Can You Hear Me Now?
Can You Hear Me Now?By Troy Bishopp
Low milk prices are once again causing unbearable stress on farm families in my community. This paltry price structure at the farm level with little retail price movement in the grocery store is getting to be unconscionable. I guess I should be used to this by now since it happens about every two years, but I’m not. I should also be used to the lack of respect about using managed grazing as a cost saving measure in this era of belt-tightening, but I’m not. And in true form, I see numerous articles and conferences from the sergeants of the status quo, talking about increasing production and becoming more efficient. If you’re like me you’ve heard all this before. However increasing production may have nothing to do with profitability or efficiency. I was taken back by a quote in this paper from Fulton Bank’s Loan Officer, Lowell Fry that read, “the key is milk production and dairyman better have a goal of 80 pounds per cow per day if they want to stay around.” In the same edition, Travis Werley from Fulton Financial said, “farmers should understand the cost of production in order to make good decisions in these turbulent times.” I like this advice much better.
If you want to talk about efficiency and lowering input costs, try beating a solar powered, self-propelled, animal-harvesting machine. I marvel, even today at the lack of discussion about infusing cost effective managed grazing practices into an operation by many a so-called expert. I just read about the top ten strategies for being more profitable and no mention of grazing. It’s a shame we can’t look beyond the silos, purchased inputs and concrete for something simpler, if even for some part of an operation. And so once again, grazing is cast as a production system of last resort. But hey, I have always liked the underdog role.
If you question my ideas, please visit Cornell’s Dairy Grazing Farm Business Summary for a look at profitability factors surrounding this issue. It will point to cost reduction, rather than increased production, as a key to profitability. This can be a liberating factor when facing this down right rotten milk price debacle. As this newspaper’s special sections editor, Charlene M. Shupp Espenshade, put it, “sow the seeds of opportunity.”
This opportunity is in looking hard at your pasture resources and how to best use them to help the bottom line. You may find the “green” right in your own neighborhood. I have advocated for years on developing relationships with owners of fallow or underutilized land that could be used in a grazing system for 6 months. Your neighbor gets a tax benefit, and keeps his fields covered in permanent sod. You get a low cost feed source ($1.00/day/head), labor savings and maybe a new friend to work with. This idea has merit given the fact that I have heard many top dairy managers say it cost between $1.35 to 2.00/day to keep a dry cow or dairy replacement in a confinement situation. I have also sensed anxiety in them not knowing about pasture management or trusting someone to implement this cost saving strategy. Of course this presents just another opportunity.
I see this farming out of non-production animals during pasture season as a significant change that may effect the “whole” of a dairy operation.
The milking cow side of a profitable pasture equation is pretty much predicated on maximum intake of grass and legume plants in the shortest amount of time and space, so she can lie down, chew her cud and make milk. Sounds simple enough, right? I guess if it were so simple everyone would be doing it. U.S. Census reports that only around 16% are actually implementing rotational grazing practices. So we have room for improvement, that’s for sure.
So what are the limiting factors to help dairy farmers get their cows grazing more and saving some cash? How about a serious, paid mentoring system that defray the costs associated with farmers helping farmers through this incredible learning curve or having access to grazing professionals on a regular basis, especially during the early season?
Can we agree to have some transitional funds available to farms as cows and people learn this new system? I wonder if we could have a cease-fire on pushing unnecessary inputs from over zealous salesman that devalue the system and graziers by saying this will never work.
If you read anything into my opinion, it doesn’t have much to do with the latest or greatest things, just a sense of getting back to a management mindset and looking for any possibilities right near home. The thing I have learned about working with successful, profitable grass-based farmers is they know why, when and where to move a fence and what the cost saving would be.
Whether they use a $ 40 dollar reel of polywire or 14 gauge-wire on a $ 5.00 cordreel is inconsequential as long as it does the job. It’s all about the management of the resources, which makes this type of farming so challenging and misunderstood.
When you work with the power of Mother Nature and not machines, she always bats last. That in itself, is why many folks choose a more regimented, structured, predictable system of production. I fear that with this continued milk price travesty, we must all look at different systems to remain viable until common sense prevails.
The best news about me writing or talking about adopting a rotational grazing portfolio is that many farmers, (many more than when I started), are having true successes and are weathering these price storms.
It may be time for you to visit your local grazing neighbor to share some valuable information and find some un-earthed profit centers. As the Farmer Rallies begin, and the editorials get written and we contemplate a future for our young dairy entrepreneurs… Can you hear me now? Published in Lancaster Farming 3/14/09