Posted Wednesday, January 23, 2013 --- 8:50 a.m..

LA CROSSE, Wis. (AP) -- Volunteers distributed 5,000 gallons of free milk in La Crosse -- milk that at one time was headed for the Dumpster.

A delivery truck loaded with milk from the shuttered Golden Guernsey plant in Waukesha finally made it to La Crosse Tuesday after breaking down in cold weather.

With temperatures in the single digits, volunteers dressed in layers of clothing handed out two or three pint cartons of milk as vehicles lined up at the distribution site. The milk was gone in about three hours.

The Golden Guernsey plant closed suddenly on Jan. 5, leaving schools and grocers in southeastern Wisconsin scrambling for dairy products. After some negotiating the plant's owner agreed to donate the products to the Hunger Task Force.

The La Crosse Tribune says Tuesday was the milk's sell-by date.

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Information from: La Crosse Tribune, http://www.lacrossetribune.com

Copyright 2013: Associated Press