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 ...
What the country needs is a good mohair subsidy.
-——Sam Donaldson
“If your cows are 114 years old, maybe that’s the problem.”
Yup, don’t call me for dinner when you butcher those 114 year old cows. They would just be a leather bag of gristle by then. It would like trying to eat Ruth Ginsberg.
Cows are very curious.They also love music,especially live music.
Yep. Buddy of mine had some at his parent’s farm. When feeding time came some of them liked to poke him from behind, in the behind, and almost lift him off the ground.
With very little effort.
The roundup makes the crop ripen quicker.The goal is to harvest the wheat earlier so they can no-till soybeans sooner.
The tablets containing lactase work fine for me so I can drink or eat regular dairy products.
Thanks! I wondered about that.
I have a friend making automated Chicken houses. Evidently it’s a pretty competitive venture.
When the famine comes there will be plenty of people who just need to come up with electricity to keep their automated homestead running.
For now, I’m just happy about all my friends who give me free eggs.
I have a friend making automated Chicken houses. Evidently it’s a pretty competitive venture.
When the famine comes there will be plenty of people who just need to come up with electricity to keep their automated homestead running.
For now, I’m just happy about all my friends who give me free eggs.
If you can't tell what the temperature is, or think 70 degrees is too hot for your cows, you probably won't make other business decisions very well either.
Weather from www.city-data.com
Yes. He simply cannot produce milk at a price people are willing to pay.
An even better chart is provided by the Wisconsin State Climatology Office. The summer temperatures aren't any hotter than they were many times before in the long history of the farm.
It is hard to see how supposedly rising temperatures are a problem if your competition is located in Texas!
A billowing bale of bovine fodder...
Rising temperatures would increase the growing season in Wisconsin. Rising temperatures would make Wisconsin farms *more productive*.
When I started practice 35 years ago there were sixteen dairies in my care. In ten years they were all gone. I noticed government regulation getting stricter making it harder for the smaller dairies to compete. At the beginning of my practice, half of the business was large animal. When I stopped it was less than 5%.
There are economies of scale in farming. The little guys get squeezed out unless they are propped up by government interventions. “Organic” farming compounds the problem, because “organic” as currently defined by regulation requires a commitment to museum agriculture.
Of course. In Wisconsin warmer temperatures would help dairy farmers. But Mr. Goodman was buying fans since he thought the 70 degree days were too hot for his cows. That is just clueless. Or he put in the barn fans for his own comfort while working in his barn.
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