Family Daries Quitting

[ddd75]

where do you live where you can run 2 pairs per acre? I'm in top quality soil and I can run 2 pair / ac but not with haying as well.

Kentucky, Bluegrass area. We move cattle onto hay fields after second cutting, We also have dedicated pastures. The massive amount of rain has kept grass coming on strong during spring and summer. When it stops it may be a different story.

i'm running up to 2.5 pair / ac on pasture but counting total farm acres I am running way less.

 

[sstterry]

In past history there were regulations on dairy to make sure there were an abundant supply of milk in each area. I think they were called federal marketing orders. Also at one time you would have to build a base during a time frame. I think it might have been in the fall and winter months. If you produced over this base in the spring months when cows were producing the most you could sell so much class A which was fluid milk and the rest went to milk for the production oh cheese, ice cream and powdered milk. Been a while but that is kinda of the way I remembered. A farmer could decide to quit and liquidate and the base had value as it could be bought and sold to other farmers. Maybe texasbred can shed some light on this.

There are still regulations and marketing Orders. Back in the 90's - 2010's, DFA, the largest milk cooperative, starting pulling some funny stuff with Dean Foods and started messing with the prices and shipping costs. Only the insiders were making money and a lot of it too. There was litigation in the Southeast Marketing Orders (5 and 7) and also the Northeast.

I am not saying this is the current reason for the Dairy decline, but it put a lot of dairies out of business back then. The farmers did get back some of their money but not nearly all of it.

http://www.southeastdairyclass.com/

 

[CattleMan1920]

Kentucky, Bluegrass area. We move cattle onto hay fields after second cutting, We also have dedicated pastures. The massive amount of rain has kept grass coming on strong during spring and summer. When it stops it may be a different story.

i'm running up to 2.5 pair / ac on pasture but counting total farm acres I am running way less.

It sounds intensive, but our operation is in a valley, with springs everywhere, the grass comes on like a "chia pet" We seed the pastures with ladino, red clover, and a high-quality pasture mix, as well as pelleted lime. With the precipitation, that mix equals a lot of food. We use a lot of electric fence with portable boxes.

 

[ddd75]

i'm running up to 2.5 pair / ac on pasture but counting total farm acres I am running way less.

It sounds intensive, but our operation is in a valley, with springs everywhere, the grass comes on like a "chia pet" We seed the pastures with ladino, red clover, and a high-quality pasture mix, as well as pelleted lime. With the precipitation, that mix equals a lot of food. We use a lot of electric fence with portable boxes.

sounds like a nice place. have a few pics?

 

[littletom]

i'm running up to 2.5 pair / ac on pasture but counting total farm acres I am running way less.

It sounds intensive, but our operation is in a valley, with springs everywhere, the grass comes on like a "chia pet" We seed the pastures with ladino, red clover, and a high-quality pasture mix, as well as pelleted lime. With the precipitation, that mix equals a lot of food. We use a lot of electric fence with portable boxes.

What soil type Crider or pembroke? Do you think pelleted lime is better than ag?

 

[CattleMan1920]

i'm running up to 2.5 pair / ac on pasture but counting total farm acres I am running way less.

It sounds intensive, but our operation is in a valley, with springs everywhere, the grass comes on like a "chia pet" We seed the pastures with ladino, red clover, and a high-quality pasture mix, as well as pelleted lime. With the precipitation, that mix equals a lot of food. We use a lot of electric fence with portable boxes.

What soil type Crider or pembroke? Do you think pelleted lime is better than ag?

I would lean towards Pembroke. I like the pelleted lime because it's a slow release, I see people spread lime out of a dump truck and it appears that a lot just blows away, plus the ground can be very wet most of the time and the big trucks have issues in the fields. I could be wrong with my plan, but I have had good results with my method. I use a heavy chain harrow ahead of seeding, then broadcast it on dark moon of February or March.

