The price of milk and other dairy products is something that many families struggle with each and every week. And, it seems as though these prices just keep creeping higher and higher in some areas. Unfortunately, as consumers are now finding out, at least one of the reasons for rising dairy prices may be a bit more nefarious than we originally thought.
In order to raise the prices of dairy products like milk and cream, some farmers actually helped kill off dairy cows. Yep—you read that right! Dairy cows were being slaughtered, just so consumers—in the end—could pay more for milk! Because, of course, we don’t pay enough for it as it is.
This awful scheme was part of something called the herd retirement program, which was led by Cooperatives Working Together (CWT), a farmer led and funded cooperative run by the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF). A lawsuit filed against CWT in September of 2011 claims that the cooperative illegally inflated milk prices by paying farmers to slaughter cows prematurely. Allegedly, the cooperatives paid above-market prices for dairy cows owned by the members. The cows were then sent to be slaughtered much earlier than they normally would have. Overall, roughly 500,000 cows are thought to have been slaughtered under this program.
Why, you ask? It’s Economics 101, folks. Supply and demand. When supply is low and demand is high, companies can charge more for a products. So, less cows means less supply, which drives up the prices of household dairy staples like milk and yogurt.
A US District Court granted preliminary approval of the $52 million settlement on August 25th, and the final approval hearing is slated for December 16th. This class action lawsuit could lead to a payout to certain consumers who bought milk, cream, half & half, yogurt, cottage cheese or sour cream from 2003 to the present. You must have been a resident of one of the following states from at least part of 2003 to the present:
- Arizona
- California
- Kansas
- Massachusetts
- Michigan
- Missouri
- Nebraska
- Nevada
- New Hampshire
- Oregon
- South Dakota
- Tennessee
- Vermont
- West Virginia
- Wisconsin
- Washington DC
Consumers who meet this criteria can find more information and submit their claims on BoughtMilk.com.
I don’t know about you, but I know that I find this price-fixing scheme disgusting and despicable! Buying milk and other dairy products is NOT cheap for my household either! It’s not unheard of for us to go through almost three gallons of milk each week, not to mention other dairy products like sour cream and yogurt.
Of course it irritates me that farmers and cooperatives are using underhanded methods of driving up prices on a household staple. That’s obviously pretty rotten. But, the absolute worst part of this awful scheme was the way that it was done. Hundreds of thousands of animals were slaughtered, and for what? Money! The bottom line, period. To me, that is simply unacceptable!
Unfortunately, that seems to be the way things are more and more these days. It’s all about the bottom line. The lives behind it all, the ones that make everything possible, are no longer important to the powers that be. It seems as if we are all expendable these days, people and animals alike, because all that matters is just that little bit of extra money in some fat cat’s pocket. Meanwhile, the regular folks on a budget are simply scraping to get buy.
So, yes—slaughtering hundreds of thousands animals so Americans can pay more for milk absolutely infuriates me!
Liz E
This is why we need to reducereduce, or better yet, replace all dairy products with plant-based products for the mercy of the animals who are ALWAYS the victims at the hands of these corporations and money mongers. It’s called mercy….we ultimately have the control of these deplorable acts, on whether they continue or not bc we are paying the money!!!! Ignorance is no longer an option, we all know better.
Tracy
My family is in the ranching business. I’ll give you the evening to accurately inform yourself on BOTH sides of the issue before I completely school you…. It always amuzes me how clueless people who know nothing about ranching and farming get on the Internet and rant and rave about things they know nothing about! Wise up! Learn the facts before spewing an opinion. PS, I love this site, but after this post its kind of doubtful that I’ll be back! Get back to the basics of finding great deals rather than making it a forum to share your opinion.
Jessica
I completely agree with Tracy! I grew up on a dairy farm where we struggled to make ends meet. What a disappointment to read this on one of my favorite websites!
Nicole
As a farmer’s wife I 100% agree with you! Dairy farmers are going bankrupt because they are loosing money on their products. I doubt I will ever follow Freebies2Deals again. You have absolutely no idea about this topic. Bring Melea back!!
Krissy
I spent all day yesterday and most of this morning researching this topic before deciding to write about it. I could go MUCH MORE in-depth about this topic, but this article was meant as a notice to all of the followers of the class action lawsuit. Farming is a tough industry with a lot of struggles and hardship, no doubt. I have family in the farming business and I know the struggle it takes, so anybody in the farming business gets my sympathy. Not just dairy, but ANY type of farming industry. However, there’s no denying that what happened here is pretty horrifying and unethical.
Tracy
Your response clearly proves that you continue to be uninformed. Outside of acknowledging that you sympathize with PETA, you have given no viable evidence to support your cause. If you were honestly associated with the ranching business, you would know that 500,000 head of dairy cattle lost since 2003 is a drop in the bucket comparable to what is slaughtered yearly to feed the world. I’m also positive that those 500,000 head didn’t get dumped somewhere, but ended up in someone’s kitchen (maybe yours!) in the form of dinner. If it means that the livelihood of dairy farmers around the country were able to keep their business alive, that’s truly what matters! Because you have used this amazing, deal finding site to spew your uninformed opinion, youve lost my business! Cheers!
Krissy
Your family is in the ranching business, so I can understand your strong opinion on this. However, everything in the article was a fact. There was a plan made to slaughter cattle for the direct purpose of raising the price on dairy, and a settlement was reached. Like I said before, I have family in the farming industry so I know how tough it is. I’m not here trying to change anybody’s mind. I can see both sides of the story.
