In my small area of PA 30 years ago there were at least 25-30 small dairies within a 10 mile radius (no mennonites). The biggest ones were right around 80-100 cows. Now that number is less than half. The guys that are left are either into elite genetics, running on fumes, are bottling their own, or have gone to a grazing based approach. The 2 guys I am friends with dairied for decades conventionally (confinement barns, hauling feed in and manure out), lame cows, big vet bills, poor conception rates, etc. and about 10 years ago went to intensive grazing. High-end, fragile Holstein genetics out, very hearty jersey-cross muts in. They're making far less milk, but more profit. No silos to fill, very little manure to haul, less machinery to eat up your margins, just single wire electric fences and a bunch of water troughs. The guys were ridiculed by everyone (including those who have since sold their cows), but they tell me they would NEVER go back to the way they did it before. Their herds are seasonal (dry off around Christmas), right around 100 cows (more head than their previous conventional herds), winter outside (yes, no barn), calve over a 2 month period in the spring when the grass comes on, and calves are left on momma for colostrum and housed in group pens.
Both of these guys will admit that this system is less physical work, but far more management intensive than one would think. A lot of science in when to move cows, what grasses to grow, when to feed hay, etc. Sorry bit off topic of the original post, but your mention of small dairies reminded me of this.
Upload one or more videos to your post. Photo filesizes should be less than 300K and Videos, less than 2MB. Formats allowed are gif, jpg, png, ogg, mp4, mov, and avi. Be sure to use filenames without spaces or special characters, and filetypes of 3 digits lower case.
We sell tractor parts! We have the parts you need to repair your tractor - the right parts. Our low prices and years of research make us your best choice when you need parts. Shop Online Today. [ About Us ]
Today's Featured Article - Museum Coverage: The Stuttgart Agricultural Museum - by Cindy Ladage. While cold wind was blowing back in Illinois, in Arkansas, daffodils were in bloom, and the Magnolia trees were adorned with fragrant blossoms. Stuttgart, Arkansas was the site of this year's winter Minneapolis Moline Collector's show February 25-27, 1999. The show was held at the Oliver Museum created by Don Oliver, the pioneer of the four wheel drive tractor. Oliver along with Gale Stroh and Kenneth Bull using Minneapolis Moline tractors and parts created what has become known as
... [Read Article]
Latest Ad:
For sale Farmall super A tractor is complete and has just been setting for awhile,it was running when pulled out of the barn,shouldn’t take to much to get it going asking 1100.00
[More Ads]
All Rights Reserved. Reproduction of any part of this website, including design and content, without written permission is strictly prohibited. Trade Marks and Trade Names contained and used in this Website are those of others, and are used in this Website in a descriptive sense to refer to the products of others. Use of this Web site constitutes acceptance of our User Agreement and Privacy Policy
TRADEMARK DISCLAIMER: Tradenames and Trademarks referred to within Yesterday's Tractor Co. products and within the Yesterday's Tractor Co. websites are the property of their respective trademark holders. None of these trademark holders are affiliated with Yesterday's Tractor Co., our products, or our website nor are we sponsored by them. John Deere and its logos are the registered trademarks of the John Deere Corporation. Agco, Agco Allis, White, Massey Ferguson and their logos are the registered trademarks of AGCO Corporation. Case, Case-IH, Farmall, International Harvester, New Holland and their logos are registered trademarks of CNH Global N.V.
