Small Dairies in Mexico
A quick calculation with very round numbers. Maximum of 400 liters in the truckdelivering milk to the artisanal cheese maker. That’s about 100 gallons.
Assume the cows on these farms give 750 gallons a year which was normal in Britain in the 50s (though I suspect they give less). That’s 2 gallons a day so that to get this amount of milk you’d need 50 cows in milk. So each of six dairies has 8-10 cows in milk, about what I’ve seen driving around. This more or less rules out milking machines.
According to Dr Fernando Cervantes of Chapingo, one third of all milk in Mexico comes from small family operation that have almost one a half million cows. This is the major income for 100,000 families, he reckons.
The milk being delivered to the cheese maker was warm, raw milk. Lots of people in my neighborhood also buy warm, raw milk.
You can just see the milkman heaving his can out of his pick up. He delivers with that one can and a smaller one. And yes, the hill is that steep. And no, it’s not usually that green.
The big commercial dairies (LaLa, Leche León, etc) want chilled milk, quite understandably. What is to be done? The ag research people are trying to encourage cooperatives so that farmers can buy chilling equipment.
All this would be heaven for the growing band of raw milk enthusiasts in the States. Here, though, it’s a question of what a family with half a dozen cows is to do to keep up with the market.
Interesting post. I am surprised dairy cooperatives are still in the stage of being encouraged. In India, Amul which is a dairy cooperative is a huge multibillion dollar enterprise.
Sometimes when I am traveling in rural areas in Mexico I see men collecting milk on a motor scooter with a milk can strapped to each side of the bike. It is quite a balancing act. My mother-in-law buys warm fresh milk quite regularly from a man who has been coming to her door on a three wheeled bicycle for ages. A lot of the milk in small batches comes from people who own a few cows and goats but not much land. They move the animals from vacant lot to vacant lot and the sides of the highway to glean whatever pasture they can. The animals are all extremely well trained and obedient and are usually led by an old cow and a mule or burro and protected by a dog or two. The shepherd carries nothing but a stick and his lunch in a bag over his shoulder called a “morral”. They are more or less oblivious to the rest of the world around them. It is truly an amazing sight to see.
Rajagopal, that struck me too. Some years ago I read a biography of Verghese Kurien that covered the white revolution in India more general. I found it deeply impressive. And Mexico is a long way from that.
Bob, Thanks as usual for your insider’s information.
I agree with Rajagopal – it’s strange that coops or other forms for diary farmer organizations are not well developed. It’s just about the only way to increase economies of scale with small dairy producers, in order to go national or global. Kenya has one of the best programs with which I’m familiar, google the following which is a good PhD on the topic and has an excellent bibliography, as well:
“DETERMINANTS OF COORDINATION AND SUPPLY CHAIN
PERFORMANCE The Case of Fresh Milk Supply Chains in Kenya”
by Eliud Abucheli Birachi
On my list for the week end. Sounds extremely informative. I wonder if one reason it has not developed in Mexico is that there was not much of a tradition and that in fact small dairying is increasing fast. Also there has been the traditional Mexican stress on self sufficiency in food (only changed in the last decade or so) which I think spilled over into a belief that other areas had little to teach. Also the stress on the original staples, maize, beans, etc. All speculation. I have to follow this up.