Debt - Senior Notes (Detail) - USD ($)	1 Months Ended	3 Months Ended	12 Months Ended
	Mar. 31, 2015	Mar. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2017	Dec. 31, 2016	Dec. 31, 2015	Oct. 16, 2017
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Loss on early retirement of debt			$ 0	$ 0	$ 43,609,000
Write-off of financing costs			1,080,000	0	$ 0
Dean Foods Company | Senior Notes | Senior Notes Due 2016
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt instrument, principal amount retired	$ 476,200,000
Total redemption price	$ 521,800,000
Loss on early retirement of debt		$ 38,300,000
Debt redemption premium		37,300,000
Write-off of financing costs		800,000
Write off of debt discount and interest rate swaps		$ 200,000
Subsidiary debt obligations | Senior Notes Due 2017
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Debt instrument, principal amount			142,000,000
Gross debt issuance costs						$ 4,900,000
Subsidiary debt obligations | Capital lease and other
Debt Instrument [Line Items]
Capital lease and other			$ 2,671,000	$ 3,980,000