Dairy farmers protest hormone-free milk

WOOSTER (AP) — Dairy farmers throughout Ohio are being pressured to stop using a synthetic hormone that boosts milk production in cows, angering large-dairy farmers who claim the move will reduce profits and increase retail milk prices.

Recombinant bovine somatotropin, or rBST, is banned in Canada and Europe, primarily due to concerns that it leaves cows more prone to illness. But the U.S. Food and Drug Administration insists the hormone is safe and the agency approved rBST to boost production in dairy cows in 1993.

Still, many consumers concerned about possible safety risks are choosing milk that is free of synthetic hormones. A growing number of retailers, including grocery chains Safeway and Kroger Co., have begun selling it.

As the market for milk from cows using the hormone dries up, Dairy Farmers of America has asked its nearly 790 members in Ohio to stop using rBST, and Dairy Marketing Services, which markets milk for about 575 independent producers in Ohio, has told farmers that they must sign an affidavit promising not to use the hormone or it won’t pick up their milk.

The two organizations are responding to customer demand, not condemning the use of the technology, said Heather Schofield, a spokeswoman with Dairy Marketing Services and Dairy Farmers of America.

The proposed milk switch, as well as a related debate by the Ohio Department of Agriculture on how to label rBST-free milk for the consumer has outraged some Ohio dairy farmers, particularly those in Wayne and Holmes counties, the largest milk-producing counties in the state.

Stanley Carmony, 54, of Carmony Farm Ltd. in Canaan Township said the hormone is perfectly safe, and helps his 460 dairy cows each produce up to an extra gallon more milk a day. He claims he will need more cows just to produce the amount of milk he currently sells, which will mean more manure and other environmental problems.

“We’re getting shammed,” Carmony said.

Many say if consumers are worried about the hormone in their milk, they should buy organic milk, not force farmers to stop using the hormone.

“The last thing we want to do is lose consumers because of the price being too high. And that’s what I fear is going to happen,” said John Douglass, 46, who has about 1,600 cows at Catalpadale Farms near Marshallville.

Douglass and Carmony both signed the affidavit and quit using rBST, saying they felt they had no choice if they wanted to keep their farms.