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Dumped milk can work as fertilizer or in cow diet
Dumping milk does not have to be total waste for dairy farmers.
Minnesota Milk executive director Lucas Sjostrum says spreading milk on a field would have similar benefits to spreading manure.
“You just have to calculate the N, P and K, and we are getting out materials on that. The University of Wisconsin Extension had a nice webinar on that last week. There’s even been some experimentation with feeding it back to cows. It could replace some energy and protein in the diet.”
But he tells Brownfield the best outcome for milk will always be selling it.
“But it’s not like this stuff is going to waste. No one is going to put it down a river, and we hope it doesn’t make it to wastewater treatment plants. It’ll go back to the land and feed our crops or cows in future years.”
Some processors have asked farmers to dump milk to even out supply and demand. Sjostrum says, so far, no milk dumping has occurred in Minnesota.
