Farms
National Dairy Board’s 25th
It’s the silver anniversary of the National Dairy Promotion and Research Program . . . but even its supporters acknowledge these are not golden times for dairy producers.
“I think 90% of the dairy producers in the nation are dipping into their equity to stay afloat right now,” says Joe Lyon, a dairyman from Toledo, Iowa. “At this price per hundred pounds of milk, very, very few, if any, are making any money, paying their feed bills, their vet bills and everything. It’s tough, and it’s part of the whole economy…the dairy industry’s in a crisis right now.”
The Farm up on the Hill
“You can only manage a business so long and stay on top. You need to change from time to time to keep that edge,” says Gary Boyke, a third generation dairy producer, who with his wife, Rose own a 1350 cow dairy farm in eastern Wisconsin, just three miles southeast of Fond du Lac. “Fond du Lac is a community of nearly 45,000 people, and we’re known as the farm up on the hill overlooking the lake.” That lake is Lake DeNeveu, a 90 foot deep, 80-acre spring-fed lake, one that area residents treasure for its recreational and aesthetic values.
Dairy farmers face challenges whether they are starting out or established
Dairy producers and others attend the 42nd annual N.D. Dairy Convention held recently in
MANDAN, N.D. - Dairy producers today run the gamut from young couples just starting out, to generational families continuing in well established multi-family farm businesses, to retiring dairy farmers unable to pass on the dairy farm because their children are moving on to other non-dairy farming careers.
