June is National Dairy Month: It all started in the dairy industry…

It all started in the dairy industry…

Eldon C. Stutsman grew up right outside of Hills, Iowa on his family’s small, diversified livestock farm that included a few dairy cows. As a way to make a few bucks in high school, Eldon started making cream deliveries for Swaner, the local dairy processing plant in Iowa City. While making his daily milk route runs, neighbors started asking Eldon to bring back supplies from town. With a desire to serve others, he didn’t think anything of the favors being asked and was glad to help out. Eldon started to realize the opportunity to serve his neighbors could also be a way to make a living for himself; low and behold, Eldon’s feed business was born. Little did he know the impact this first job, as well as the dairy industry, would have on his life and the legacy that would ensue.

Although Eldon had a passion for the feed business and serving others, the company was always a means to keep the farm running. While Eldon ran the feed store from his farm, and eventually from Hills, dairy cows would remain a fixture on the Stutsman farm through the mid ‘70s. The Stutsman dairy farm, about 100 Holsteins in size, produced Grade A milk for Swaner’s (which eventually rebranded as HomeTown dairies in the ‘50s). Eldon used all DeLaval milking equipment and had a pump line with a stainless steel bulk tank.

June is National Dairy Month

In 1937, there was an overabundance of milk and as a way to drive demand, National Milk Month was established to promote milk consumption. By 1939, the National Dairy Council stepped in to promote the cause and soon the name changed; June was officially named “National Dairy Month” (Dairy Max, 2020). Today, it has turned into an annual tradition to celebrate the dairy industry.

• U.S. dairy farms produce three times more milk today, as compared to 1960, with about half the number of dairy cows, reducing the total resources used (Thiesse, 2018).
• USDA’s milk production report showed that annual milk production in the United States in 2020 was 223 billion pounds, increasing just over 2% from the 218 billion pounds produced in 2019 (Nepveux, 2021).
• Milk production per cow has steadily increased by approximately 11.5% since 2011 with each cow in the U.S. averaging 23,777 pounds in 2020, 382 pounds above 2019 (Nepveux, 2021). Production is expected to increase to approximately 24,300 pounds of milk per cow by 2022 (Shanbandeh, 2022a).
• According to Statista, in 2021 the total number of milk cows in the United States was approximately 9.45 million (Shahbandeh, 2022b).

Raise a glass (of milk that is) in celebration of National Dairy Month and thank all dairy farmers near and far for their commitment, stewardship and hard work from sunup to sundown. Cheers!

Sources:

Dairy Max. (2020). The Origins of National Dairy Month. Dairy Max. Retrieved May 25, 2022, from https://www.dairymax.org/sites/default/files/National%20Dairy%20Month%20One-Pager_2020_FINAL.pdf
Thiesse, K. (2018, December 8). Dairy Industry Facts. Farm Progress. Retrieved May 16, 2022, from https://www.farmprogress.com/blog/dairy-industry-facts
Nepveux, M. (2021, February 26). USDA Report: U.S. Dairy Farm Numbers Continue to Decline. American Farm Bureau Federation. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://www.fb.org/market-intel/usda-report-u.s.-dairy-farm-numbers-continue-to-decline
Shahbandeh, M. (2022, February 8). Milk produced per cow in the United States from 1999 to 2022 (in pounds). Statista. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/194935/quantity-of-milk-produced-per-cow-in-the-us-since-1999/
Shahbandeh, M. (2022, February 16). Number of milk cows in the United States from 1999 to 2021 (in 1,000 heads). Statista. Retrieved May 17, 2022, from https://www.statista.com/statistics/194934/number-of-milk-cows-in-the-us-since-1999/