Just whose dairy farms does Gil Gutknecht represent?

Looking over some past news that we may have missed, we discovered this on Minnesota Republican Watch:

The Big Cheese: Gil Gutknecht's Out-Of-District, Out-Of-State Mega-Dairy Friends
Posted on June 28th, 2006

Recently, Republican Party of Minnesota chair Ron Carey sneered at a fundraiser for Tim Walz at Garrison Keillor's St. Paul home:

"While Walz may enjoy his wine and brie tonight, residents of the First District will take note of his new far-left friends."

The crack about cheese made a Minnesota Republican Watch reader wonder where Gutknecht’s getting his. Today, we're going to find out.

A look at Gutknecht's 2005 year-end financial report suggests that Gil has been receiving quite a bit of interest from out-of-state, out-of-district mega-dairy special interests. In just one day last year, Gutknecht raised at least $17,700 from out-of-state dairy farmers and at least $8,000 from out-of-state dairy PACs.

The article continues:

These out-of-state contributions were concentrated around $6,000 from the Select Milk Producers PAC and Continental Dairy Products PAC, and thousands more from dairy farmers who band together under the banner of Select Milk and Continental Dairy. These dairy farmers, who operate in New Mexico, Texas, Oklahoma, Kansas, Indiana, Michigan, and Ohio, are not like your average Minnesota farmer. In Minnesota, the average dairy farm hosts about 77 cows. In New Mexico, that number is 2000. Gutknecht contributor Randy Vander Dussen's New Mexico-based Rajen Dairy provides a clear example, with a herd of 4600 milk cows and 11000 cows in total. Vander Dussen himself compared his output to that of Minnesota's neighbor to the east, saying, "We produce more milk here in four days than the average dairy farm in Wisconsin will produce in a year. This isn't your father's dairy farm."

Gutknecht's other mega-dairy contributors have operations that are even further from the average Minnesota farm. The CEO of Select Milk Producers in Mike McCloskey. McCloskey's wife, Suzanne McCloskey, and the Select Milk Producers PAC are Gutknecht contributors. In Indiana, McCloskey's Fair Oaks Farms and Bos Dairies (also operated by Gutknecht contributors) hold at least 33,000 cows in a 10 mile radius.

Minnesota Republican Watch asks:

Why are insider-trading, out-of-state, out-of-district mega-dairy interests so attracted to Gil, while his latest finance reports show not one single in-state contribution from a donor identified as a dairy farmer?

A very astute question. So whose dairy farms does Gil represent? Those of "out-of-state, out-of-district mega-dairy special interests"? Or those of the families who own the majority of dairy farms in Minnesota's 1st Congressional District?

The entire Minnesota Republican Watch post, with sources, is here.