Auditors for Dairy Cow 'Retirement' Start Work
About 200 million pounds of cheese production is about to leave the market thanks to the latest Cooperatives Working Together buyout.
Compiled by staff
Published: May 21, 2009
Cooperatives Working Together has auditors visiting the 388 farms tentatively accepted in the program's seventh herd retirement. The process is underway this week for removing nearly 103,000 cows that produced about 2 billion pounds of milk in 2008.
CWT officials released more detailed information about the size and scope of the self-help program's largest-ever herd retirement program with 60% of the farms selected located east of the Mississippi River, while 79% of the cows to be removed are from Western and Southwest regions of the U.S.
Jim Tillison, Chief Operating Officer of CWT, put the scope of this herd retirement round in perspective by estimating that "the amount of milk we're removing is equivalent to eliminating the future production of 200 million pounds of cheddar cheese per year."
Farmers had submitted a total of 535 herd retirement bids last month to CWT, and CWT was able to accept the nearly three-quarters of them. CWT is also removing approximately 1,000 bred heifers, which is an option under the program.
The table below outlines the program for 2009.
|
Region |
Northeast |
Southeast |
Midwest |
Southwest |
West |
Total |
|
Total Bids Received |
69 |
72 |
178 |
89 |
127 |
535 |
|
Total Bids Accepted |
42 |
56 |
134 |
68 |
88 |
388 |
|
Total Cows Offered |
7,287 |
8,954 |
11,754 |
62,221 |
71,591 |
161,807 |
|
Total Cows Accepted |
5,156 |
7,042 |
8,595 |
43,607 |
38,498 |
102,898 |
|
Total Milk Offered |
139.5 million pounds |
145.7 million pounds |
208.0 million pounds |
1.13 billion pounds |
1.34 billion pounds |
2.96 billion pounds |
|
Total Milk Accepted |
104.7 million pounds |
117.3 million pounds |
154.1 million pounds |
862.8 million pounds |
761.1 million pounds |
2.0 billion pounds |
|
% Milk Accepted |
5% |
6% |
8% |
43% |
38% |
100% |
|
% Cows Accepted |
5% |
7% |
8% |
42% |
37% |
100% |
|
States in each region |
CT, DE, ME, MA, MD, NH, NJ, NY, PA, RI, VT |
AL, AR, GA, KY, LA, MO, MS, NC, SC, TN, VA, WV |
IL, IN, IA, MI, MN, ND, OH, SD, WI |
AR, CO, KS, NE, NM, OK, TX |
CA, ID, MT, NV, OR, UT, WA, WY |
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