Thirty-three FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative members in Michigan, Iowa, Minnesota and Wisconsin will be receiving a disaster claim payment for milk loss as a result of the snowstorm that swept through the Upper Midwest on Feb. 23-24.

With barn roofs collapsing under heavy snowfall — and cows being killed and milk having to be dumped because of impassable roads — the payments will total more than $23,000, with additional payments anticipated for other claims where additional information is being gathered. 

“Buildings have been damaged, but herds have also been impacted, removing valuable cows from the milking herd and taking away from farmers’ bottom lines during a challenging dairy economy,” says John Rettler, dairy farmer from Neosho, Wis., and president of FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative. “Impassable roads required some farms to dump milk, because haulers were not able to travel to various farms during these storms. It was a very long and trying winter season.”

FarmFirst members are eligible for these payments through the cooperative’s disaster benefits program, assisting against the loss of milk income caused by the death of a cow by either lightning or electrocution, the loss of electric power, or because of impassable roads due to snow or flooding. 

“FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative continues to be a leading advocate for risk management tools and improved market-based dairy policies,” Rettler says. “However, the cooperative’s disaster benefits program fills a need for our members that goes beyond our priorities in the legislative and regulatory area. Clearly, with the winter season we’ve just experienced, FarmFirst’s disaster program is a meaningful benefit to dairy farmers.”

The disaster benefit program is a unique benefit for FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative members. For information, visit FarmFirstDairyCooperative.com. 

Source: FarmFirst Dairy Cooperative, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.