Recently, a friend of mine shared an article he was reading about the decrease in dairy cows and farms over the past few decades in one county in Tennessee. Of the almost 1,000 dairy farms once located in the area, fewer than 20 remain today. Where have all the dairies gone?
I began to wonder if this might not be the situation with the dairy industry here in Muskingum County. I know members of our own family dropped dairy from their farming operation several years ago.
Chuck Bell
We are fortunate enough to be members of the only Farm Bureau Council remaining in Muskingum County. The first Tuesday of each month we attend the county extension’s ag breakfast. These are two good places to start gathering information when a question like this comes up.
After some discussion and further digging, I found what I thought were some pretty interesting Muskingum County statistics dating back almost 100 years. Even though recorders estimated only about 20% of farmers actually responded to the given surveys in the 1920s, the responses do provide a glimpse of how farming, especially dairy farming, has changed over the years.
Over the last 100 years, farming has transitioned from the use of horses to tractors, steam power to gasoline and diesel, thrashing machines to self-propelled combines, hand milking to milking machines and automated milking parlors and the dairy farms with seven to 10 cows included in the early statistics have transitioned to state of the art facilities with larger herds.
Through 1955, dairy was the largest source of income on Muskingum County farms. By 2022 (the latest census figures), dairy ranks fourth behind poultry and eggs, cattle and calves and hogs. The dairy industry has become more specialized through the years leaving behind the seven to 10 cow herds and the “primitive” milking equipment (only 10 Muskingum county dairy farms reported the use of milking machines in 1945). Today, nationwide, 65% of our milk comes from herds of 2,500 or more cows.
Our Muskingum County dairy farms might not be this large, but they remain competitive as they continually increase production of their milk through monitoring feed and herd health, improving the pastureland and crops that provide feed for their cows and introducing innovative technology to improve the efficiency of their dairy farms.
I hope this sheds some light on my question.
Chuck Bell is a former 4-H Educator for Muskingum County.
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