The cows seem to be enjoying the sun, soaking in the rays, taking it easy with seemingly nothing to worry about, but little do they know that what they're best known for may be the root of a lot of uncertainty in the weeks ahead.
"Quite a few people came in and bought extra product for a few days," says Bill Kohlman, owner Kohlman's IGA Foodliner in Wausau.
That in expectation of a surge in milk prices. Wausau's staying steady at right around $2.40 a gallon for two-percent milk, but just to the east, Green Bay is up $0.80 over the same time frame, and it's not just milk.
You can also expect to see dairy products across the board jump by about five percent for the year, according to the USDA. That's very good news for farmers.
Many have literally lost the farm due to not making any money off raw milk prices. Now that those prices have gone up, diaries are paying more for milk, so the price on the shelf is higher.
Now of course, nobody is happy about having to pay more for a gallon of milk these days, but store owners say, "Hey, we've been through this before, and we'll get through this one. You just have to be patient."
"I think you have to kind of take things the way they come and eventually things will smooth out again," says Kohlman. "So we'll see ups and downs probably continuing now."
So while marking up the prices may not be music to your ears, you won't hear complaining from the pastures.
"We're very appreciative of the increase in the price of milk because it was depressed for the last 18 months, particularly low," says Gene Witter, a farmer in Wausau.
So some words that do a spirit good: "Hang in there and we'll hope things adjust the right way," adds Kohlman.
