Bernie,
How much better do you see managed grazing? Tom Kriegl's studies have
shown some benefit to the bottom line, in the area of $1/CWT or
sometimes a bit more on average. Therefore, some individual farms could
do even better than that, and that can be significant in a mature
industry such as farming. With, say, 100 cows, wouldn't that be only
$10,000 dollars difference, give or take?
What do you see as the COP for a CWT of milk with the two separate
models? Or maybe four separate models, of the older small farm vs. the
large confinement farm, vs. the moderate size grazing farm vs., the
large grazing farm.
With roughly equal management ability, how much lower a COP can you
estimate using the older small farm as a sort of baseline? I know that
this is difficult to do, but any idea of some relative difference?
Also, it is not only the COP, but the net farm income that counts too so
you would want to take that into consideration.
If you did not have to have buildings, land was low cost, and labor
efficiency was high, aren't those the main factors? And couldn't that be
done with different managerial approaches other than grazing?
In talking to a local dairy farmer, in the past day about MO, it turns
out that he has spent some time down there because a relative lives
close to the Arkansas border. He wondered how you would weather the
horrifically high temperatures which can go one for months, the lack of
dairy infrastructure, the extremely poor soils, and the severe weather
conditions and the winter weather which can get cold in winter and might
still require shelter at times or have a disaster waiting to happen.
As you know, on Grazersedge, we have a number of extension personnel,
several DVM's, one being a DVM pathologist, one of the top dairy
nutritionists, and of course some very capable farmers who have a lot of
practical knowledge and have helped many. You are also on that group and
former agriculture agent Turner has commented in the past day or so.
Maybe I have the wrong state, but I thought he was in MO or close to
that area of the south.
One nice thing about Grazersedge group is that while you will get
differences of opinion, there does not seem to be quite the acrimonious
attitude of the know it all types who only believe their way is the
right one and anyone who even questions them are personally attacked.
Also, the group keeps growing and is now over 1100 members, which is
substantial in my view.
Sincerley,
Rick W.
Bernie VanDalfsen wrote:
>
> ----- Original Message ----- From: "KV9U" <mrfarm@mwt.net>
>
>
>> Bernie,
>>
>> Just like I was asking Brad, what is changing in the last couple of
>> years that would cause a reversal in dairying in your region?
>
>
> I think managed grazing has a lot of potential in Mo. But that would
> be true
> for a lot of other locations. The graziers currently here are doing
> well. We have lots
> of room for improvement even at that so we should be able to handle
> stiffer
> economic conditions well in the future. To do well you should have at
> least 100 cows
> but a well set-up and simplified operation managing that is really
> pretty easy. Shoot
> I'm near 300 and myself and 2 employees do it all and those who know
> me know
> I don't work very hard at all most of the time and damn proud of it.
>
>> On Grazersedge, as you know, we have a (now) retired extension agent,
>> who has worked for years in MO and has seen almost all dairy farms go
>> out of business in his service area.
>
>
> Which agent?
>
>
>> It sounds as if the main determinant for success is to be very large
>> in size for economies of scale? Is it just that no one wanted to do
>> this and so the smaller operations eventually had to shut down as the
>> farmers retired or had other reasons for exiting dairying?
>
>
> Hundreds of reasons to quit but many farms are too small. Many are too
> slow to
> adopt new ideas. Always playing catch up.. No future in that.
>
> The grazers that I associate are mostly not native to Mo. or not
> raised in dairy.
> Only my friend Charles would be. Clay-Texas. Two are swiss. Two from the
> NE US. Myself Canadian. And now Kiwi's settling in.
>
>
>> Here in Wisconsin, although we do not see a growth in farms, we also
>> do not see a decrease in production either. My understanding is that
>> production has been fairly steady. Dave Gneiser probably knows that
>> better than anyone and can correct me if I am wrong. What happens is
>> that the more entreprenuerial farmers will buy adjacent land or
>> nearby land as it becomes available and expand to a larger size
>> farming operation. That is why we are seeing more 100 to 300 cow
>> dairy farms and even one 1,000 cow dairy farm in Vernon County.
>>
>> Sincerely,
>>
>> Rick W.
>
>
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