Posilac Shortage to Impact Supply

According to Penn State ecomonist Dr. Ken Bailey the potential market losses from reduced marketings of Monsanto’s rBST, (Posilac) will certainly be felt by the marketplace. Monsanto reduced marketings by 15 percent for January and February and beginning March 1st that figure rises to 50 percent. According to Bailey’s calculations, the impact of this shortage on a projected 2 million head of dairy cows could be huge. If each cow loses an average 1,237 pounds of milk in 2004 (assuming cows get a 10 pound response and are treated for 280 days), adding up the numbers it means the market will lose up to 2.5 billion pounds of milk, or 1.46 percent of the projected milk supply. USDA unofficially is estimating a less dramatic loss of under 1%.

Posted Mar 3rd

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