Wisconsin Farmer Blames Overproduction For U.S. Dairy Problems

May 02, 2017

While many American dairy farmers are unhappy with Canada`s trade policies, not everyone feels the same way.

Canada`s dairy industry was targeted recently by President Trump, who suggested that the current supply management system is hurting dairy farmers in the U.S.

Chris Holman is a director for the Wisconsin Farmers Union.

He says the real problem is that there is too much milk being produced in the U.S.

"Short of culling cows there's not really an easy way to turn cows off, so without taking some sort of stance towards managing the supply one way or the other, and maybe there's a reluctance here in the States to have the government involved in any level, but certainly producers and their farmers could work together to come to better solutions moving forward."

Source : Portageonline

Video: Evolution of Beef Cattle Farming

The Clear Conversations podcast took to the road for a special episode recorded in Nashville during CattleCon, bringing listeners straight into the heart of the cattle industry. Host Tracy Sellers welcomed rancher Steve Wooten of Beatty Canyon Ranch in Colorado for a wide-ranging discussion that blended family history and sustainability, particularly as it relates to the future of beef production.

Sustainability emerged as a central theme of the conversation, a word that Wooten acknowledges can mean very different things depending on who you ask. For him, sustainability starts with the soil. Healthy soil produces healthy grass, which supports efficient cattle capable of producing year after year with minimal external inputs. It’s an approach that equally considers vegetation, animal efficiency, and long-term profitability.

That philosophy aligned naturally with Wooten’s involvement in the U.S. Roundtable for Sustainable Beef, where he served as a representative for the Colorado Cattlemen’s Association. The roundtable brings together the entire beef supply chain—from producers to retailers—along with universities, NGOs, and allied industries. Its goal is not regulation, Wooten emphasized, but collaboration, shared learning, and continuous improvement.