has it gotten worse or...

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GMN

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Is it just my imagination? Seems to me this last month has been a real killer for the milk prices, thus reflecting very poorly in our paychecks. My fieldman sent me a note saying June price was $10.08, and July was going to be $10.28-I say big wup! Like I told him, I think this could be very catastrophic for many dairies, grain has jumped in price the last 2 weeks, and I got to wonder how much are we supposed to be able to take? We all got the same bills, and less money to make it happen with, sometimes I wonder what the future for dairy farmers is?

GMN
 
Unfortunately, I think pretty soon the only dairy people that will be able to survive will be the huge farms who can put out the milk and the small niche farmers....The days of the family farm as a business are over :cry2:
I still plan to get into it, even though I know its hard and everyone is telling me not to. It is what I have always wanted to do and the only thing that feels right for me. But I know that I am going to have to diversify and hopefully will be able to find a way. But people tell you to follow your dreams but that's what I'm going to do :?
 
Not to downplay your troubles, but we face the same problems the dairy farmer does. We just produce a different product.
 
1982vett":2jtiyt1r said:
Not to downplay your troubles, but we face the same problems the dairy farmer does. We just produce a different product.

What product is that-you lost me there?

GMN
 
Angus Cowman":2eemt0nb said:
GMN":2eemt0nb said:
1982vett":2eemt0nb said:
Not to downplay your troubles, but we face the same problems the dairy farmer does. We just produce a different product.

What product is that-you lost me there?

GMN
BEEF

Well.. beef is different than dairy, our prices are what we get paid, which we really don't have any control over, plus dairy cows need grain to milk, another thing we have some control over, but not the price we have to pay.

I think most beef farmers can feed lesser quality hay, and most feed very little grain at all, supplementing with minerals, or liquid molasses etc.. which is far less expensive than good quality orchardgrass/alfalfa.

Beef farmers, may have problems, but nothing like the dairies are experiencing right now.

GMN
 
this isnt the 1st time that milk an feed prices are meeting eachother.an theres only 1 thing you can do.an thats cull any prob cows.an dry cows up thats not paying their way.GMN i know you do all the milking yourself so you cant cut your hired labor.
 
Swings and roundabouts.
Was it only last year all the beef farmers in our area wanted to get into dairy (heifer) grazing?

Lovemoo11 - I'll tell you also, follow your dreams. I did. Look where it got me!
 
GMN":2kyizxf2 said:
Well.. beef is different than dairy, our prices are what we get paid, which we really don't have any control over, plus dairy cows need grain to milk, another thing we have some control over, but not the price we have to pay.

I think most beef farmers can feed lesser quality hay, and most feed very little grain at all, supplementing with minerals, or liquid molasses etc.. which is far less expensive than good quality orchardgrass/alfalfa.

Beef farmers, may have problems, but nothing like the dairies are experiencing right now.

GMN

I don't see much different and you dont have a monopoly on a $hitty situation. I get paid what someone else decides to pay me, same as you. I need to sell something regularly to keep cash flow, you do too. You have to provide and adequate diet for your cows, I have to do the same for my cows and calves. Doesn't matter I've been doing it on less than 30% of my average rainfall. When you add it all up, neither of us are making much if anything at all which I think is even footing. When we both get tired of it we will both stop.
 
bigbull338":3j5h3fho said:
this isnt the 1st time that milk an feed prices are meeting eachother.an theres only 1 thing you can do.an thats cull any prob cows.an dry cows up thats not paying their way.GMN i know you do all the milking yourself so you cant cut your hired labor.

Grain prices are exceeding milk prices, and thats the issue for many of my fellow dairy people right now.

GMN
 
I don't see much different and you dont have a monopoly on a $hitty situation. I get paid what someone else decides to pay me, same as you. I need to sell something regularly to keep cash flow, you do too. You have to provide and adequate diet for your cows, I have to do the same for my cows and calves. Doesn't matter I've been doing it on less than 30% of my average rainfall. When you add it all up, neither of us are making much if anything at all which I think is even footing. When we both get tired of it we will both stop.QUOTE:

There are similarities true, but I still think it would be easier to trim corners on a beef operation than a dairy.

Plus I do think a dairy is more labor intensive and has far more expenses than a beef operation, time you add in everything it takes to run a barn, supplies, maintanence, vet, medicine, upkeep on the farm, fencing, etc..you may have similar items, but on a dairy it just costs more.

GMN
 
then thats when you get rid of the freeloaders.yes its tough right now in the dairy business.but it really hasnt changed since the 50s.milk price is going down an everything else goes up.
 
bigbull338":7inws8y4 said:
then thats when you get rid of the freeloaders.yes its tough right now in the dairy business.but it really hasnt changed since the 50s.milk price is going down an everything else goes up.

I wouldn't know what it was like in the 50's I wasn't even born yet, all I can judge it on is the past 15 years, and to me this is the worst time ever, as several of my other farming friends have also said, that have been milking for 30 plus years.

