Low milk prices mean early death for tens of thousands of U.S. cows

Since the price of raw milk fell from soaring heights last year to a four-decade low, many dairy farms have flirted with bankruptcy. And nowhere is the farmland struggle more apparent than to the cows that pay the ultimate price.

Tens of thousands of cows have been sent to early slaughter in recent months — part of an effort by the National Milk Producers Federation to shore up the price of raw milk, reports dscriber.com. Jerry Kozak, the president and CEO of the milk producers federation, says the plan, which happens to be flooding beef markets with hamburger, ought to do the trick.

The Johnson Dairy in Eaton, one of the largest U.S. milk operations in bankruptcy court, recently marked most of its 9,000 cows for culling through the milk federation’s Cooperatives Working Together program. Since the start of herd retirements last year, the Arlington, Va.-based program has removed some 4.8 billion pounds of milk-producing capacity from the market.

Click here for the dscriber.com story.

NORTHERN COLORADO BUSINESS REPORT: Johnson Dairy culls most of its 9,000-cow herd