Milk Prices

[Brentsbox]

Yeah, from what i am seeing, it is a great deal.  And yes, I have started giving her cheese.  I gave her some really good mozz last week. 

I went to wal-mart this morning (something we rarely do) and looked at the milk prices and couldn't believe that regular old whole milk was $4.89 a gallon.  That is insane seeing that it comes from the processing plant that is just 4 miles from the store. 

[Sailor Con Queso]

Fascinating. Milk at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club is just $2.10 here.

[DeejayDebi]

Fascinating. Milk at Wal-Mart or Sam's Club is just $2.10 here.

For a gallon or a half gallon?

[Sailor Con Queso]

A gallon. Farmers here are obviously losing money on their milk.

[DeejayDebi]

Farmers don't make squat no matter what they charge at the market.

[WhiteSageFarms]

I find this fascinating... http://farm.ewg.org/progdetail.php?fips=00000&progcode=dairy

I'm not sure how the dairy subsidies relate to the small dairies, but if it's anything like small farmers, the subsidies are helping wipe out smaller farms, and helping the larger farms/corporate farms buy up more land.

[Bishop]

In Australia the farmer has just had an increase from 20 to 22 cents per litre, yet it retails at $2.50 for 2Lts for the very cheap stuff.  Somebody is getting rich!

[Tea]

And sadly it's not the person that should be.

[Buck47]

I live in NE Iowa, about 12 miles from the Mississippi river and Wisconsin. 

I pay $2.00 per gallon for raw cows milk & $2.75 for raw goats milk.

The Raw cows milk is running about 4% butter fat. (Average this area is 3.5%.

Not sure what the current cost per 100 weight is (pricing changes)

Not sure what store price is as I don't buy milk from the grocery.

I can tell you the milk truck goes down my road every other day at 10:50 AM 


Regards:

[susanky]

Wow!  You are lucky.  I didn't know the milk truck still went down ANY street in this country any more.  I still feel fortunate that I can go to the farmer and get it (only 5 miles).  I pay about the same.  But having the truck come to you....    sweet!
Susan

[Buck47]

Wow!  You are lucky.  I didn't know the milk truck still went down ANY street in this country any more.  I still feel fortunate that I can go to the farmer and get it (only 5 miles).  I pay about the same.  But having the truck come to you....    sweet!
Susan

I didn't mean to imply that I buy from the Milk truck. You see the milk truck has a scheduled route and he passes my home at the same time on his route.

There four or five different dairy's who pick up milk in this area.  Farmers sell depending on what type of milk they are selling and who is looking to add on new customers.

I buy my milk from friends & neighbors who run small dairy's.  The conversation goes something like this

"Hi Mr farmer can I buy some milk from you?

Farmer ... No I can't sell you milk for your consumption.

Well can I buy some milk for my cats?

Farmer ... Sure how much do you want?



BTW: The pricing is set by the US Gov "Milk Marketing Order" A Colossal piece of confusing  Government regulation.


Regards:

[Helen]

$2.75 for raw goat milk... My dream. I pay $5 for the half gallon. 

Not many dairies in my corner of SoCal. 

[mtncheesemaker]

I pay $10 for a gallon of goat's milk from friends and $5-6 for cow milk. I recently had a bout of angst over the "high" price of milk and asked DH if I should get a cow. After all, we have 160 acres of grass/alfalfa hay, a barn, etc.. He went fairly ballistic, and said that whatever the milk cost, it was cheap compared to buying a cow, feeding, vet bills, etc., etc., etc..
So, I thank those who are willing to do it for me, and am grateful for the opportunity to buy their gorgeous milk. I wish more people had the opportunity to make that choice.
The variation in price of P/H milk across the country is interesting.

[fiddletree]

I pay 1 euro per liter for raw milk, from the dairy across the field in front of my house.  So, whenever I want raw milk I load up my bag with my milk bottles and buy fresh raw milk from the milk vending machine outside the barn, day or night! It's pretty awesome.  The only problem is that that local cows (I don't know what they are called, but they are brown mountain cows with stumpy legs and cuter than regular cows) make milk that tastes distinctly like fontina, which is pretty much the main cheese made here. So, every cheese I make tastes like fontina.  Other than that it is awesome milk.

I'm still looking for a goat milk source... we have friends with a goat farm up the mountain that would sell us some, but it's a bit of a drive and the roads are too snowy for the next 4 months or so to attempt the drive up there.