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Dairy farming is dying. After 40 years, I’m done
Washington Post ^ | Dec 21, 2018 | Jim Goodman

Posted on 12/26/2018 12:00:12 PM PST by ETL

Edited on 12/26/2018 12:14:14 PM PST by Sidebar Moderator. [history]

After 40 years of dairy farming, I sold my herd of cows this summer. The herd had been in my family since 1904; I know all 45 cows by name. I couldn

(Excerpt) Read more at washingtonpost.com ...


TOPICS: Culture/Society; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: butter; cheese; cream; dairy; icecream; lactaid; lowfat; milk; skim; whole; yogurt
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To: ETL

There used to be a lot more than just dairy farming on our old farm, all manner of beast and bird except turkeys and most all edible, not to mention the fodder to feed them that we hauled in from the fields. We had a smaller milking herd and raised cattle and sheep thru the 4-H years.

Over the years , farming has gotten bigger and better, more productive but also more prone to bust as smaller farmers were taken to the cleaners by larger forces beyond their control.

We didn’t have GPS to guide us in the fields or computers to run spreadsheets on the farming business and where it was financially.

We still have some farmers left in the family with livestock and cash crops in the field , for now. I make a point of stopping by when I can and take a good whiff and remember when we helped feed the world.


121 posted on 12/26/2018 4:47:04 PM PST by NormsRevenge (Semper Fi - Monthly Donors Rock!!!)
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To: ETL

Too bad farmers and ranchers decided that government could help them. Good article a few years ago at the Foundation for Economic Education about how subsidies hurt recipients. It keeps marginal businesses going and prevents people from learning from bad decisions. It is no wonder that farms and ranches are in trouble after decades of government “help”.


122 posted on 12/26/2018 4:48:23 PM PST by Pining_4_TX ("Every election is a sort of advance auction sale of stolen goods." ~ H.L. Mencken)
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To: DannyTN

I’ve read that the problem with wheat is primarily that they dump roundup on the crop a couple of days before harvest.


Don’t believe everything you read...........................................

Now put your thinking cap on and think about it. Who ever wrote that is just another liberal who doesn’t know a damn thing.


123 posted on 12/26/2018 5:03:06 PM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: yldstrk

Over-hybridizing, over-exposing.

What we consider natural is highly unnatural: a Chihuahua is vastly different from the ancient natural canine. Wheat is not the same as the ancestral wild grain from which it came.

We eat the same foods all year round. That is also highly unnatural, and increases the allergenic sensitivity.

Although it is very high in gluten, many who react to wheat can eat spelt: It is an ancient, less altered food to which people have not been constantly exposed.

Finally, Leaky Gut Syndrome is real, and allows protein fragments into the blood stream, where they produce an auto-immune response.

Healing the gut lining is the best first step. That may require temporary removal of foods that irritate and damage the villi.


124 posted on 12/26/2018 5:03:06 PM PST by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
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To: ETL

Historically and globally, more people eat goat’s milk than cow’s milk. It is inherently more digestible by humans: naturally homogenized, and lower in A1 beta-Casein protein, which can cause digestive tract problems. That is entirely different from Lactose - a sugar (carbohydrate) - intolerance.


125 posted on 12/26/2018 5:08:59 PM PST by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
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To: YogicCowboy
We eat the same foods all year round. That is also highly unnatural, and increases the allergenic sensitivity.

Natural is unhealthy. Lives used to be short,nasty, and full of pain and privation.

If that is what people want, it is pretty easy to get.

Dying of infection is natural.

Having your teeth gone by 50 is natural. (living that long is unnatural)

Losing most of your children to disease and famine is natural.

Constant worry of war, raids, and ambush is natural.

The U.S. has been one of the most unnatural nations to exist in all of history!

126 posted on 12/26/2018 5:11:16 PM PST by marktwain (President Trump and his supporters are the Resistance. His opponents are the Reactionaries.)
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To: Aussiebabe

Notice he had only 45 cows and went into the organic milk industry. The climate change with the fans made it laughable.


And what really did him in was the expensive “organic” feed.

I hauled some organic chicken to be processed once, they were the sickest animals I ever saw. Half of them died on the trip there. Couldn’t be treated for common ailments we had solved with a little medicine.

Also, they probably spent more time at “organic religion meetings” than they should have.

Organic added a whole new level of expense and bureaucracy.


