a year.
Lifelong dairy farmers Keith Sammon, 55, and his brother, Mark, 53, decided to sell their herd to CWT last summer after considering the low milk prices, the cost of modernizing their operation and some personal health issues.
Keith Sammon recalled the somber mood as he loaded the 80 cows onto livestock trailers one Sunday morning at their farm in Faribault, Minn.
"As we milked the cows ... it was pretty quiet, but then my son came out with my granddaughter, who was 10 months old and she was just beginning to walk around. Just having her around made it easier," Keith Sammon said. "We would load the cows for a while and then go back and play with her for a while. It kind of took your mind off of it."
The slaughter has helped some. Dairy farms pay CWT 10 cents for every hundred pounds of milk they produce. As the cows have been killed, the price processors pay for milk has gone up an average of 66 cents per hundred pounds of milk, said Scott Brown, an assistant research professor for dairy livestock at the University of Missouri-Columbia.
Consumers haven't seen prices go up because processors still pay dairy farmers much less than the retail price, Cropp said. In fact, grocery store prices may still drop some because the milk supply remains much greater than the demand, he said.
That's because even as thousands of cows are killed and many farmers call it quits, others are increasing their herds. In Wisconsin, the nation's second-largest dairy producer after California, the number of cows increased to about 1.25 million in August, up about 5,000 from the year before, according to state figures.
Most of the growth was the result of state tax credits and grants approved a couple of years ago to help the industry modernize and expand. When those credits were approved, the industry was booming.
Also, Wisconsin farmers haven't been hit as hard as those in western states such as California, where farmers must buy more of their feed. High feed, utility and other costs have compounded the losses created by the drop in milk prices.
CWT spokesman Christopher Galen said most of the cows slaughtered in the program have come from western farms.
For the Slegers, the future is cloudy. They are still farming corn, sorghum and winter oats this year but are looking at moving away and starting over. They're not sure what they would do.
"We still don't know if it was the smartest move we ever made," Lori Slegers said. "One day, when the dairy business turns around, will we kick ourselves? We promised we wouldn't do that."
[link to www.google.com]
Farmers are killing cows to raise the price of milk (and eventually beef). Below is another article detailing this.
Sticker shock at the supermarket: Food prices poised to rise
Dan Burrows
Oct 15th 2009
If there's any silver lining to a recession -- albeit a thin one -- it's that consumer prices typically go down. Make no mistake, deflation is a sign of a sick economy, but at least the net effect of cheaper prices for the basic necessities -- food, clothing and shelter -- helps folks get by when they are struggling to make ends meet.
But consumers should brace themselves for things to change, especially at the supermarket. As the global and U.S. economies emerge from the downturn, economists predict that there is going to be some sticker shock at the checkout line. Food prices, they say, are heading higher and when you combine that with an unemployment rate that's expected to linger near a three-decade high for at least another year, it's even more unwelcome news.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture expects overall food prices to rise as much as 4 percent in the U.S. by the end of 2010. Yet, some economists think they could climb by as much as 5 percent. Even using the government's more conservative numbers, the price for eggs is forecast to rise 3 percent and beef is seen increasing 2 percent. Lamb, seafood and fish? All three categories are expected to jump as much as 5 percent.
A 5 percent boost in your grocery bill may not seem terribly devastating, but consider this: If you spend $300 a week on groceries now, you'll need to squeeze a raise of about a thousand dollars a year out of your boss (don't forget withholding tax) just to keep up with higher chicken, beef, pork and dairy prices. Good luck accomplishing that little feat with a 9.8 percent unemployment rate and companies looking into every nook and cranny in order to cut costs.
No doubt it's frustrating to think that food prices will resume their long upward trend, but that's the reality of supply and demand in the global marketplace, economists say. After all, before the world economy fell off a cliff last year, food prices were soaring out of control thanks, in part, to growing demand from emerging markets like China and India and rising oil prices. From January 2007 to June 2008, global food prices rose 60 percent hitting an all-time high, according to the United Nations.
Since that peak was hit, global food prices have retreated some 15%, meaning consumers are still paying about 45 percent more for food now than they were just two years ago. Bill Lapp, former chief economist at food giant ConAgra (CAG) and now president of Advanced Economic Solutions, a consulting firm in Omaha, Neb. that specializes in analysis of food costs, says at the peak of the global food crisis, food prices in the U.S. grew 6 percent. In 2010, he thinks they could jump 5 percent. Yikes.
"The challenge for next year will be the fact that pork, beef, chicken and dairy producers are all losing significant amounts of money," Lapp says. "As they reduce supplies, that will cause prices to rise. In 2008, cereal grains led food costs higher. In 2010, it will be meat and dairy."
Apart from the fact that food producers will need to raise prices in order to stay in business -- and appease shareholders -- there are global macroeconomic factors at play, too, says Michael Roberts, an economist at North Carolina State University. "Commodity costs [such as corn, soybeans and wheat] are coming up because traders are speculating that the recovery is coming," he says.
While it may not feel like it here at home, the giant economies of China and India -- not to mention other emerging markets in Asia and elsewhere -- are already starting to heat up. That increased demand will cause prices to rise -- in fact, you can already see it happening in the commodity markets, he says. (The classic Eddie Murphy film "Trading Places" illustrated this well: Yes, there really are people who profit from buying and selling pork bellies and concentrated frozen orange juice.) Meanwhile, the weak U.S. dollar means we will be exporting more of our homegrown food overseas, causing prices to rise at home.
