The United States currently faces a structural milk surplus driven by record-high production volumes that outpace domestic consumption growth. As of 2026, the U.S. milk cow herd has reached its largest size since 1993, with production hitting record levels of approximately 876 million metric tons in the first ten months of 2025. This oversupply is exacerbated by a 37% decline in per capita milk consumption since 1970 and limited domestic processing capacity, forcing farmers to dump excess milk or rely heavily on exports to absorb the glut.
The surplus is primarily a result of intense herd management strategies rather than sustainable expansion. While the number of licensed dairy herds has declined by roughly 65% since 2003, remaining operations have shifted to larger scales and higher-yielding cows, leading to a shrinking pipeline of replacement heifers at their lowest levels since 1978. Consequently, the industry is maintaining high output by keeping older cows in production longer, a practice that distorts market signals and creates volatile price pressures as global supply from the EU and New Zealand also expands.
To manage this chronic oversupply, the U.S. has increasingly relied on massive dairy export promotion rather than domestic supply management programs like quotas. Processors are shifting milk into higher-value ingredients like cheese and butter to mitigate low farmgate prices, but global competition has intensified this pressure. Recent data indicates that while exports of cheese and butter have reached record highs, they do not fully offset the downward pressure on milk prices caused by the imbalance between domestic production and demand.
boof (OP) replied with this 3 weeks ago, 8 minutes later, 11 minutes after the original post[^][v]#1,453,741
now it seems to me that they could dehydrate the milk. powdered milk was pretty common in the more difficult-to-travel-to areas where people who wanted milk got to. keep a strategic protein supply.
Live&Lemon double-posted this 3 weeks ago, 1 minute later, 11 hours after the original post[^][v]#1,453,774
Drinking milk is a weird thing when you think about it. Mammals drink milk from their mothers when they’re young but then naturally lose the ability to digest lactose when they grow up. It’s just an odd thing to not just drink milk as an adult but the milk of another species. It’s weird if you think about it.
Live&Lemon triple-posted this 3 weeks ago, 56 seconds later, 11 hours after the original post[^][v]#1,453,775
Also apparently the bone strength thing isn’t true. Because cows milk has calcium, but cows eat grass and grass is a plant so cows get their calcium from plants and so can humans. I’ve never broken a bone.