------=_NextPart_000_0010_01C75C34.34F20700
charset="iso-8859-1"
I am a 29 year old, first generation, dairy producer in south
central Va. I own 131 acres. I am currently milking 150 cows. I raise
some heifers here but contract out heifer from 250# to 750#. I am
mostly holstein but do have a few Jerseys and crosses. Most of my
pregnant cows now are breed to jerseys. I have done some grazing in the
past. However with this many cows on 110 acres pasture, I was not able
to get over 30-40% grass. I, like every other conventional dairyman,
have came off of a very bad year.
What my goal is to do is over the next two years convert to totally
grass and parlor feed. I can sell 100 springing heifer and 50 milk cow
to eliminate all of my short term debt. This will leave a 3300 a month
farm payment.
My question is, can I my money on 60-70 cows on 130 acres and still
make the farm payment. If I drop back to these numbers, I would have
very little additional labor. I would also put up 2000 tons of Corn
Silage to help me during the transition period.
I would like some feedback as to whether you people think this will
work. If I am crazy, please tell me.
Stephen Bray
Penhook, VA
