Haag co-owns a 180 to 200-cow operation in Reedsburg split between his parents and brother, which ships between 370,000 to 400,000 pounds of milk per month.

He said every dollar off is about $1,000 lost from the total check, he said. Losing that amount of money, even for one month, he said is “very stressful,” as he still has bills to pay. The operation also sells beef, which provides a small profit, he said.

“You just try to get by,” Haag said.

To make every dollar count, the Behn’s focus on nutrition, care and crop work to enhance every cow on their farm. However, the Behn’s received a letter from Foremost Farms asking its members to reduce their milk production as best they can with the market uncertainty caused by the coronavirus.

According to a March 30 article in the Baraboo News Republic, the letter tells members “now is the time to consider a little extra culling of your herds, or drying off some cows early,” and “to be prepared for scenarios that would require our members to dump milk on member farms, ship milk to digestors, or dispose of in some other manner.”

Behn said the news was “tough to swallow.”

“You just can’t shut the cows off,” Behn said. “You can’t tell them to not give as much milk. You just have to deal with what you are given.”

Behn said they haven’t tried to sell their herd because of low beef prices with the markets taking less cattle, mainly with the meat packing and processing plants closing due to the virus.

“It’s getting to the point where markets are shutting down and you have to call to make sure you can sell animals instead of always just taking them to the market,” she said. “Now you have to make sure there are buyers at the market to buy the animal.”

The key to making it through the tough time is keeping a positive attitude and outlook, she said.

“We just deal with it, that’s just the way it always is,” Behn said. “Things have been tight for a few years now so we are used to making every dollar count.”