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Monett Missouri | My family has been hauling milk west of Springfield since 1948. I have seen a lot of different dairies come and go. Use to be a lot of dairies here but not that many anymore. Most land is rolling and rocky costing at least 2200 an acre. We do have some seasonal grass based dairies that we haul. They use fescue, rye grass, ceral rye, and crabgrass for pastures. Along with corn silage or alfalfa when a drought hits. Some milking 20-40 head , a few milk 80-100 hd and some barns milking 500+ head. Largest farms owned by a corporation of foreign investors. Not much competition on the processor side. DFA runs the show. A couple of other smaller coops are also an option. Kraft quit buying milk off the farm around seven years ago. Now DFA supplies their milk. The grass based guys seem to enjoy dairying (when it rains) and the confinement guys seem to struggle more. As anyone in the industry knows large capital investment and lots of labor requirements seem to keep new people out. High corn prices ( outrageous rents) have taken grass out of production and made forages harder to come by and more expensive. Someday I will probably have to find something else to haul as the Dairy industry is dying a slow death here in SW Missouri. | |
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Missouri dairying
