Goodbye, Dairy Farming
After seventy years, it is time to begin a new chapter in my family farm’s story
It is 5:32 on a Wednesday morning as I begin typing this newsletter. At this time during virtually any of the previous seventy-some-odd years’ worth of early mornings my late grandfather, my father, I, my son, or some combination thereof would be milking our family’s dairy cows. But for the past two mornings, pre-dawn commuters have not seen the lights of the dairy nor heard the hum of the vacuum pump as they passed by our farm. Exactly 48 hours ago, at 5:32am on Monday, February 27, 2023, we milked our last cows and turned off the equipment for the final time as a commercial dairy farm.
Many of you knew this day had been coming for quite some time. We began taking steps to switch our focus from dairy to beef production just over five years ago, and I shared a bit about the reasons for doing so when we sold off around half of our dairy cows this past September. Simply Southern even featured our transition plan on an episode that aired earlier this month. Today, I’ll share a little bit about these past few days and where we go from here.
With prices for “replacement” dairy cows steadily retreating, prices for “cull” dairy cows starting to come down from recent highs, and our hay inventory starting to dwindle, we decided it was time to get out while the getting was as good as it was gonna get. A dairy in Kentucky expressed interest early last week in buying the whole herd, and by Saturday morning we had agreed on a price and to ship them out on Monday. I’m still in a bit of shock about how fast the deal came together, but I’m glad it worked out that way…much better to go ahead and “rip off the band-aid.”
When I look back on our last days in the dairy business, I think this past Sunday afternoon will be what I remember the most. Both my kids wanted to come over and help my father and I milk the cows one final time, and it was nice having three generations of our family in the barn together again before we shut down the operation. I hope they will look fondly upon that memory as the years go by and be able to share it with their children and grandchildren someday.
As for our last milking shift early this past Monday morning, it was pretty much just business as usual. We milked and fed the cows before heading home to eat breakfast and and catch a short nap before the cattle haulers arrived. Once they made it to the farm, we herded the cows back up, loaded them up on the two big trailers, and watched as the trucks pulled back out onto the road at 8:30am. I guess at that point we could have taken some time for nostalgic reflection, but instead we disassembled our makeshift loading chute and went about feeding and haying our beef cattle like normal. The milk truck came later that evening to pump out our tank one last time, and with that I guess our last day as a commercial dairy was officially in the books.
There have been tons of folks who have reached out in person and through social media offering their well-wishes, thoughts, and prayers for our family as we close this chapter and begin a new one. And I appreciate everyone who has done so! Quite a few…including several other former dairy farmers…remarked that this has to be a bittersweet time for us. To be honest, though, I’m really enjoying this new reality in which I can get a little more sleep and my life doesn’t revolve around “twice a day, every day!”
While none of us can know for sure what the future holds, I’m right on track to accomplish what I set out to accomplish when I came back to the family farm after graduating from Mississippi State in 2001. I did not come back because I wanted to milk cows the rest of my life. Rather, I came back because I wanted to live and work and raise my children on my family’s farm while continuing to be part of the community in which I was raised in and loved so much. The only thing that changed Monday was that from this point forward we will be raising cows for beef rather than milking them. I’m still living and working and raising my children on the family farm, and I’m still a part of the community in which I was raised and still love so much. In the weeks and months ahead, maybe I’ll allow myself a little more freedom to enjoy a weekend getaway with my wife, plan a family vacation that isn’t tied to a farming conference, and find new ways in which I can serve my church and community.
So goodbye, dairy farming…you’ve been good to my family for most of the past seventy years and have given me opportunities I might not would have enjoyed otherwise. Hello, beef cattle farming and what ever other new opportunities and adventures pop up along the way…I’m looking forward to where this new road leads!
Now, let’s get to work.
P.S. - We did keep three dairy cows, including Ms. Nosey and Lefty. We will continue milking them daily for the next few weeks until our bottle calves are old enough to wean.
P.P.S. - James Parker of Mississippi State’s Television Center was on-hand to video our final couple of days in the dairy business as a follow-up to last year’s “On the Farm” documentary series. I’ll let you know when that footage is published later on down the road.