-11-
4. Competition
Petitioner's major competitors in the years in issue were
Dean Foods, Borden's (the largest milk processor in the country
during the 1980's), Sealtest, and Flav-O-Rich. These are large,
publicly held corporations.
The number of milk processors in northern Florida has
steadily declined in the last 20 to 25 years. Many of the
processors which were similar in size to petitioner had gone out
of business or sold out to larger companies before or during the
years in issue.
5. Diseases
Petitioner frequently reviewed the risk of exposure of its
cattle to diseases and contaminated feed with its veterinarian.
Although the threat to petitioner's cattle from individual
diseases has changed over the years, the overall risk posed by
disease has increased as its cattle have become more concentrated
in smaller areas. Some diseases have been cured, but the risk
from others such as bovine virus diarrhea, bovine leukemia virus,
and fescue foot has increased. The fact that petitioner has an
open herd increases the herd's risk of disease because diseased
cows may be brought into the herd.
Page: Previous 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 16 17 18 19 20 Next
Last modified: May 25, 2011