Those in the dairy industry in Texas may feel the impacts of the season’s first winter storm for a long time.
It is estimated that more than 20,000 cows were killed in the state’s panhandle. Out of that 20,000, about 1,500 of Lone Star Milk Producers’ cows died.
Lone Star Milk Producers, headquartered in Wichita Falls, markets the milk of their members and producers.
“First the milk that they had in the silos ended up having to be poured out because we couldn’t get trailers… Trucks and trailers up there to pick it up,” Sonia Fabian with Lone Stair Milk Producers said.
The company still does not know whether that death toll includes calves, so they could still feel the impacts of the storm in the future.
“Going into the future, what we don’t know is the animal health issue. You know with this storm caused a lot of these cows have frostbite in the teats and so its going to affect quality,” Fabian said.
This could also impact consumers.
“Yes, but it is really too soon to tell how much of an impact it is going to be. I mean these dairy farmers are pretty resilient. You know, sometimes they’ll rebound pretty quickly most of the time,” Fabian said.
The company said they still are doing well with the amount of milk they have for their consumers, but the loss is strongly felt within the co-op.
“You know, the cows are their livelihood. And to see them die…. you know from this blizzard is just devastating,” Fabian said.
Fabian said the price of milk was expected to go down this year, but after the storm they are not sure.
(Information from TexomasHomepage.com)