Craig Schank
‘Seriously, this is a “class action suit”. All you are doing is supporting lawyers. You will get pennies. They will get millions. In addition, you need to read more–be better informed. You’re correct that there was an over supply of milk. Milk prices were low. CWT is actually funded by the individual dairymen in this country. They agreed to sell off the low producing cows in their herds and did get a premium over normal slaughter prices but they had paid into the “pool of funds” so in essence, they were paying themselves this premium with their own money. Overall, milk prices increased because of the supply and demand law of economics however, there was a decreased need for grain/corn/alfalfa/other feedstuffs therefore decreasing the carbon footprint caused by the raising of these crops. This program saved the livelihood of many dairy families which would have gone out of business had this program not been available. The whole pricing structure of milk is complex as the government does have a support price factored in because the U.S. government is a big consumer of dairy products, WIC, welfare, school lunch programs, etc.
sarah
I’m from a farming family. You are slandering farmers and ranchers. You need to really re think what you’re writing. This is really upsetting.
Dairymom
I am a dairy farmer. However, not from any of these states or part of any of the companies listed. I just want you to know that your countries leadership has all but shut down dairy trade because of the labels on it that you wanted. Manufactures and store owners refuse to bring down prices for you because you need $15/ hour plus health insurance. Dairy farmers are failing because at the same time we are getting rock bottom prices and thousands, yes literally thousands, more rules to follow. My husband works 16hr days 365 days a year and I work right along with him as much as I can with 2 kids in tow and we can’t afford to put food on our own table. Don’t make this worse for us by putting millions in lawyers pockets. Vote for people who believe in safe, responsible, sustainable, and yes reasonably affordable food Made In America. We are dangerously close to outsourcing all our food and this lawsuit makes that closer and closer to your new reality.
Angeline
I agree with some of the other posts. This is a ridiculous lawsuit that is only going to cause detriment to our already fragile agricultural industry. Beef cattle are slaughtered everyday and no one blinks an eye. I am sure these dairy cattle were used for meat once they were slaughtered also. So it was not a wasteful death. It was simply repurposing resources. No one complained that the price of beef has been lower due to this. Articles like these are not good for our country. I prefer to have food come from our country in case catastrophy hits and we are unable to get it from other countries. The more farmers who are out of business the more we will rely on outside food sources causing a danger to everyone. This is very disappointing to read, and especially from this source.
krisyi
I miss the old freebies2deals. I feel like this site has gone down hill since Melea. You should do a post where we can submit recommendations on how to make the site better
Krissy
I’m sorry you feel that way 🙠You can email me suggestions directly for any recommendations: krissy@freebies2deals.com
Jenny
All I can say is wow! You, Krissy seem to be very aggressive in your defense of your point of view. This is a complex example of the economy and your rant is not ever going to be 100% correct. We live at a time where there is a lot of gray and less black and white. Your attitude toward the readers that have disagreed with you is what made me comment. You seem very content to think you are right and they are wrong. You lost me today because you didn’t take the high road, with your responses to your readers…
Linda
I agree with the other comments that have been posted. I don’t come to this site to read sensationalism about topics such as this. This has nothing to do with freebies or deals. My sympathies on this matter are with the farmers. As pointed out the cows that were slaughtered were used to feed families and were just slaughtered earlier than normal. The price of milk is not high when you consider what goes into providing it and when it is compared to what we pay for lower quality products of the same quantities.
Cassie
I feel I need to add my voice to all the others. Krissy this was wrong. You sound naive and uneducated to continue to defend your position and attempt to justify your post when so many have spoken against you and hardly anyone has supported you. A learned, mature person, who is concerned about their readers and not simply if they were “right” would be more apologetic. I agree, you need to go. Bring back Melea! Until you do, I’m out. We’ll see how your supposed 100% increase goes now that you’ve shoved your foot in your mouth. Anyone can make up numbers. As soon as you have to start defending yourself with statistics you know there’s a problem. Attack the people that supply food for your table while they struggle to put food in their own. It’s just shameful.
Alisa Gledhill
Krissy,
I check your site numerous times to find good deals for my family, not for your one sided opinion. Farmers are some of the best people on earth that get caught in the middle of politics. They are just trying to feed their families. When prices are so low they can barely afford to feed the cows. I would much rather see them do something like that than see the animals starve. You just lost a follower and I will be letting my friends and family know my thoughts on the site I so highly recommended them too.
Kym
Most of us have followed this site for years, way before you took over, for the sole purpose of finding great deals. How is this post related to that? This is probably the wrong forum to post your opinions – unless you want to loose readers. We appreciate the deals you find and the work that goes into that but I will spend my time on another deal site if this is the kind of material you will be posting.
Al
Whoa, Nellie! Awkward. This post is so embarrassing I am not going to touch it. Facts? Economics 101? From whom? My 7th grader has a more perceptive grasp of econ and politics than this silly rant. It’s bewildering someone so uneducated and with little comprehension is silly enough to write publicly. I, too, will go elsewhere for my daily deal fix. I hope there aren’t many of you around. If so, no wonder our country is in the state it is in. You should probably stick to your make-up collection and perfecting your best big hair technique.
Joy
Craig Schank hit the nail on the head!!
Krissy you don’t know what you are talking about.
Elle
Set aside this crazy rant, this website has gone so downhill. I wish Melea wouldn’t have sold it. I know nothing about this milk topic, I just know I haven’t cared for the site at all after it was sold. Such a shame because it was such a good site. I won’t be following anymore.