The early spring combined with the warm and humid summer makes for a plentiful cranberry harvest. But, not so for the dairy industry.
When comparing this summer’s weather to that of the previous summer, Wisconsin Farm Bureau President, and dairy farmer, Bill Bruins says it’s like the difference between day and night. “What has affected dairy farmers is the high humidity along with the warm temperatures. Cows can’t operate that way very efficiently, and so we’ve lost quite a bit of production.”
Bruins says, in the long run, the reduced supply could lead to higher milk prices for consumers … and that includes all the other dairy products. “Interesting aside, only about 30-percent of the total milk we produce ends up in the bottle these days. About 70-percent is put into hard product — cheese, ice cream, yogurt, and the list goes on.”
Bruins says we’ll know in a month or two about the extent of the supply reduction and price increase. He says as school districts around the state purchase milk for their lunches, the resulting higher milk prices will be good news for dairy farmers and the state’s $26.5 billion dairy industry.