Finally, let's not forget the impact of ethanol and other alternative fuels on food prices. The U.S. will enjoy record corn production in 2009, Lapp says, but more than a third of that will be diverted to ethanol production. And, unless Congress changes the Energy Independence and Security Act of 2007, the amount of corn going into our gas tanks will rise another 25 percent over the next five years. Cattle, chicken and hogs are fed corn and soybeans, meaning the folks who raise these animals will need to raise prices to pay their own higher feedstock bills.
Corn-based ethanol and soy-based biodiesel also has the effect of making these foodstuffs trade like energy. As crude and heating oil prices rise, so too do the prices of corn and soy in the marketplace -- as well as the cost to produce and ship the food. Corn prices have come down substantially during the recession, but as Lapp points out, they are still 50 percent above historical norms.
The end result? Consumers should keep an eye on oil prices, which not only impact what they pay at the pump but also what they pay at the checkout counter.
[link to www.dailyfinance.com] |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 803305
10/27/2009 5:33 PM | | Re: Stock Up On Meat & Dairy Products Now! Storm Coming in 2010 | Quote |
Dairy cows make shitty hamburger. |
| PA Patriot Guy
User ID: 630142 (OP)
10/27/2009 5:38 PM | | Re: Stock Up On Meat & Dairy Products Now! Storm Coming in 2010 | Quote |
According to the website Cooperatives Working Together or CWT [link to www.cwt.coop] this is the largest reduction in milk production and cow numbers since the government-run Dairy Termination Program of the mid-1980's. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 736255
10/27/2009 5:49 PM | | Re: Stock Up On Meat & Dairy Products Now! Storm Coming in 2010 | Quote |
Good time to buy your own dairy cows, like chickens with eggs they supply something alive or dead. Perfect investment. You can eat them, try that with gold/silver. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 768705
10/27/2009 5:54 PM | | Re: Stock Up On Meat & Dairy Products Now! Storm Coming in 2010 | Quote |
There is no way milk is $4.00/gal one month and $2.00 the next without somebody is siphoning off the differece. Just like oil $40 one month $140 the next.
This is the "service" your wall street "investors" and bankers provide, market disruption. Everybody but them get royally SCREWED.
 . ... .... ...... |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 804382
10/27/2009 5:58 PM | | Re: Stock Up On Meat & Dairy Products Now! Storm Coming in 2010 | Quote |
Wall Street needs to be DESTROYED............. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 802124
10/27/2009 5:58 PM | | Re: Stock Up On Meat & Dairy Products Now! Storm Coming in 2010 | Quote |
Is anyone noticing that their milk seems to be spoiling before the expiration date - more than usual?
I wonder if they are trying to store this extra milk longer and relabel it. |
| PA Patriot Guy
User ID: 630142 (OP)
10/27/2009 6:02 PM | | Re: Stock Up On Meat & Dairy Products Now! Storm Coming in 2010 | Quote |
Is anyone noticing that their milk seems to be spoiling before the expiration date - more than usual?
I wonder if they are trying to store this extra milk longer and relabel it. Quoting: Anonymous Coward 802124
I haven't. However, about a year ago I quit buying milk at Aldi's because it kept spoiling, or was already spoiled when bought. I'll buy damn near anything else at Aldi's, but not milk - no way. |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 804011
10/27/2009 9:43 PM | | Re: Stock Up On Meat & Dairy Products Now! Storm Coming in 2010 | Quote |
OP points out in his article....
"even as thousands of cows are killed and many farmers call it quits, others are increasing their herds. In Wisconsin, the nation's second-largest dairy producer after California, the number of cows increased to about 1.25 million in August, up about 5,000 from the year before, according to state figures."
and you still wonder why the small farmer is killing his cows and the corporate farmers is increasing his herd.....c'mon, its the same ole shit....GREED.....they kill off the little peoples few bucks and it gives them even more. Isn't that what happened with walmart killin the little guys? GREED wins hands down, every time! |
| Anonymous Coward
User ID: 777582
10/28/2009 12:35 AM | | Re: Stock Up On Meat & Dairy Products Now! Storm Coming in 2010 | Quote |
When the cows disappear, we'll get sheep and goats. It may be better for the economy. Cuts down on oil and emissions to have a sheep or two in your garage instead of a lawnmower. An added bonus is less heart attacks from too much red meat. |
| Kirk
User ID: 749840
10/28/2009 12:45 AM
 | | Re: Stock Up On Meat & Dairy Products Now! Storm Coming in 2010 | Quote |
Is anyone noticing that their milk seems to be spoiling before the expiration date - more than usual?
I wonder if they are trying to store this extra milk longer and relabel it.
I haven't. However, about a year ago I quit buying milk at Aldi's because it kept spoiling, or was already spoiled when bought. I'll buy damn near anything else at Aldi's, but not milk - no way. Quoting: PA Patriot Guy 630142
Monsanto milk.
Cows on RGBH often have mastitis. The allowable bacteria count is higher than a clean cow. Translates into faster increase in bacteria count when you start with a higher count.
pride of lions...gaggle of geese...a murder of crows...and my favorite....A CONGRESS of baboons.... |
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