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DAIRY ST R
A year unlike any other Plourd talks volatile dairy markets, trends going forward By Krista Kuzma
krista.k@dairystar.com
During the Minnesota Milk Producers Association virtual meeting Dec. 2, Phil Plourd presented “Sudden Storm,” an overview of dairy within the past year and predictions for the markets going forward. “In the massive understatement department, it’s a year unlike any other,” said Plourd, president of Blimling and Associates Inc. While many dairy farmers rang in 2020 with optimism for climbing milk prices, they were instead met with a year of the most volatility recorded, Plourd said. “Just looking at the cheese market, cheddar blocks went from $2 before the pandemic to $1 to $3 back to $1.50 back to $3 and then back to $1.60,” he said. “The volatility we’ve seen in the cheese market is clearly way out in the stratosphere versus anything we’ve ever seen before.” The cheddar market topped at 42% price volatility, the highest it has been since 2008 when volatility was at 27%, Plourd said. Price swings in the milk market are attributed to the disruption of the typical American daily life due to the coronavirus pandemic. For the past 20 years, Americans have been trending more toward eating out rather than buying their food at the grocery store. In 2019, food services dollar sales even reached above grocery sales. Before the pandemic, restaurants accounted for about 50% of the U.S. cheese sales and 45% of the U.S. butter use. “The rule we always talk about is never underestimate the laziness of the American consumer,” Plourd said. In March, when shut downs were implemented in many areas of the country, food service and restaurant spending plummeted 38% while grocery store spending skyrocketed 31%. In April, the gap Turn to MARKETS | Page 5
December 12, 2020
“All dairy, all the time”™
Volume 22, No. 20
Emphasizing the dairy side of beef Brooks Farms makes mark with unique product offering By Stacey Smart
stacey.s@dairystar.com
WAUPACA, Wis. – Zoey Nelson and Sydney Brooks fullled a dream when they launched Brooks Farms Beef on Sept 1. Specializing in singlesource sustainable beef, the sisters sell their homegrown products direct to the consumer at their on-farm storefront. Milking 600 cows and farming 1,600 acres near Waupaca, the Brooks family is harvesting beef from a nontraditional source – a mature dairy cow. Once a cow reaches the end of her productive life at Brooks Farms, she can become a candidate for the beef side of the business. “Using older animals adds character and avor to the meat,” Brooks said. “It’s a myth that an older cow has tougher meat – the tenderness is there.”
PHOTO SUBMITTED
Zoey Nelson (leŌ) and Sydney Brooks hold products they sell from their newly-launched business, Brooks Farms Beef. The sisters sell beef from their 600-cow dairy herd direct to consumers at their on-farm storefront near Waupaca, Wisconsin.
Coming from a cow that is typically between 4 and 6 years old, Nelson and Brooks describe the meat as avorful and aged to perfection. “They’re not your typical 2-year-old animal coming off the feed lot,” Nelson said. “Dairy cows are amazing creatures, using their muscles every day to make milk and pack avor into the beef. A cow that produces 90,000 pounds of milk in her lifetime can produce 9,000 pounds of cheese and become 600 pounds of beef.” Their selection process for beef production is precise. It must be a cow with a clean health record – one that never received any injectable antibiotics. Easy-breeding animals with no history of a displaced abomasum, mastitis or surgery are eligible – cows that Nelson calls “smooth sailors” oftentimes being eliminated from the herd for not breeding back or dropping below a certain production rate. This type of beef is a new Turn to BROOKS | Page 6
MARK KLAPHAKE/DAIRY STAR
Heifers stand behind a frosty fence Dec. 7 at Names Dairy near BaƩle Lake, Minnesota. The 90-cow dairy is owned by Brian and David Names and their mom, Joyce.