by Amanda Smith, Associate Editor
It's not easy to stem the spigot's flow when milk production starts rolling. Producers in the New York milk market, which is operating at full capacity, are currently feeling the heat.
Elevated milk production in the Northeast market and a decline in exports, down 78,250 metric tons or 15 percent since March, have contributed to an unusually large volume of milk in the state.
As a result of this overflow, nine independent producers within New York's Lewis County have lost a home for their milk. All producers have been given a 30-day notice, and will no longer be able to ship their milk to Queensboro Farm Products effective May 31, 2015.
"The balancing plants, which serve to move milk around and keep plants at capacity, are full. Cheese plants are also running at full capacity. The milk being produced in the state is exceeding fluid milk needs and the demand from food manufacturers," noted Michele Ledoux, executive director of Lewis County's Cornell Cooperative Extension.
The affected dairies range in size from 17 to 240 cows and average 58,000 pounds of milk per day. They have made calls to other co-ops in search of a home for their milk. The dairymen are currently working to form a cooperative, in the hopes that it will better enable them to market their product.
"Several independent processors shut people off because they had too much milk. Quite often these are smaller producers or they have quality problems . . . that's how independent processors handle the situation," noted one Pennsylvania dairyman who was unaffected by this situation.
At the county's southern end, Oneida-Lewis Co-op is experiencing a similar situation. For the past month, the co-op has been on the spot market either daily or weekly, searching for an outlet for its milk.
All totaled, approximately 10 percent of the county's dairies are impacted by this overflow situation.
Heightened milk flow isn't isolated to the Northeast. A strong spring flush in the Northeast and Upper Midwest caused March cheese output to swell by 11.3 percent from February. Butter grew 3.5 percent.
Processors in the Mideast order also received 18.5 percent more milk during the first three months of the year compared to last year. Reduced demand from Southeast bottling plants also contributed to the situation.
(c) Hoard's Dairyman Intel 2015
May 11, 2015
