ROSWELL, N.M. (KRQE) – While people are at home and milk has been flying off the grocery shelves, that is only a portion of what is normally sold. “We are losing money, um in great amounts and at great speed,” said Charlie DeGroot, Owner of DeGroot Dairies. With no dine-ins at restaurants, New Mexico dairy farmers are left with a lot of milk. They are having to dump it out because there is no one to buy it.

“We’re dumping milk because the plants that process this milk have nowhere to go with their back end product, with their processed product. The food industry has come to a virtual halt,” said Charlie. He said the perception that the dairy industry is doing well comes from stores across the country selling out but in reality that is only a portion of the milk produced.

“So what we have now is a perceived increase demand for milk, just the beverage milk in the store while one-third of the rest of what happens to milk when it leaves the farm is a system that has drastically disrupted,” said Charlie.

Charlie said over the last four days, dairy farmers in Chaves County have been working on drying up a large portion of their herds. If a cow goes through the process of drying up, it will not produce milk for a while. A representative for Dairy Producers of New Mexico says this is a large industry for New Mexico, that’s hurting.

“Dairy is number one in New Mexico right now, and so for producers to be suffering that’s going to hurt the economy and the state,” said Beverly Idsinga, Executive Director for The Dairy Producers of New Mexico. The Dairy Producers of New Mexico are working closely with the Department of Agriculture to try and get some relief funding for dairy farmers in need.