Making a loss? Reducing production is an option

PS to yesterday's post:
For any business producing anything at a loss, one option with immediate benefits is to produce less and reduce those losses.

How to make milk buyers & retailers sweat

Empty shelves where milk should be is a spectre that will worry even the most hard-nosed milk buyer and their retailer customers. So I wonder how long it would take them to notice that a million cows were each giving two to three litres a day less than usual?

If all dairy farmers could and would de-tune cow diets slightly to create this effect, cost savings at current high feed prices could go a long way towards making up for lost milk income. As long as it's done advisedly, with forage making up any potential feed intake shortfall, I believe this could also be done without detriment to cow health or fertility.

 

Together with the amazing publicity created be by the industry, this tactic could help strengthen the negotiating position of dairy farmers' representative in seeking fairer contract terms and pricing mechanisms, without the potentially damaging impact on public opinion of wastefully pouring milk into slurry pits.