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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

“I’ve just seen too much sh1t....”

- So said the dairy farmer


41 posted on 12/26/2018 12:34:40 PM PST by Secret Agent Man (Gone Galt; Not Averse to Going Bronson.)
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To: ETL

At some point, I think all dairy farming will go away and be replaced by ‘Milk Factories’.

Cows eat grass and drink water. From that they make milk.

And once we find the complete enzymatic pathways, we can make milk too.

Bet on it.


42 posted on 12/26/2018 12:35:14 PM PST by chaosagent (Remember, no matter how you slice it, forbidden fruit still tastes the sweetest!)
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To: Secret Agent Man

She was only a coachman’s daughter but all the horse men knew her.


43 posted on 12/26/2018 12:35:34 PM PST by central_va (I won't be reconstructed and I do not give a damn)
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To: Izzy Dunne; generally
[The herd had been in my family since 1904; I know all 45 cows by name.

If your cows are 114 years old, maybe that's the problem.]

That's why ya gotta buy those really, really small cows and let them grow.


44 posted on 12/26/2018 12:36:14 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
"Climate change would have made our future in farming that much harder."

That sounds like udder bull...t to me.

45 posted on 12/26/2018 12:36:23 PM PST by SnuffaBolshevik
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To: Perseverando
we had to install huge fans in our barn

In Arizona:

.


46 posted on 12/26/2018 12:37:06 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (Every time a lefty cries "racism", a Trump voter gets his wings.)
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To: Jeff Chandler

I have 45 cattle on a farm for meat. It is a hobby.


47 posted on 12/26/2018 12:39:00 PM PST by Haiku Guy (ELIMINATE PERVERSE INCENTIVES)
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To: ETL

Family farms are becoming a thing of the past.

A potato farmer I talked to said that just his combine cost over $250K and most of the equipment is becoming computerized making it impossible for the average farmer to fix or maintain. The investmentment and maintenance costs alone are driving farming to large corporations. Plus kids no longer want to stay and work the farm. The article doesn’t mention anything about this farmer’s children wanting to work the farm, but my friend said that his sons had no interest in the farm because of the long hours. Instead they moved into town doing other things.

It’s sad to see them go because part of my family was involved in farming, but family farms are going the way of drive-in theaters.


48 posted on 12/26/2018 12:39:12 PM PST by HarleyD
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To: ETL

I have twin boys 20/yrs old (one an ALL-American runner). When home from college they put away 5 gallons a week. They have done that pretty much since they were 7 years old. BTW the other is not wrestling in college but he was rated in the top twenty in his weight class for 4 years running in high school.

Neither the wife or I were particularly athletic. Wonder if it was the milk?


49 posted on 12/26/2018 12:41:16 PM PST by traderrob6
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To: ETL

Since 1904, eh? Dang! Those must be some mighty old cows! I grew up on a dairy farm, milking in a stanchion barn with Surge milking machines. That was not the life for me. At 18 I enlisted in Uncle Sam’s Army, and said goodbye to Bossy and the rest of the bovines.


50 posted on 12/26/2018 12:41:45 PM PST by Tucker39 ("It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible." George Washington)
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To: DannyTN
I’ve read that the problem with wheat is primarily that they dump roundup on the crop

Where did you read that?

51 posted on 12/26/2018 12:43:02 PM PST by Jeff Chandler (Every time a lefty cries "racism", a Trump voter gets his wings.)
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To: Aussiebabe

Go big or get out......so he got out.


52 posted on 12/26/2018 12:44:53 PM PST by Tucker39 ("It is impossible to rightly govern a nation without God and the Bible." George Washington)
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To: ETL

Can you imagine the same article about a guy who owns a dry cleaners?


53 posted on 12/26/2018 12:46:19 PM PST by stinkerpot65 (Global warming is a Marxist lie.)
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To: Jeff Chandler

I read that on the internet.

Don’t remember where. But I’ve seen the usage of roundup on wheat referred to multiple times since.

The part about wheat being a hybrid and allergens you can read in the books “Lose the wheat and lose the weight” and “Wheat Belly”.


54 posted on 12/26/2018 12:48:04 PM PST by DannyTN
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To: ETL

yet another screed about Global Warming...

they propagandize us at every opportunity...


the Federal Govt started subsidizing agribusiness during the Great Depression (not Obama’s, FDR’s)........
while I do NOT believe that was a constitutional nor wise policy, it was at least understandable as a temporary “economic emergency” measure...

the problem is, almost no government programs are ever “temporary” (they just go ON and ON and ON forever, like the Everready Bunny Rabbit)

we need to wean our farmers off the dole ASAP.... it can and I believe should be done gradually so as to cause the least-possible economic disruption for them.......but it needs doing! Besides, every rancher or farmer I’ve ever known was/is a very astute businessman ... with the smarts to do quite well indeed in a free market. None of them need to be on welfare


55 posted on 12/26/2018 12:49:10 PM PST by faithhopecharity (“Politicians arent born, they’re excreted.” Marcus Tullius Cicero (106 to 43 BCE))
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To: Sparky1776

All I know about farming is, if you milk a bull you got a friend for life !


56 posted on 12/26/2018 12:52:09 PM PST by al baby (Hi Mom Hi Dad)
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To: Grimmy
I don’t know why we need dairy farms anyway.

I get all the milk I need from the grocery store.

For some reason, that sounds like something Ortasio-Cortez might say.

57 posted on 12/26/2018 12:52:17 PM PST by MoochPooch (I'm a compassionate cynic.)
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To: CarmichaelPatriot

Many dairy farmers in the US are getting a premium price for their milk because they have been selectively breeding their cows for years to achieve A2 only protein status. They are breeding away thee A1 protein mutation which is a few thousand years old. The A2 milk company has farms across the US supplying their 3 processing plants which send milk to 9000 stores across the US. This is the future of milk.https://www.usatoday.com/story/money/food/2018/06/01/indigestion-2-cows-could-solve-your-milk-problem/663411002/


58 posted on 12/26/2018 12:52:48 PM PST by MomwithHope
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To: Tucker39

Back in the day farms were 160 acres. Now that is considered to be a garden. Times change.


59 posted on 12/26/2018 12:53:40 PM PST by shelterguy
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To: ETL

As we get older, the body does change the amounts of enzymes and hormones we make. You probably don’t make as much lactase as you used to. Others see big changes in lipase (the fat enzyme) and the enzymes that break down starches and proteins. All these changes will make us modify our diets.

I won’t even get into the problems caused by the myriad hormone changes.


60 posted on 12/26/2018 12:53:46 PM PST by VanShuyten ("...that all the donkeys were dead. I know nothing as to the fate of the less valuable animals.")
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