 

[littletom]

Thats the really good dirt, hard to find in my neck of the woods. I have one leased and one owned tobacco field of it.

 

[ddd75]

It sounds intensive, but our operation is in a valley, with springs everywhere, the grass comes on like a "chia pet" We seed the pastures with ladino, red clover, and a high-quality pasture mix, as well as pelleted lime. With the precipitation, that mix equals a lot of food. We use a lot of electric fence with portable boxes.

What soil type Crider or pembroke? Do you think pelleted lime is better than ag?

I would lean towards Pembroke. I like the pelleted lime because it's a slow release, I see people spread lime out of a dump truck and it appears that a lot just blows away, plus the ground can be very wet most of the time and the big trucks have issues in the fields. I could be wrong with my plan, but I have had good results with my method. I use a heavy chain harrow ahead of seeding, then broadcast it on dark moon of February or March.

fleming co doesn't have those soils. If you have bottom ground.. you probably have lowell

 

[farmerjan]

@sstterry you are right. There were some very shady dealings back then and DFA and Dean Foods did a number on the farmers. Now in this area Maryland Virginia is literally screwing over their farmers. They average $1 to $2 less per cwt on every bit of milk those farmers ship. MVa got themselves into some bad financial dealings, some mismanagement too that has been "swept under the rug" and the farmers that ship to them are really in a bind. DFA can cherry pick the farms they want, and are not taking the smaller farms. Many are trying to leave MVa and go to DFA when their yearly "contract" expires but many are being told that there is a surplus and that DFA just doesn't need the milk. Strangely enough, they do take some of the bigger farms....especially the ones right near any others they pick up. Have one small 50 cow herd with the best quality milk in the county, he wins awards for lowest SCC and such year after year. He cannot get DFA to talk to him, because he is 20 miles "out of the way" from any other herd they pick up and he only ships 7,000 lbs every other day. That's still an average 65-70 lbs per day, per cow. Good average. He is getting an average 1.50 less per cwt than DFA pays.... and has no other options due to his location and the lesser amount he ships. Higher butterfat too, averaging 4.2 fat on 20 Brown Swiss and 30 Holsteins, combined. 55 years old. Where will he go to find a job, with some issues with his one leg from an accident, if MVa goes under as everyone is thinking will happen? Where will the 50-60 registered, VERY GOOD cows that he has go and what will they be worth?....
And where will we find the genetics in the future when all these smaller dairymen go out?

 

[TexasBred]

Changing consumer preferences. I don't think people consume dairy as they once did. When you take a big step back and look at the whole picture, it's been a long time in the works.

Dairies are still trying to survive on 1980's milk prices as well

 

[haase]

There are so many factors that go into productive dairy farming, and other factor that plays in it has a big impact on the beef side of it, because the dairy side plays alot bigger side than you think.

 

[haase]

Not to mention that the up coming generations want to dedicate their time and effort that their generations before them did.

 

[farmerjan]

Why dedicate yourself when there is not enough return to even make a modest living anymore? You can only love to do something for so long if it is your full time job.... and 99.9% of the dairy farmers are full time....when you don't make enough to live on, have a family, and pay the monthly bills.. unless they have a bunch of people who work for them.... then they are full time managing. I mean, it is not like us beef farmers who can hold a "real job" as well as have beef cattle. It's hard, but doable. Don't know any dairy farmers that can hold an outside job AND do their own milking and dairy farming business. There aren't enough hours in the day.

 

[haase]

That's the sad part of the dairy business today, no dedication, but that part has alot to do with other jobs other than dairy, not much of the dreamers want to do anything physical, goes beyond the dairy business, I still have friends that are still in it and make it work, guess there alot better farmers than most.

 

[sim.-ang.king]

Dairies have been dead for 30 years in Marion County Illinois.
We're making do, somehow.

 

[haase]

Well Boone, and winnebago counties their not dead, cross the border into Wisconsin and their still holding on, alot smaller than before, but the ones that make it work, you have to give them credit.