P-J file photo by Eric Tichy

FRENCH CREEK — The loss of a contract to provide milk to an Erie, Pa., dairy plant is being felt locally as Thomas Gilkinson of Maleski’s Dairy Farm in French Creek has been forced to sell his cows and farm equipment while he makes his last delivery Wednesday morning.

The upcoming closure of Meadow Brook Dairy in Erie, Pa., this late summer or early fall is affecting farms throughout the area. Dean Foods, Meadow Brook’s parent company, issued terminations of contracts to about 100 independent farmers in eight states, some of which reside in Pennsylvania and New York counties.

Dairy farms that no longer market their milk to Dean Foods because of the termination of contracts that were announced roughly 90 days ago will have their contracts officially ended Thursday.

Gilkinson’s French Creek farm is believed to be one of the few farms in New York state to lose its contract with Dean Foods. Maleski’s Dairy Farm was served its letter of termination in February. Gilkinson said had planned for his son to take over his farm, but with the state it’s in, a fourth generation running Maleski’s is said to be unlikely.

“(The closure) is going to cause a lot of problems around here,” Gilkinson said. “The dairy industry doesn’t look any better.”

P-J photo by Eric Tichy

With no other plants to take on their milk distribution, Gilkinson planned to sell his cattle, machinery and 40 acres of land to pay off debt. He also plans to get a job for five days of the week instead of his seven days spent running his dairy farm.

Gilkinson began the process of selling 150 of his cows today and is making his last milk delivery to Meadow Brook Wednesday, thus ending a cycle of the plant gathering 9,000 pounds of milk from Maleski’s Dairy Farm’s Dairy Farm every other day.

Another situation Gilkinson finds himself in is having to rent his cows’ free stall to another farmer because he will want to break even on the building that was constructed last year with the help of a $150,000 grant program spearheaded by Gov. Andrew Cuomo in order to improve livestock handling. Gilkinson said if he had known what was coming with the closure of Meadow Brook, he likely would not have opted into the program, which required putting in tens of thousands of dollars of his own money to receive the state funding.

See tomorrow’s edition of The Post-Journal for the full story.