Not being a dairy farmer it is easy for me to say ... but, it does seem
as if the folks making better than average grazing dairy farm income,
tend to have high labor efficiency, typically from the family labor, and
handle as many cows as they can with that labor. The numbers I hear most
commonly are in the 100 to 150 range. They use their available land to
maximize grazing, and buy in a substantial amount of their feed since
they are already maxed out with their family labor. This may work best
in areas that have custom harvesting or large scale cropping where you
can buy feeds directly from the producer and make arrangements well
ahead of time.
Our farm instructor points out that over the years, it really does not
matter much whether a person is grazing or operating a confinement farm
in our area. Some make surprisingly good incomes and some make negative
income. The one thing that seems to hold true is their management
ability and certain key management capabilities for our area.
Even if you have most everything paid for, it is very difficult to do
well with small cow numbers. I know one newer farmer who is at about 30
right now and heading for his maximum of 40+ due to the size of the barn
and land base. He is close to break even but has a wife with a good job
and good benefits.
Another farmer I believe has everything mostly paid for. He broke even
last year with his schedule F numbers. His main source of income is sale
of breeding stock which he specializes in. Otherwise it is likely he
would have to leave dairying since his wife does not work off the farm.
Sincerely,
Rick W.
Dairy heifer graziers (and a little produce)
SW Wisconsin
Clay & Sue McQuiddy wrote:
>Also, I think that you are understocking. Here we would expect 131 acres to handle 130 cows. Refigure your deal using more cows. Don't grow your corn on the land you can graze. Either rent land away from the milking platform or buy it from your neighbors. That might work.
>
>Clay
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Clay & Sue McQuiddy
> To: graze-l@witt.ac.nz
> Sent: Saturday, March 03, 2007 7:19 AM
> Subject: Re: converting?
>
>
> I don't think it will work. You are asking 70 cows to contribute $565 each to your farm mortgage plus pay all expenses and presumably allow yourself to draw something to live on, while you learn how to run a grazing dairy. That is a much riskier thing than I would do.
>
> Clay
>
>
> ----- Original Message -----
> From: Stephen and Stephanie Bray
> To: graze-l@witt.ac.nz
> Sent: Thursday, March 01, 2007 6:02 PM
> Subject: converting?
>
>
> 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
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