Dairy Report: Over Supply and Plummeting Prices Contribute to Milk Dumping

June is dairy month, but so far it has been a tough milk month for many dairy producers. Some processors have been forced to dump milk as of late amid oversupply and milk prices plummeting. Dairy market watchers say much of the upper Midwest’s processing capacity is maxed out.

Mitch Thompson is among those forced to dump milk. He owns Thompson Family Dairy in Lewiston, Minnesota, and he blames aging processing plants, lack of labor and an increase in milk production for the problem, but he says he hasn’t had to dump milk since last Sunday.

“We’ve dumped…it kind of bounced on and off between a couple of different [farms], but we’ve dumped probably three- or four-days’ worth of milk in total,” Thompson says. “It was spread out sometimes between when you would dump and when you wouldn’t.”

Thompson tells Dairy Herd Management that he is concerned this will happen again with ongoing labor issues along with dairy farmers getting even more efficient at producing more milk. He thinks the issue of too much milk on the market isn’t going away soon.

DFA Withdraws Membership from IDFA

There are reports that Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) is withdrawing its membership from the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA.) Reports say the withdrawal is over IDFA’s plan to go with a single issued petition to modify the Federal Milk Marketing Order system. DFA calling the milk pricing policy proposal divisive adding, “The policy position contradicts what [DFA] believes to be in the best interest of farmers and the dairy industry.”

IDFA’s senior vice president of public affairs and communications responding saying IDFA feels they are taking a balanced and inclusive approach that is in the best interest of the dairy supply chain. The USDA has said it is consider 38 proposals from 12 different organizations on proposed pricing changes to the milk market.

Ear Tags are Back

It is getting easier to find ear tags once again.  One of the major suppliers of the ear tags, AllFlex, is back in full production mode. During the pandemic the company was dealing with the availability of workers and the supply of raw materials to make the tags. Now, Merck Animal Health, the company behind those tags, says it has invested in expanding manufacturing and the company is back up to pre-covid levels.

For more industry news, read:

• Unimpressive USDA Milk Production Report Spells Surplus in More Ways Than One
• Economist Shares It Will Be a Tough Year Ahead for Dairy
• Once Again, Minnesota Dairy Farm a Tour Stop for Luke Bryan