127 posted on 12/26/2018 5:12:04 PM PST by PeterPrinciple (Thinking Caps are no longer being issued but there must be a warehouse full of them somewhere.)
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To: onona

or do get with the future of dairy 4500 cow operation
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=PfoNxkKt-_E


128 posted on 12/26/2018 5:23:15 PM PST by griswold3 (Just another unlicensed nonconformist in a dangerous Liberal world.)
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To: SaveFerris

I am almost 70; thank GOD I can drink all the milk, heavy cream (yes I like to drink heavy cream, my wife thinks it’s horrible), ice cream, milk chocolate, all those good things that our cows provide us for a better life.


129 posted on 12/26/2018 5:32:06 PM PST by 5th MEB (Progressives in the open; --- FIRE FOR EFFECT!!)
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To: Grimmy

Still rolling on floor laughing; try asking a grade school kid where hamburgers or steaks come from.


130 posted on 12/26/2018 5:35:28 PM PST by 5th MEB (Progressives in the open; --- FIRE FOR EFFECT!!)
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To: Izzy Dunne

OMG you have the post of the day STILL LAUGHING!!!


131 posted on 12/26/2018 5:37:32 PM PST by Trump Girl Kit Cat (Yosemite Sam raising hell)
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To: 5th MEB

I love whole milk. Great stuff.

When forced to, I can drink 2% at a hotel if they have nothing else.

Vanilla ice cream good, too. Or whatever that white stuff is they’re selling me at local stores.


132 posted on 12/26/2018 5:48:25 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: Perseverando

Cows out in the west live on hot prairies.

Is it that specialized big udder bred cows cannot take the heat?


133 posted on 12/26/2018 5:51:10 PM PST by Chickensoup (Leftists totalitarian fascists appear to be planning to eradicate conservatives)
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To: Haiku Guy

Any thing less than 1000 head in the West is a hobby ranch.


134 posted on 12/26/2018 5:55:07 PM PST by 5th MEB (Progressives in the open; --- FIRE FOR EFFECT!!)
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To: SaveFerris

You really have to pay attention to the labels now days, my wife bought “ICE MILK” one time, as soon as I opened the container I knew it would be inedible.
Wound up feeding it to the dogs.
I am a 100% whole milk, real butter, real ice cream kind of person.
Doc says no cholesterol problems, at 5’ 11” still only weigh 180.
Doc just looks at me and shakes his head.


135 posted on 12/26/2018 6:25:21 PM PST by 5th MEB (Progressives in the open; --- FIRE FOR EFFECT!!)
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To: ETL

I have a milk addiction. I am certain my 2 gallon a week habit is keeping several farmers in the black.
When i die, the industry is dead.
Meanwhile, i keep telling my oldeat that almonds do not lactate.. truth be told tho, i love the vanilla cashew milk.. its just too pricey with my problem.


136 posted on 12/26/2018 7:22:10 PM PST by momincombatboots (Billions to Mexico & Central America and No wall for YOU. #MAGA But violent felons are free.)
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To: 5th MEB

Yeah, there’s ice cream like that too.


137 posted on 12/26/2018 8:31:26 PM PST by SaveFerris (Luke 17:28 ... as it was in the days of Lot; they did eat, they drank, they bought, they sold ......)
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To: ETL

Chaves County is one, if not the largest milk producing counties in the nation. Many dairies relocated to Chaves County from California where the land was sold to developers due to the cost of the land, and a better climate for the cattle.
The industry is not dying. There is also
a cheese plant in Caves county that
produces much of the nation’s mozzarella
cheese. After 40 years, anyone working
at the same job is ready to retire.


138 posted on 12/26/2018 9:44:00 PM PST by Lean-Right (Eat More Moose)
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To: ETL

Organic Pastures is thriving. Even as they have to keep their cows all actually healthy and submit to 100x more testing than pasteurized dairies. And their milk is actually good for you, digestible, and probiotic.


139 posted on 12/26/2018 9:49:45 PM PST by Yaelle
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To: marktwain

Many words have more than one usage. You are being disingenuous by conflating two usages.

Do you therefore consider opiate drug usage good? It is, after all, unnatural. Do you therefore consider a homoerotic lifestyle preferable? It is, after all, unnatural.

You have essentially made the absurdly categorical assertion that the unnatural is superior to the natural.

Stop being a petty snark.


140 posted on 12/26/2018 10:53:01 PM PST by YogicCowboy ("I am not entirely on anyone's side, because no one is entirely on mine." - J. R. R. Tolkien)
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