Got Milk?
Elder User
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 609
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From: Garland Tx
Dang Marc, that sucks. I was considering a career in the field in some form or fashion but lately I've decided against it. Used to, all the major ag colleges around here had a dairy science program, now only one does. Looks like I'll be looking elsewhere.
Elder User
Joined: May 2003
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From: Canastota
Yea it sure does, and I love working on the farm so much its going to be hard to leave it. As far as I know there is only 1 college around here that offers an ag program and its quite a good too. Farming is one of the worst things to get into, there is no place for advancement and theres little money in it. Unless your a gigantic farm that sells feed/bailer twine ect. and even then its tough to make a good income. You're always digging a hole, its just a matter of how fast! I really hate saying all that but it is true, if there was more money in it then I would be going for an ag related study. Farming on the side isnt as bad and there is a little more money in that, but not much. But I will tell ya, at the end of the day I feel that I earned every cent doing a job that most people don't wanna do haha!
Elder User
Joined: May 2003
Posts: 609
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From: Garland Tx
Ya, I think I'm going to go the criminal justice route and try to be a game warden. Down here a lot of farms and ranches are replacing their main source of income with game and recreation. If I could get into that and regulated wildlife breeding there could be a good amount of money but Im just passing over ideas. We have plenty of great ag programs, just no dairy science. Ive still got a few years, I'll see what happens.
Cargo Master
Joined: Apr 2003
Posts: 3,476
Likes: 224
From: Frequently frozen MN
Milk prices stay pretty good -- mostly because of family farmers and price supports.
Family farmers love what they do, for the most part, and don't approach it with the true corporate bean counter attitude. Also, they're small businesses, and they don't have the high powered marketing, legal staff, etc. Nor do farmers ever seem to coooperate effectively to get their fair share.
Price supports also contribute ( although I have no idea if they are currently in effect). My late brother in law ( a good dairy farmer) once told me that the supports keep a lot of marginal farmers in business, which kept the price down because of competition.
When we finally see a majority of corporate dairy farms, the price will rise.
Supply will probably be more variable as well.
ford2go
Family farmers love what they do, for the most part, and don't approach it with the true corporate bean counter attitude. Also, they're small businesses, and they don't have the high powered marketing, legal staff, etc. Nor do farmers ever seem to coooperate effectively to get their fair share.
Price supports also contribute ( although I have no idea if they are currently in effect). My late brother in law ( a good dairy farmer) once told me that the supports keep a lot of marginal farmers in business, which kept the price down because of competition.
When we finally see a majority of corporate dairy farms, the price will rise.
Supply will probably be more variable as well.
ford2go
Senior User
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 243
Likes: 1
From: Kempton, PA!
Interestingly, the U.S. actually does have a deficit in dairy. We import milk products, but (I imagine) the vast majority of that is powdered and stuff that major companies use in their products. And no, you cant crank up the production of a cow either. But in general total dairy consumption across the united states is very predictable thing. And you can be sure that there will not be any milk "shortages." Sadly in the dairy industry you have to be an extremely good manager just to break even on many years. the fact of the matter is that when the average cost to produce is around 13 (give or take a dollar depending on location, feed costs, etc, etc etc etc hehe) and so is you milk check its just not going to be a comfortable life. And 4 dollar corn is going to hurt alot of dairies as well.
As for rBST, even though there is no difference in the milk at all (which I believe) the stuff should be banned. Consumers dont want it, and that extra few pounds push prices down far. When the US closed their boarders to canada and rBST went offline for a while, milk prices were as high as 20 and farmers were paying off their bills. now the boarder is open so big companies can buy heifers for dirt cheap and rBST is back online milk is at 13. We will never learn.
As for rBST, even though there is no difference in the milk at all (which I believe) the stuff should be banned. Consumers dont want it, and that extra few pounds push prices down far. When the US closed their boarders to canada and rBST went offline for a while, milk prices were as high as 20 and farmers were paying off their bills. now the boarder is open so big companies can buy heifers for dirt cheap and rBST is back online milk is at 13. We will never learn.
