7/13/2019

My dear Friend and president, DJT,

https://www.jsonline.com/picture-gallery/news/special-reports/dairy-crisis/2019/05/15/hans-breitenmoser-hopes-down-cycle-end/3542915002/

            How was the trip to Wisco yesterday? I'm afraid that you riled up some folks when you said, "Some of the farmers are doing well ... We're over the hump. We're doing really well." Sadly, that's not the case. 700 farms in WI shut down last year. That might be a good thing for the planet, but it's not good for the people of Wisco. As we all know, they like to think of themselves as cheeseheads and they love those old red wooden barns with 50 - 100 cows standing in a row. Sad to say, that's not the way to make money. While those family farms are going bankrupt, a guy in Rosendale, WI is proposing a 8500 cow operation where the cows will stand on a big carousel as they get milked, and a fancy-dancy injected manure system is supposed to keep nutrients from running off into streams. The folks in Rosendale would prefer 85 small family farms to that one megafarm, but alas farming is a business after all and economies of scale are where it's at. You might want to take a look at Rick Barrett's piece in the June 25, 2019 MKE Sentinel to have a better understanding of what the Wisco dairy farmers are up against. You might want to do more to help them out. Those rural folk are in those "flip"/Obama-Trump counties and you can't count on them voting for you again. So best to stop saying mean things about their native son, Paul Ryan.

            I have more to say but got to get going. It's going to be hot today so I have to get out to my garden before it gets any warmer.

            Best,

            RCA