Greater Red River Valley
Eye on Agriculture Guide
GOT MILK?

By Ley Bouchard

Long ago and not so very far away, my folks had a cow we called Goldie — a Jersey cow; she had big brown kind eyes and a reddish-brown coat. She could produce milk like no other. We loved Goldie. She provided extra cash for the household, too. We sold the milk and cream we didn’t use to the Halstad Creamery a couple times a week. With Goldie’s milk, we churned butter in a hand-operated glass 2-gallon churn.

My dad got tired of hearing my three siblings and me complain about turning the handle on the churn; the turning had to be consistent and non-stop to produce butter. Dad decided to build a little engine that would power the churn so we would

not get sore arms, or maybe it was so we would stop complaining. And Dad was an inventor at heart.

Those were the best days of my childhood. Oh, not churning butter, but the whole experience of taking care of Goldie, milking and making more products from the milk she produced. Although I am sure my older brother doesn’t remember it as fondly, as he was the one who had to care for Goldie, carry water to her, muck up the stall after her, and milk her! Do most children know where milk and dairy products come from?

What happened to that creamery in Halstad, Minn? Even Shelly, Minn. had a creamery until the 1980s. Heck, what happened to all the small dairy farms?

“Some people get to retirement age and there is no one else to farm it; others were not able to make ends meet or were not able to compete,” are some of the reasons, says Bob Lefebvre, executive director of the Minnesota Milk Producers Association.

“Yeah, and what’s happened to the hardware store? They are fewer and farther between. It all leads to the consumer’s desire to continue to have low cost, high quality and safe food. If we start with what the consumer wants and needs, that has pushed it back down the food chain so consumers continue to have low cost, high quality food, which led to consolidation within the industry as a result of consumer demand.”

“Well, I think the biggest challenge for dairy producers is … all the factors that affect their ability to maintain their business and way of life. Infrastructure, in our area, it is a big issue, input and where the milk goes,” said Lefebvre. “So if you’re up in Plummer, your milk could go to Thief River Falls or Cass Clay, or come down to Perham. So that infrastructure has a major impact in areas where we do have an infrastructure to support.”

“There is a lot of volatility year to year, the price of inputs, feed is so expensive. Corn is $6. Gas prices are high. Electricity is stable but dairy farmers are like everyone else – trying to make a living. Farmers are on the bottom of the value chain. All the way through that chain some are able to capture greater value than others. When you are the foundation of that totem pole, you are the one that receives the least margin on that totem pole.”

How much do farmers make on a gallon? “That changes depending upon volatility. Farmers are paid on a 100 pound. Farmers receive $15 per 100 pound; farmers make about $1.35 per gallon.”

IDFA Chief Economist Bob Yonkers wrote about the dairy market Feb. 4: “Believe it or not, many of the same factors that led to record-high farm milk and dairy product prices beginning in 2007 and lasting into 2008 are again at play this year. The global economy is recovering from the world economic crisis, especially in developing countries. World demand for food in general and dairy products specifically, like in 2007-2008, is again very robust and expected to continue strong.

“As a result, international dairy product prices have been rising and continue to increase … wheat, grain and oilseeds prices have been marching higher for months now. Remember that feed costs are the single largest factor that determines the cost of producing milk in the United States. Many of the same factors discussed above are leading to higher food prices overall.”

The average cow produces 20,000 pounds of milk per year, or about 50 pounds of milk per day. There are approximately 4,475 dairy farms in Minnesota and the average dairy farm has about 105 cows, according to Lefebvre. The smallest dairy farmer may have as few as 20-30 cows, but the largest single dairy operation consists of more than 6,000 head of cows.

It is a mega-industry tied to global markets; an industry that has grown up a lot since the 1960s, when nearly every community had a creamery.

Don’t ask me what happened to Goldie. She disappeared one day and we were told she was sold, but we never pressed the issue. Some things are better not known.