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Got June Dairy Month?

Lee Mielke
Mielke Productions

That’s a consideration few people have; the possibility that we wouldn’t have a “June Dairy Month.” You may recall the original “got milk” commercials used that scenario to get consumers to consider what life would be like without milk.

Taking that a step further, could you imagine a country without its football field after football field worth of cheese we consume each day, each week, and each month? Can you imagine not having milk for that specialty morning “coffee” that today has so many names and varieties you need a dictionary to define all the various terms when ordering? Or, imagine a country without milk for the latest dairy craze, Greek yogurt?

That likely will never happen but it could. I think June Dairy Month gives pause for the dairy industry to pat itself on the back and remind consumers of something they so easily take for granted, a fully supplied, safe, clean, wholesome, nutritional food/beverage, milk, once touted as “nature’s most perfect food.”



Consumers again need to be reminded of the hard work, dedication, animal care, and land stewardship that dairy farmers abide by but rarely hear about until the tiny fraction that don’t get the headlines.

Consumers don’t hear much about the economics of dairy farmers; what it costs to produce a gallon of milk versus what the farmer receives and what the consumer pays in the grocery store. It’s one reason I regularly include the monthly milk price per gallon that dairy farmers get so consumers, if they read it, can compare what they’re paying at the store.



As I wrote last year at this time, “Like so many things in life, it’s easy to take it all for granted but it doesn’t just magically appear.” What would life be like in these United States without milk? I hope and pray we never find out. Drink up Mr. and Mrs. Consumer. Be thankful. It’s June Dairy Month….again! ❖


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