June is Dairy Month in Wisconsin, a time when we may attend a breakfast on a farm or some other event to celebrate this important industry.
Even though the number of Wisconsin dairy farms has fallen dramatically, dairy is still a major industry for the state. According to a recent publication “Wisconsin Farming: Insights from the 2022 Census of Agriculture,” by Jeff Hadacheck and Steven Deller, total revenue from milking cows was $7.35 billion accounting for 44.0% of total farm revenues. That revenue came from 5,676 farms with milk cows, or 5.1% of all farms.
The typical dairy farm had total revenue from sales of almost $1.3 million which compares to typical Wisconsin farm which had revenue from sales of $151,287.
I grew up on a dairy farm, where my parents had a 65-cow herd. Back in the 1970s nearly every farmer had at least some dairy cattle and 65 head was considered large. Now you can drive 10 miles in almost any direction from our farm before you find a herd, with the average Wisconsin herd size at 226 cows.
The loss of dairy farms in Wisconsin has been going on for decades. When my great-grandfather was milking cows in 1930, there were 167,000 dairy farms in the state.
When my parents sold their herd in 2000, Wisconsin had dipped under 25,000 herds. In 2017 there were 9,100 herds. The 2022 Census of Agriculture reports the number of dairy herds at 6,216 and the Wisconsin Agricultural Statistics Service says as of March 1, there were 5,617 dairy herds.
The economic developer in me looks at the positive impact dairy still has on the state. The dairy industry creates 157,000 jobs, and every dollar generated produces another $1.73 in additional revenue for the state.
Today’s farmer knows how to maximize milk production – the average cow in Wisconsin produces 8.2 gallons of milk every day. Supply is not the issue – farmers know how to produce milk. Then again, supply is the issue. Demand does not always equal supply, which is why prices swing back and forth.
But Wisconsin’s agricultural legacy of family dairy farms is dying. Years of low milk prices take their toll. Farmers cannot take the financial and emotional stress of working long hours every day of the year knowing that you’re going backwards.
All business — and dairy farming is a business — goes through constant change. Markets change. Jobs go away. One need only look at the upheaval in the auto, steel and coal industry. When plants close, communities suffer.
Wisconsin families and our rural communities suffer when dairy farms go out of business. The local feed store, hardware store, banks, grocery stores and schools feel it. The bigger farms can fill the milk production void but cannot replace the local economic impact.
I helped out on my parent’s farm the day they sold the cows. We moved cows from the barn into the sale ring. I watched as years of quality genetics were sold at bargain prices.
It was late afternoon and we milked a few of the cows before they were loaded onto the trailers. One more time I heard the familiar hum of the vacuum pump. One last time I watched the milk flow through the glass jar in the milkhouse into the bulk tank.
With only a few cows to milk, the barn was eerily quiet. The milking units were cleaned. The pump was shut down. A silent sadness hung over the valley.
Those days are gone, but the dairy industry remains important to our region and to Wisconsin. The science and research to support additional products and markets for dairy products is essential.
Celebrate Dairy Month. Take your child or grandchild to your local breakfast on the farm. Show them where milk comes from. Buy and enjoy delicious Wisconsin dairy products.
We need to keep our family farms strong to help keep rural Wisconsin relevant and growing.
Chris Hardie spent more than 30 years as a reporter, editor and publisher. He was nominated for a Pulitzer Prize and won dozens of state and national journalism awards. He is a former president of the Wisconsin Newspaper Association. Contact him at chardie1963@gmail.com.
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