Looking to start a dairy farm. Need help.

[yanks26]

Right now I am a junior in college and starting to plan a dairy farm after college. I will get hands on experience at school since they have 100 dairy cows I can work with.

Can anyone give me some advice or tips on whether this is a good idea or not?

I am open to anything. I love cows and chickens but I feel that dairy farming is a market that is still available to enter into. What do you think?

 

[Farmer Kitty]

My first question is, do you have any experience at all with dairy cows?

Second is, do you love farming, including milking?

Farming is something that you do because you love it. The pay is not great and it's long hours.

 

[mully]

My first question is, do you have any experience at all with dairy cows?

Second is, do you love farming, including milking?

Farming is something that you do because you love it. The pay is not great and it's long hours.

YES YES and hard work and sometimes nasty

 

[wynedot55]

king cows is rough back breaking work.an the dairy comes before going out with family.an you better be prepared for low milk prices an high feed prices.get all the hands on traning you can.an then get a job working at a dairy when you get out of school.

 

[yanks26]

Yes I do love working on farms. I, without a doubt, want to run one of my own later in life. I would really love to do one with animals and chickens catch my attention first but that industry is saturated and has no room for small companies to get in. So my next favorite interest are cows. I don't know exactly what I want to do yet with them I just know that I want to have cows. I am starting my research now on dairy farms and want to hear what you guys have to say about them. Thanks so much for the input thus far!

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Now that we know you are really truly interested in dairy farms, I would say go for it.

As pointed out already, it's something you need to love and is a lot of work but, I personally love the work. It's a good place to raise kids and teach them responsibilities too.

Learn as much as you can now, before you get your cattle. We do a good portion of our own vet work and mechanical work, which is a great way to save money. Saving money is the biggest way to make it as a farmer that and learning to not over expend. Always, plan for the lean times. If you can't make the loan on $9 milk then don't take the loan out or you will regret it when the price drops.

Study, work hard on the farm they have there, and don't be afraid to ask us questions. Remember, there are no dumb questions. If you don't know, it's smarter to ask than to go about it blind. We are here to help.

Welcome to the world of cattle, whether it be dairy or beef.

 

[Imissmygirls]

I would add that winning the lottery would help. Dairy cows are very expensive to buy and you should buy the best you can afford. Research how small a herd you would need to start with to pay the rent on a dairy farm plus their feed, etc etc
I am told most banks on the east coast of USA won't discuss loans without a minimum herd size of 60 and you can figure at least $2000 per head to buy a cow. That's 120K minimum initial investment if you are talking about a dairy herd to make a living.
On $9.00 /cwt milk, it logically can't be done.


Went to a local minor league baseball game with a milk promotion theme. A dairy farmer friend tells me he bought 2 glasses of beer there. Cost for the two glasses of beer was more than he was paid for 100 lbs of milk.
Something is wrong with that picture.

 

[WildRoseBeef]

Up here you need at least a million dollars to start in building facilities for milking and buy cows. The federal gov't also has a quota on how much milk is produced per dairy farm. Go below that quota and you're out of business.

To really get into business you'd have to time your cows to milk 365 days a year...pretty much by switching the lower lactating cows with the ones that just calved. Which I'm sure means either calving year round or calving twice a year.

Then there's the feed. Dairy cows need higher quality feed than beef cattle ALL the time, as they tend to consume a lot in order to produce a lot of milk. Which means either owning a lot of crop/hay land or renting or buying feed.

Most cows are AI'd, although I know of one or two dairy farms around here that have Jersey bulls to breed their heifers. Keep in mind Jersey bulls are the most dangerous bulls of any breed of cattle, beef and dairy.

Calves have to be sold as well, and most if not all of your bull calves will be steered and sold as feeders. Selecting top heifers as replacements take a good eye and knowledge about the history of the dam and sire to decide whether to include them in the dairy herd or not.

Those are a few things I know of that should be considered if you want to enter the dairy business. And of course lots more that I didn't mention and that the others did and didn't mention that should also be thought about and researched.

Anywho, good luck with your endeavours.

 

[Farmer Kitty]

Actually, price of cattle are down right now. But, remember, if the price of milk goes up so will the price of dairy cattle.
Dairy Replacement Cattle
Top Quality Springing Holstein Heifers 1100 - 1375 Top 1450
Plainer Quality Springing Holstein Heifers 800 - 1100
Good Quality Short Bred Heifers 900 - 1125
Good Quality Springing and Recently Fresh Cows 1000 - 1500
Good Bred Back Milking Cows 800 - 1450
Plain Quality and Common Cows Market - 800
Dehorned and Vaccinated Open Heifers 350-550# 350 - 650
Dehorned and Vaccinated Open Heifers 550-750# 450 - 800
Dehorned and Vaccinated Open Heifers 750-950# 650 - 950
Top Quality Holstein Heifer Calves 200.00 - 280.00 per head
Plain Quality Holstein Heifer Calves 50.00 - 150.00 per head
Quality Beef Calves 70.00 - 140.00 per head
Started Calves 50.00 - 150.00 per head
Light and Off Quality Calves 30.00 & Down

One way to help with the expense would be to spread it out. If you know for sure that you want to go into dairy then I would evaluate whether or not you could afford to rent or buy a farm now. Then start buying heifer calves. It will be a couple of years before they will be milking so you will need to be able to afford this on the income you currently have but, if you could buy a calf here and a calf there.

Another way is to find a dairy farmer to work for that would be willing to work out a deal of paying you in calves,etc. verus a pay check. You will still need a place to keep them and feed--also something you maybe able to work off.

 

[MReit]

I definately recommend working as an assistant herdsman and then graduating to a herdsman. It will give you first hand experience without you jumping into a huge investment like that right away. You'll learn soooo much and still have the help of the farmer just incase your unsure of something. Plus it will really get you preped for the hours and devotion it takes. No, it won't feel great not getting paid too much and devoting all the time to a farm that isn't yours- but if you still love it after that, then you know you'll love running your own farm