Of the many things that the U.S. dairy industry learned in 2013, there is one that should resonate loudly with every dairy producer, processor and marketer:
Drastically reducing the maximum legal somatic cell count limit for raw Grade A milk does not cause the world to end. Last year gave us several new reminders:
Reminder No. 1: The U.S. SCC limit continues to be 750,000, despite multiple industry efforts in recent years to move out of the Stone Age and into the 21st century.
Reminder No. 2: USDA reported that in 2012 the average SCC for all herds on Dairy Herd Improvement Association testing was just 200,000.
Reminder No. 3: The SCC limit in California, the country's largest dairy state, has been 600,000 since 1990. Ever since that "unfair hardship" was imposed upon its producers, all that total production there has done is double.
Reminder No. 4: Idaho, the country's third-largest dairy state, lowered its SCC limit to 400,000 in July 2012. Dairies there haven't made a peep or skipped a beat.
Reminder No. 5: Oregon lowered its limit to 500,000 at that same time as Idaho – and with the identical results.
Hello national dairy leadership… can we please follow the examples being set by these states and adopt a national SCC standard that doesn't allow marginal quality milk to be passed off to consumers?
