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Re: Can a small dairy farm survive milking Brown Swiss cows?


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Posted by RodInNS on November 12, 2008 at 14:27:18 from (216.118.158.123):

In Reply to: Can a small dairy farm survive milking Brown Swiss cows? posted by Rick in MD on November 12, 2008 at 10:31:48:

You know.... I think there's a huge amount of merit to the idea that you go to work for someone pulling t!ts before you buy your own. I think if you find the right guy to work for, some would be willing to help you set up your own herd. Arrangements can be made where they give you a certai number of calves as bonuses... then the farm raises them and carries them in the milking string when the time comes, and when you are eventually ready to leave and start your own operation, you have animals and some equity to work with. Those kind of deals are probably rare but there are people out there who would consider it. I have friends who've done that...

Beyond that, if you haven't milked cows, I think you've got a steep learning curve ahead of you. Breeding and feeding cows requires a lot of time and it' not something that takes second place to other jobs very well. If you don't look after that end the rest comes to a stop fairly quickly. Gaining that experience while working for someone else could be a great benefit to you. When you're ready then go out and rent or buy a farm to get going... but I don't think the milking and off farm job will work. It just doesn't.
Once you get into it you'll also quickly find out why dairy operations are so large today. You've got a lot of overhead to carry even on a small farm... and a lot of that can't be avoided very easily, so it quickly becomes a matter of scale.
You'll also probably find that holsteins are the most productive. It's not uncommon to see them at 4% fat and 3.5+ on protein today with current genetics and a feeding strategy aimed at making fat... and you still get a lot more milk. That said, go with what you like... but I tend to think that the industry as a whole uses holsteins for a very good reason.
Good luck to you. It's a steep road you're on.

Rod


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