I forgot what real work was like...

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I am not sure if everyone knows but I was laid off a few weeks ago as a machinist building boats. Its no big deal really and as luck would have it, two snowmobile accidents left the big farm with 2 injured hired hands. With nothing to do, a family farm that needed help, well it was easy to see what I would be doing.

Its been awhile since I have been on the south end of 700 north bound cows, and I can tell you this...I feel like I actually worked this morning. It was non-stop work too. The shift starts at 1AM so we can get done milking by 10 AM. We have to do that because the milk trucks picks the milk up at 10 AM and it has scheduled stops....it cannot be delayed. The evening milking shift will start at 1PM of course and run to 10PM...20 hours a day of non-stop milking...but with a different crew of course.

In terms of production, every day this farm ships about 32,000 pounds of milk (4000 gallons) with 4% of it being butter fat. Annual production is 10 million pounds,or 1,250,000 gallons. At around $1.50 per gallon, its a sizable small business really.

I'll just say, I am glad I have a place to go when the economy gets bad even if it is hard work and kind of smelly. I know others are not so lucky. I figure I may be a little tired, but there is nothing wrong with getting back to your roots either. Milk anyone?
 
You think you were working hard? How about them cows? They have to work both shifts. :rofl:

Actually, the 1:00 to 10:00 AM sounds like it'd be tough. But if you're busy, I guess the time goes quickly. ;)
 
It's just the smell of money :D

Not right now its not its the smell of cow poop as feed is at recored highs and milk is at less /100 than it was when I was milking in the 70s and still dropping. I used to have $20,000.00 milk checks twice a month and a $30,000.00 feed bills to go with it AND its worse now.

The Dairy farmers are hurting bad right now.

But note that the milk in the stores hasn't dropped. :huh:

Jay
 
I worked on a dairy farm one summer when I was in college.

Hardest work I ever did, but the friend I did it with and the guy I worked for made it all worth while.

That summer convinced me to go back to college and get my degree.

I have nothing but respect and admiration for Dairy farmers....
 
I had beef cattle and would never even consider dairy farming. I believe it has to be one of the hardest jobs there is. You have some help, but small family only operated dairy operations tie the owners to the farm with no let up. I have known dairy farmers who have never had a vacation. One who couldn't go to church until he retired. Another who had to miss his own daughters wedding because he had to milk.
And kids think milk comes from the supermarket.
 
Growing up, my mom would take us to a milk farm to get our milk...no matter what time we arrived they were always milking....I didn't understand that until I was much older. Best milk ever though, and butter, and mayonaise and...yummy!
 
I can remember spending summers helping out some of my Uncle's family run their dairy. Seemed to be a never ending task, but they always made time for church and family.

We've got a local family here in KC that has been working hard to become independent from the co-op groups. They have a lower output as they don't put the cows through as much as they could, don't use hormones, and IMHO have a much better product. They even use the glass bottles. They've had a new marketing group working on their products, which has really helped a lot with their business. Check them out...

http://www.shattomilk.com/
 
Travis,
sorry to hear about the boat gig downturn, but also glad that your family business has room for you, will that continue once the two hands are back in shape?

I'm not sure. One guy broke a hip and he is 50 years old or so and pretty heavy so his recovery may take awhile. Probably by the time he recovers, it will be into spring planting and then summer harvest season so there may be a spot for me?

BUT...we are moving to a new barn soon. We just bought a bigger farm where we can milk more cows because up there the parlor is twice as big. The plan now is to milk an additional 200 head. With a state of the art barn, the farm may not need me? The move was supposed to take place a year ago and every week the permit are "another week away"...

As for the price of milk...it's not too bad right now. We can make it on what we get, but there is talk of it going lower. There is one nice thing about dairy farming however that very few types of farms have...and that is unbelievable cash flow. Every two weeks you do get a milk check.
 
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Travis, I went and had a big glass of chocolate milk with my dinner after reading this thread. Probably has nothing to do with your operation, but hopefully the supportive thought and a five-spot can still get you a cup of coffee somewhere. :thumb:
 
We just bought a bigger farm where we can milk more cows because up there the parlor is twice as big. The plan now is to milk an additional 200 head.

Do you milk on a carousel there? I saw a photo of a farm that had one of those last summer. Pretty cool, cows come in, step on the carousel, get hooked up, and go around being milked, and step off the other end and head on back.
 
does the frigid weather effect the cows and their output?
Can never tell if an animal is happy when I see them out in the fields.
Do they tolerate the cold well, or can they stay indoors. Do you heat the barn?
 
Do you milk on a carousel there? I saw a photo of a farm that had one of those last summer. Pretty cool, cows come in, step on the carousel, get hooked up, and go around being milked, and step off the other end and head on back.

They are cool, and can do up to 52 cows at once. Several farms near us have them, but they are bigger then ours at 1200+ cows.

Even the new farm we are getting will only be able to milk 24 cows at once, with 12 on each side, but it still cost over a million bucks just to build the parlor part of it. Those carousel parlors that float on water, they are several million. Maybe someday though.
 
does the frigid weather effect the cows and their output?
Can never tell if an animal is happy when I see them out in the fields.
Do they tolerate the cold well, or can they stay indoors. Do you heat the barn?

The cold temp does effect the cows, but surprisingly for the better. A Holstein cow's optimum temp is 28º so they tolerate the cold quite well. As long as they can get out of the wind, they are pretty happy. So we have a big barn where they can lay down and sleep, or get up and eat and its nice and cold in there for them. No insulation or heat for them, though 700 cows together putting out 100º temps does tend to warm the place up by several degrees. If itis -10 below f, then in the barn it may be 30º f.

Once again,the heat from the cows filtering in and out as they are being milked heats the parlor up quit a bit. Just by adding insulation, you get these temps which makes Maine a pretty good place to dairy farm. It can be done down south, but production suffers. Holsteins like cold temps pretty much.
 
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