Elder User
Joined: Dec 2006
Posts: 874
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From: WI, sometimes MN & IA
i think the songs "amarillo sky" by jason aldean and "last of a dying breed" by ?neal mccoy? are pretty fitting songs to listen to. just had to post after reading here...
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Senior User
Joined: Jan 2007
Posts: 243
Likes: 1
From: Kempton, PA!
i think the songs "amarillo sky" by jason aldean and "last of a dying breed" by ?neal mccoy? are pretty fitting songs to listen to. just had to post after reading here...
Agreed. Farming is in a bad place right now. Then again, has it ever really been in a good place
I think that, if you can be enough of an euntrepreneur, selling directly to the customer can be successful. You just have to be in the right location. If everything pans out (that is key) I would like to do something along that line. Where I work we milk between 80-90 cows and I figured out that if you could bottle your own milk and sell it direct, you could bring in the exact same amout of money that we do milking just 30 cows, and all your bills would be 1/3 of what they are now. Of course, its not quite that simple, but only milking 30 cows would give you alot more time to raise other things (beef, chickens, eggs, the list goes on) and could be quite profitable. Also, many people would rather buy their food straight from a farmer off the farm. I'm just afraid that if selling straight off the farm gets much bigger, the government will regulate and/ or ban it because of "biosecurity reasons" or other such balony. If there is any one thing I can guarentee, eggs bought the day they were layed on a family farm are 10X better than 30 day old eggs from Weis.
Agreed. Farming is in a bad place right now. Then again, has it ever really been in a good place
I think that, if you can be enough of an euntrepreneur, selling directly to the customer can be successful. You just have to be in the right location. If everything pans out (that is key) I would like to do something along that line. Where I work we milk between 80-90 cows and I figured out that if you could bottle your own milk and sell it direct, you could bring in the exact same amout of money that we do milking just 30 cows, and all your bills would be 1/3 of what they are now. Of course, its not quite that simple, but only milking 30 cows would give you alot more time to raise other things (beef, chickens, eggs, the list goes on) and could be quite profitable. Also, many people would rather buy their food straight from a farmer off the farm. I'm just afraid that if selling straight off the farm gets much bigger, the government will regulate and/ or ban it because of "biosecurity reasons" or other such balony. If there is any one thing I can guarentee, eggs bought the day they were layed on a family farm are 10X better than 30 day old eggs from Weis.
Senior User
Joined: Nov 2005
Posts: 415
Likes: 0
From: Burlington Vermont area
Originally Posted by Fords&Farmalls
...
As for rBST, even though there is no difference in the milk at all (which I believe) the stuff should be banned. Consumers dont want it, and that extra few pounds push prices down far. When the US closed their boarders to canada and rBST went offline for a while, milk prices were as high as 20 and farmers were paying off their bills. now the boarder is open so big companies can buy heifers for dirt cheap and rBST is back online milk is at 13. We will never learn.
As for rBST, even though there is no difference in the milk at all (which I believe) the stuff should be banned. Consumers dont want it, and that extra few pounds push prices down far. When the US closed their boarders to canada and rBST went offline for a while, milk prices were as high as 20 and farmers were paying off their bills. now the boarder is open so big companies can buy heifers for dirt cheap and rBST is back online milk is at 13. We will never learn.
Elder User
Joined: Aug 2006
Posts: 813
Likes: 0
From: Hewitt, Minnesota
The small farmer is doomed. Those that haven't already will say the heck with it when the NAIS becomes mandatory in 2009. Farmers will have to report to the US govt. everytime they move their cows into and out of the barn. Everytime they move them from one pasture to another. Did I mention the tag readers will cost several hundreds bucks? Not to mention the tags themselves will cost $20 each. This will be the end of FFA and 4-H as well. The rich kids don't care about livestock. and the kids that do care, neither they nor their parents could ever afford it. Rural Heritage Magazine has several well written article on NAIS.
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