June is National Dairy Month, and UF’s Institute of Food and Agricultural Sciences is encouraging people to drink more milk.
National Dairy Month was created as a campaign to increase the demand for dairy products in 1937, according to the International Dairy Foods Association website.
However, farmers in Florida have had difficulties meeting product demand.
“Florida is a tough state,” said Todd Pritchard, the dairy unit manager at UF. “It’s hot and humid.”
The summer months can be hard on dairy cattle as they suffer from heat stress, which causes the cows to produce less milk.
Pritchard couldn’t explain why this happens but said that cows perform better during cooler parts of the year. Dairy calves also tend to be healthier and mature better in cooler temperatures.
To combat heat stress, cows are placed in showers, and the water that evaporates off of them causes a cooling effect.
Other ways farmers attempt to reduce cows’ body temperatures is by placing fans in their stalls and moving them into tunnels out of the sunlight, Pritchard said.
Despite the underproduction of dairy milk, people are finding alternatives like almond or soy milk to satisfy their dietary needs.
Nan Jensen, a family and consumer sciences agent for UF/IFAS Extension in Pinellas County, said that even though alternatives contain many of the same nutritional benefits as dairy milk, none of the alternatives have the same amount of nutrients that dairy milk does.
The biggest difference between dairy milk and its alternatives is the lack of protein. Dairy milk contains 8 grams of protein, while alternatives need to be fortified to reach the same levels.
Jensen said dairy milk is consumed at high levels in the United States due to its availability compared to other animal milks.
Dairy milk is also more palatable, Jensen said, compared to goat milk, which has a more “animal” taste to it.
