North Coast dairy cows sold to slaughter as milk prices fall

Joseph “Joey” Mendoza walks slowly through an empty milking barn at his 150-year-old dairy down the road from the Point Reyes Lighthouse. Mendoza, 65, a third-generation dairyman, sold his 489 dairy cows three weeks ago as part of a national program that seeks to ease what many are calling the worst milk crisis in 70 years. More than 100,000 cows were sent to slaughter under a program developed by the National Milk Producers Federation. Milk prices remain depressed, and program officials recently announced another “herd retirement” that seeks to remove roughly 100,000 more animals from milk production by paying up to $1,500 per cow. For Mendoza, whose grandfather came to the Point Reyes area to milk cows at the turn of the last century, the decision to sell his Holsteins was especially painful. He called it necessary to pay off creditors and to stop the months of financial losses caused by high feed costs and low milk prices. As a result, a typical California dairy with 1,000 cows is losing about $100,000 a month, said Michael Marsh, chief executive officer of the Modesto-based Western United Dairymen. The economic troubles contributed to the suicides of two Central Valley dairy farmers this spring...SantaRosaPressDemocrat