Umpqua Dairy has jump in production for holidays
By Katie Boer KPIC NewsROSEBURG, Ore. -- In preparation for Thanksgiving, this past week has been one of the highest in terms of production in the history of a local business. For nearly eight decades, the Umpqua Dairy has been a leading producer in dairy products consumed daily on the west coast. Like many local companies, production the week before Thanksgiving has a significant spike. CEO of Umpqua Dairy, Doug Feldkamp says, "Historically, the holidays are the biggest time of the year for our company, and last week was historically the biggest production week of the year for us. It jumps about 10% in production.
According to the Oregon Department of Agriculture, that's 2.2 billion pounds annually leaving farms to be pasteurized in processing plants around the state. As the holiday season draws near, local companies are seeing an increase in demand, and in their work week. "They do put in a few more hours the week before Thanksgiving. We all do. We make a lot of extra product for the holidays, we make a lot of different eggnogs, some specialty ice cream, and these are made for the holidays and definitely makes our lives a little busier," said John Harvey, Director of Plant Operations. According to Feldkamp, seasonal products spur production as holiday cooking means more dairy is used in Thanksgiving recipes. Employees do get a break after Black Friday, but gear right back up for Christmas a few days later. Explaining the production schedule, Feldkamp said, "The biggest shopping day of the year is the day before Thanksgiving, of course we have to produce that product, this last week to get to the stores for this week. So, what we see is a big jump in production the week before Thanksgiving." The dairy has to plan ahead the amount of product they plan to produce, so they don't exceed the amount of seasonal product they expect to sell in stores. |
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185 million pounds of raw milk, or 22 million gallons were produced in Oregon in the month of October.
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