MAT-SU — Fans of locally produced milk might have noticed bare cooler shelves at local retailers that carry Matanuska Creamery products recently.
The supply shortage is not lost on the creamery.
“We just don’t have enough cows in this state anymore,” said creamery president Karen Olson. For some time the number of dairies in Alaska supplying the creamery’s milk stood at four. Last winter the number dropped to three.
Those three dairies, Olson said, are reluctant to expand their operations.
“When Matanuska Maid Closed in the end of 2007 it basically meant that the farmers had to dump a lot of milk, a great deal of milk before we could get going and they’ve really never recovered from that,” she said. “They’re not about to go out and get more cows right now.”
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