Dairy farm at my age?

Goat v. Cow dairy...it takes just as much labor to milk a goat as it does a cow. If you have a local market, great otherwise it's not something that's ever appealed to me (despite my lactose intolerance!!!) One idea I've seen is to use the Goats as a milk source for veal.

Anyway, small acreage pretty much hobby farm, semi-retired so I'd assume you'd probably like time off to travel occassionally, etc.

What about breeding a small number of cows for spring, let them graze on grass. Maybe make a deal with a local dairy farmer -- they buy replacement heifers when you have them, you buy their veal calfs. Raise the veal calfs on a combo of grass & surplus cow milk during the summer & early fall. Sell off the veal calfs, send any young heifers to the dairy farm's herd, and dry off the cows for winter so their feed needs are lower. If you have surplus feed/acreage than the cows need, keep some of the veal calves and turn them into steers.

Not much labor need for Winter, come summer if you want a break hiring someone to run a small portable milk machine and feed the veal shouldn't be that overwhelming.

Oh Gawd!! Been there and done that one too.

Can't recommend this to anyone; period.

Allan

Check out graze.com for a great publication with plenty of good ideas about making cheap milk.

Also, look into low cost swing parlors to save your body from the rigors of pipeline milking.

Yes, and the thing that keeps running thru my mind is the land.

7 acres will just about be room enough for the barns, sheds, bins, calving facilities, corrals, and your feed storage, not to mention all the equipment that will have to be parked somewhere.

So, we have to think about the additional 300 or so irragated acres to raise the feed for these darlings, because buying feed just will not pencil out and pulling 100lbs out of a pasture feed cow is questionable at best.

If you look at 50 hi-quality bred heifers to start, this all seems like a very steep uphill road for many, many years to come.

Also, have we priced the cost of the AI lately and are you able to get a contract with a milk company?

How about the water? It will cost somewhere around $7K just to get the water supply to state code for Grade A production.

Interesting thread you have going here, Larry.

Allan

I'm 49 and my wife is 50, and we're in the process of starting a dairy goat farm.

Good luck!!

Rich

But I still really love tractors and stuff....started in the hay business. It'sprofitable if you sell to horse people (they are all nuts), and you get a fair amount of seat time. I got a few Herefords (as my wife says, expensive yard ornaments) to say I'm a farmer, and someday, I may get more. But I don't kid myself about ever making a profit on beef, just hay. I'll probably always look at farming as a good hobby.

I also think 61 is young these days. By the way, I co-own this company.

www.insitesoftware.com

Take Care
Steve

I agree. A horse will eat all you can throw in front of him and its 'horsy' owner will buy, pay the highest prices & haul all the hay you can raise.

Larry,

Pick up another 10 acres and put your money into raising grass hay. You'd have a good time & make some bucks going this route. Put the "$500,000 dairy money" to work drawing interest.

Just an opinion,

Allan

Been there, done that for many, many years.

With every ounce of respect for you, your dreams and what you want to do, I think you should think this over very, very carefully.

Just my 2 cents,

Allan

An dairy farmer hits the lottery for $10 million. The reporter asks him what he plans to do with all that money. The old farmer replied, "I guess I'll just keep dairy farming until it's all gone."

Having been raised on a dairy farm, I agreed with the fella who suggested you should go work on one for a while before you set up your own. It's a hard life no matter how money you have.

Now days I prefer my cows on a plate medium well.

A lot has changed in 40 years, but the constant responsability of milking twice a day has not change much at all for dairies. Most of the small operations in my area have gone out of business in the last 20 years because they can not make a decent enough profit with the milk price as low as it is. And increased regulations have also been part of the reason that the small, established dairies are gone.

I am retired and like to think about the good times when I was a kid, but I tend to not recall the bad times. The fact was, my parents worked me extremely hard and there were LOTS of times that I really didn't want to go out and do my chores. But that life was what I grew up with and knew. I guess I didn't know any better. I don't think I missed milking when I was supposed to more than 3 or 4 times from the time I was 12 and my Dad started working swing shift, and when I was 18 and went to college. I did it unless I was sick in bed and most of the time, even then.....

You might want to try to find employment at a dairy for awhile, if there are any in your area. You might enjoy it, but I think that before very long you would get tired of it. And getting the experience that way would be a whole lot cheaper than setting your place up to legally operate as a dairy. And your wages at somebody else's dairy would probably be much more than you would ever earn with your own operation. Does this sound pessimistic? I think it is realistic.

But maybe you need to follow your dream. Plan on constantly working very hard. Good luck!