Surplus forces dairy farmers to dump hundreds of thousands of gallons of milk

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    WEST BEND, Wis. (WISN) — Dairy farmers across Wisconsin are being asked to dump all their milk for the next week.

A milk surplus has arisen during the coronavirus crisis. Schools, that would normally have milk in their cafeterias, are now closed.

Many stores are limiting milk sales per family and plenty of households stocked up on milk at the beginning of the pandemic and don’t need any right now.

Ryan Elbe at Golden “E” Dairy farm in West Bend said they got a call from Farmers of America on Tuesday, asking them if they would be willing to dump their milk.

“All I know is, apparently, they can’t bottle milk they have nowhere to take it to,” Elbe said.

Elbe said they are going to be reimbursed for the milk they dump, but it is an incredible waste.

“Everything here is the same, it’s going to remain going the same. We’re going to feed our cows high quality feed, we’re going to continue milking them, we’re going to continue caring for the cows,” Elbe said. “The only thing is the milk is not leaving the farm. It is not getting loaded onto the milk tankers. It’s going directly down the drain.”

Golden “E” Dairy has about 2,400 cows, and Elbe said they’re dumping about 30,000 gallons of milk down the drain every day.

“We’re going to be dumping milk until late next week. They’re going to call us on Monday and we’re going to get a better idea of that, but for right now, it sounds like we will for sure be dumping until next Wednesday,” Elbe said.

Under the direction of Gov. Tony Evers, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has urged the U.S. Department of Agriculture to step in and support the dairy industry during this time.

In a letter, the two organizations requested the USDA purchase surplus commodities for redistribution to food banks, nutrition assistance programs, and other sources.

In the meantime, dairy farmers like Elbe will still need to dump all their milk.

“It’s very disheartening. A lot goes into producing milk these days,” Elbe said. “We’re putting all this work into it. All this pride, all this time and we’re just dumping it down the drain. It’s delicious, nutritious milk that would have been on a store shelf 24 hours from now, but it’s not.”

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