June’s Dairy Month Brings a Mixed Bag for Area Dairies

Monday, June 26, 2023

WELLSVILLE-June has traditionally been Dairy Month and the industry celebrates the healthy choice of consuming dairy products for not only health aspects but also to help local producers. It seems pressure by political groups have encroached on the long time yearly celebration.

Since 1939 the dairy industry has used Dairy Month has encouraged families to make milk their beverage of choice based on the healthy and natural ingredients in it.

Jeff Cooper a dairyman from Wellsville has seen a lot of changes in the industry over his 35 years of milking cows. Some of the longtime Cache Valley dairies have closed. He bought the dairy from his grandparents 35 years ago and continues to milk.

“I’m one of the idiots still milking,” Cooper said. “It’s a tough business, but I’ve been doing it since I was small.”

Dairy West is an organization that represents dairy farm families in Idaho and Utah spent the month of June promoting the dairy industry and products locally, nationally and globally by kicking off June as Dairy Month with its Dairy Days of Summer.

Utahns may not know the significant role dairy plays in promoting an active, healthy lifestyle for all ages.

This year’s Dairy Month has not been so kind to the industry. Prices are down and dairy producers are not to excited about. Milk prices have plummeted, and some dairies in the U.S. are dumping their milk and others are selling off their cows.

One cure for the dairy slump is having more people consume dairy products.

Last year, milk hit $26 spot milk futures. This year the new contract lows are hitting $14.92 per hundred weight as of June 16.

Dairy has rich history in Cache Valley, and Southeast Idaho and it continues in other communities, companies and people from across the region.

Cache County leads the state in the number of dairies. U.S .Farm Data shows in Utah there are just over 400 dairy farms in the Beehive State. Weber County has 29, Utah has 33, Box Elder has 49, Beaver has 21 and Cache Valley has 127,

Current reports say there are some 64,155 dairy farms nationwide and Utah doesn’t crack the top ten when it comes to states with the most dairies.

The top 10 states with the most dairies are: Wisconsin, Minnesota, New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Michigan, Iowa, Kentucky, Missouri and California.

Source: cachevalleydaily.com