I do find it hard to believe that things were as expensive as they are now in the 50's. From what I have heard dairying was a profitable business in the early years.

We have had lows and highs, but ever since the ethanol craze, it has kept the grain prices up there, I can't even remember the last time grain was $7-8 a cwt?

Last year hay was high, diesel high, and fertilizer too, but milk prices were high too so it evened out. Now everything related to making the milk is also high, and those kinds of things aren't ever going to decrease in price. Maybe the grain will come down some, but all the supplies, equipment costs are not going to decrease.

One of our friends bought the exact same disc mower we bought last year, only he paid $2500 more, and he thinks they raised the price because they could, they knew someone would need it, and want it, so they did it. Can't fall back on steel prices being high anymore, because that market has tanked, so thats what I mean, some items are just going to keep going up regardless, things we have no control over.

GMN
 
If you have to work a full time job outside of your dairy to maintain your dairy then it is time to get out of the business. A dairy if run properly should support a family not the other way around and that is the BIG difference between beef and dairy.

I really think the US dairy industry created what is happening themselves..

Sorry, please don't hate me..but it is not only me that thinks that way.........

It in no way means that I am not empathetic to your situation and I do know how very hard you work and how devoted you are to your dairy GMN. I do hope some how you guys get it all straightened out. Maybe start a quota system again ..
 
The last advance check was higher then the actual monthly milk check.
 
hillsdown":2d1btwmb said:
If you have to work a full time job outside of your dairy to maintain your dairy then it is time to get out of the business. A dairy if run properly should support a family not the other way around and that is the BIG difference between beef and dairy.

I really think the US dairy industry created what is happening themselves..

Sorry, please don't hate me..but it is not only me that thinks that way.........

It in no way means that I am not empathetic to your situation and I do know how very hard you work and how devoted you are to your dairy GMN. I do hope some how you guys get it all straightened out. Maybe start a quota system again ..

I'm not looking for sympathy-keep it, just stating facts. I don't think we have much control into changing how things are determined, and as for working out, that is the norm, has been for years, and many people do it, for alot of different reasons. I know 2 guys that milk over 100 cows, they each have day jobs, for the moeny but for the extra benefits too, plus job security.

I think if you have never been a owner operator of a dairy, you really have no clue.

GMN
 
GMN":2ffsgcor said:
GMN":2ffsgcor said:
1982vett":2ffsgcor said:
Not to downplay your troubles, but we face the same problems the dairy farmer does. We just produce a different product.


Well.. beef is different than dairy, our prices are what we get paid, which we really don't have any control over, plus dairy cows need grain to milk, another thing we have some control over, but not the price we have to pay.

I think most beef farmers can feed lesser quality hay, and most feed very little grain at all, supplementing with minerals, or liquid molasses etc.. which is far less expensive than good quality orchardgrass/alfalfa.

Beef farmers, may have problems, but nothing like the dairies are experiencing right now.

GMN

GMN":2ffsgcor said:
I know 2 guys that milk over 100 cows, they each have day jobs, for the moeny but for the extra benefits too, plus job security.


GMN":2ffsgcor said:
Well.. beef is different than dairy....
Then you imply one could make a living on 100 beef cows.

Well, I don't know of anyone that makes it on 100 beef cows unless they have an outside job or another source of income. Been that way for some time. Seems your problems are just now catching up to the rest of us. :tiphat:
 
I've talked to many people that used to dairy around here, even my dairy supplier. They all say that it has never been this bad in all the years they were/are in the industry. Nobody wants sympathy. That doesn't pay the bills. What we want is a fair price for what we produce. Raw milk is dirt cheap yet the finished product on store shelves is priced quite high. There is some money being made somewhere in there. I can see your point 1982 on there being similarities between beef and dairy, but there are some differences. Yes you have to sell some to cash flow but you can hold back the rest until, hopefully, the price goes up. With dairy its all shipped out and sold regardless of what the market does. We take what we are given and have no say in it. I too believe a beef op. can trim costs considerably easier than a dairy op. without sacrificing future production/income. If you skimp even the slightest on a dairy it is going to hit you that much harder down the road. I am forced to operate as if milk were priced better than it is just in case one day this thing will turn around and I can start making money again. I was told that by now the price of milk would be much better than it currently is. Seems like as soon as we gain some ground, it all gets lost again. Anything over $10 seems lucrative at this point :roll:
 
hold it guys.yall are forgetting about the mid 70s from 72 to 77.dairies here was going broke left an right.an the banks was calling in their notes.
 
novaman":1wlevjxb said:
I can see your point 1982 on there being similarities between beef and dairy, but there are some differences.

Of course their are differences or else I'd be running a dairy too. I'm just trying to point out that the dairy industry is not alone when it comes to makeing ends meet. Everyone has problems, with the most common being adequtate compensation for the product produced. And that is not commodity specific.
 

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