> You give the impression that you think seasonal farming is for a
> lifestyle choice only. May I comment that there is a shocking
> proportion of conventional dairys going out of business every year
> here in the USA, where as many seasonal dairys are becoming very
> profitable in countries all over the world.
Extensive financial studies by Tom Kriegel here in WI have shown no
financial advantage to seasonal dairying.
>
> Fertility is obviously an important issue to the seasonal farmer
Fertility is not very high in inheritibility. Better to concentrate on
other more inheritible traits. Because cows last longer in our dairy
grazing operations, US farmers have the good fortune to have more
replacements than needed so it makes more sense to sell off non-conformists
if seasonal dairying is the preferred lifestyle.
> If "US buyers need milk all year round" there are 2 things that
must
> happen in the future in the USA if there is to be a stop to the number
> of dairies going out of business. Either the buyers need to start
> paying more for your milk, OR the conventional farmers must become
> more innovative and find a way to produce milk cheaper all year round.
> Needless to say there will always be conventional farmers in the USA
> producing milk all year round for the foreseeable future, thus the US
> buyers may not be too concerned right now about a few seasonal
> dairies.
>
> Michelle.
>
Yup, the buyers need to start paying more for US milk. (Up until recently
they were and everyone was happy, except the greedy processors). And in
order for that to happen, we can no longer allow 8% of dairy products in the
US to be in the form of imports. Imports artificially inflate the actual
domestic milk supply, causing US prices to crash.
Given the triple oil prices we face in the world today, the WTO needs to
come up with a better plan where NZ exports to nearby markets instead of
needlessly burning up precious oil sending dairy products half way around
the world to the US where we're perfectly capable of milking enough cows for
our own domestic needs.
Dave G.
WisCOWsin.
