Stimulus ~ Kill Cows to Raise Milk Prices

[Angel Heart]

Stimulus may bolster dairy industry
FALLING MILK PRICES: Initial effort to pay farmers to retire cows fizzles
By MARC HELLER
TIMES WASHINGTON CORRESPONDENT
THURSDAY, JANUARY 15, 2009

WASHINGTON — A stimulus package may be a lifeline for the nation's economy, but it could be a death sentence for a lot of cows.

Lawmakers are looking for ways to use the forthcoming stimulus bill to help dairy farmers, and the number one priority is to dampen milk supplies and prop up prices. Translation: reduce the nation's dairy herd.

Exactly how Congress will accomplish that remains uncertain. An initial effort to use stimulus money to pay farmers to retire cows failed when House Appropriations Committee Chairman Rep. David R. Obey, D-Wis., objected on the grounds that it violated a promise not to include earmarks in the bill, said Rep. Collin C. Peterson, D-Minn., chairman of the House Agriculture Committee.

Taking milk cows out of production as a way to control milk prices is a controversial approach. The federal government tried that in the 1980s through the whole herd buyout program, and while the policy worked for a time, milk production eventually bounced back and farmers were once again grappling with low milk prices.


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How will this help us?

 

[Article 15]

Beef prices will drop.

 

[editec]

They've been doing this for decades, Angel Heart.

Every once in a while the price of milk falls so low for the farmers that the government decides to help them by paying them to slaughter part of the herd to reduce the amount of raw milk going to market.

I honestly don't understand that market well enough to know if its a good idea or not, to be honest.

I THINK it has helped the dairy farmers, but as to its benefit to the people?

Not a clue.