Tell U.S. Dairies to Stop Wasting Milk!
Cheaper animal feed is raising milk production. Dairy farmers are finding themselves with a surplus of milk, which they dump in manure pits to get rid of it. According to government data, Northeast dairies dumped 31 percent more milk this year than over the same time period in 2014. So far, they have dumped 600,000 pounds of milk.
All that milk could have been used to feed calves that were removed from their mothers for the veal industry, or hungry people worldwide. The grains that contribute to the milk surplus could have also been better used to feed the hungry. Instead, dairy farmers are dumping their milk while doing nothing to curb milk production. If anything, they are feeding their animals more due to cheaper grain prices.
It is careless to waste so much milk when it could provide valuable nourishment to people and animals. The dairy industry needs to find a way to either limit milk production or make their milk more accessible to those who need it, by donating it to charity or lowering their prices to match the lower prices of livestock feed. Please sign the petition to urge the USDA to enforce a reasonable limit on milk waste to discourage the current practices.
We, the undersigned, are concerned that cheaper animal feed is raising milk production, which in turn is increasing milk waste. Dairy farmers are finding themselves with a surplus of milk, which they dump in manure pits to get rid of it. According to government data, Northeast dairies dumped 31 percent more milk this year than over the same time period in 2014. So far, they have dumped 600,000 pounds of milk.
All that milk could have been used to feed calves that were removed from their mothers for the veal industry, or hungry people worldwide. The grains that contribute to the milk surplus could have also been better used to feed the hungry. Instead, dairy farmers are dumping their milk while doing nothing to curb milk production. If anything, they are feeding their animals more due to cheaper grain prices.
It is careless to waste so much milk when it could provide valuable nourishment to people and animals. The dairy industry needs to find a way to either limit milk production or make their milk more accessible to those who need it, by donating it to charity or lowering their prices to match the lower prices of livestock feed. We respectfully urge you to enforce a reasonable limit on milk waste to discourage the current practices. Thank you for taking the time to read and consider our petition.
