PRICES of just about everything have gone up over the past year, particularly food items we purchase frequently. Like everything else, dairy products have increased in price.
It appears that the global butter prices have surged to record levels of late.
Australia last year imported over 47,500 tonnes of butter, most of it coming from New Zealand.
It’s hard to understand how a country like Australia needs to import butter from another country, but it seems that countries in the Northern Hemisphere head into their peak of consumption of high fat products which shorts their market for cream supply, and this drags the butter complex higher.
So, we have butter prices going higher which then affects the bakery products that require butter in their ingredients, which then has a further flow on effect to prices we pay at the checkout.
Many dairy farms are struggling and have sold out over the years. Around the turn of the century there were 7409 dairy businesses in Victoria. Today there are 2796 (9News). There would be similar figures for other places.
And you can understand this trend – at the turn of the century, large families were the go and parents would expect at least some of their children to stay on and run the dairy. This went well for a number of years but gradually life changed, families became a lot smaller, kids wanted to go elsewhere and do other things.
Life was hard on a dairy farm, the vagaries of weather, the very early hours of preparing the cows, the manual work that was required was taking its toll on those older farmers.
The only value they had was the herd and the property and they found that by selling out they were in a good place but Australia would suffer that transition of change.
Have you ever wondered how many cows there are in the world? It seems that India has the most, with more than 61 million head of cattle. The European Union coming in at about 20 million.
According to FarmStyle Australia, a milking cow will produce between 35-50 litres of milk a day. This varies depending on the season as it progresses.
Depending on prices paid at the farm gate, this can be a lucrative business, however it’s a job not for the faint hearted, but for someone dedicated to the welfare of the animal, and the tedious routine of the seven day a week job.
Maybe the next time you pick up some butter from the supermarket you might spare a thought for these farmers that bring you your spread for your toast of a morning.
Till next time.
