# farmers dump 43 million gallons of milk......\[edited title\]

**URL:** <https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farmers-dump-43-million-gallons-of-milk-edited-title/768674>\
**Category:** Cafe Society\
**Created:** [October 16, 2016, 1:43am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farmers-dump-43-million-gallons-of-milk-edited-title/768674 "2016-10-16T01:43:58Z")\
**Posts on this page:** 4\
**Page:** 2

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/burpo_the_wonder_mutt/32/365_2.png) [@burpo\_the\_wonder\_mutt](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/burpo_the_wonder_mutt)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 8:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farmers-dump-43-million-gallons-of-milk-edited-title/768674/21 "2016-10-16T20:57:15Z")

</div>

[And now, a pre-recorded message for **snfaulkner** :](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NUkibfzeQ7g)

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Shalmanese](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/45deac/32.png) [@Shalmanese](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shalmanese)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 9:02pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farmers-dump-43-million-gallons-of-milk-edited-title/768674/22 "2016-10-16T21:02:34Z")

</div>

> [@aceplace57](#):
>
> My uncle bought all his young calves from a local dairy. He bottle raised them on formula and eventually fattened them up on grain and hay. He took the steers to auction when they were almost a year old. He always sent one steer to the meat packer for the family freezer too. 😃
> 
> Dairies don’t have to sell calves. They can predict when market demand for milk will be down. The dairy can keep them and let the calf nurse from mom. Eventually sell the year old steers at auction. Selling beef is an extra revenue source.

Dairy cows are a different breed from meat cows and, if sold, generally only qualify as the lowest grades of meat. What you’re saying may occur at the individual, artisanal end of the market but generally commodity dairy producers will turn their excess heads into veal. I’ve never heard of commodity dairy producers attempt to make a profit from rearing excess dairy cattle into steers and I suspect the cost of feed + care would make this a loss making venture.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Chronos](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/chronos/32/134_2.png) [@Chronos](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Chronos)\
**Post date:** [October 16, 2016, 10:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farmers-dump-43-million-gallons-of-milk-edited-title/768674/23 "2016-10-16T22:20:12Z")

</div>

I’ve noticed the past three or four times I’ve been at the grocery store that milk has been consistently cheap lately. Though I wouldn’t expect demand for milk to be very flexible-- Nobody says “Oh, milk is expensive right now, I’ll just put off buying it for another week or two”.

---

<div class="post-metadata">

**Author:** ![Johnny\_L.A](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/johnny_l.a/32/1084_2.png) [@Johnny\_L.A](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Johnny_L.A)\
**Post date:** [October 23, 2016, 7:22pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farmers-dump-43-million-gallons-of-milk-edited-title/768674/24 "2016-10-23T19:22:40Z")

</div>

> [@Bumbazine](#):
>
> However, back to the OP, if farmers are dumping that much milk it seems just possible that there are more dairy farmers than the market can support.

But Heaven forfend the government drive those poor, hard-working, conservative farmers out of business by cutting off subsidies!

[Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/farmers-dump-43-million-gallons-of-milk-edited-title/768674.md?page=1)