Could Milk Shortages be Coming Soon?

South Dakota ranchers are all too familiar with a headlines like this. Remember 2013 and the freak winter storm that killed nearly 100,000 head of cattle in South Dakota?  It turns out Texas and New Mexico Dairy farmers are dealing with a story that is much the same.

According to The Christian Science Monitor:

Dairy farmers in Texas and New Mexico say consumers can expect a milk shortage, after winter storm Goliath killed more than 30,000 dairy cows last week.

Goliath ripped through the Midwest and Northeast from Dec. 24 to Dec. 29, bringing snow, ice, and wind gusts as high as 80 miles per hour. Heavy winds buried the animals in snow drifts measuring up to 14 feet high, where they suffocated.

That's not the only problem they're dealing with,

Texas dairy farmers are also experiencing an unexpected, yet serious, problem: they don’t have the means or capacity to safely dispose of all the cow carcasses.

It's a story that we'll continue to monitor but I think it's safe to say that our hearts are heavy for the cattle producers of the south. No matter how prepared you think you are, mother nature can change that thinking with the drop of a hat.

Whether or not we actually see shortages in the milk supply are yet to be seen. But with losses like those being reported, we'll more than likely see some sort of ripple effect.