The Lamar Countian, September 24, 2022
The Last Days of Dairy Farming
It’s nice to be with you again, folks. My “summer break” ran a little longer than I had anticipated thanks to a variety of family, farm, and life events/circumstances that pushed writing way down my weekly list of priorities. Perhaps the most accurate way to frame it is that I’ve either been too busy or too sleepy to spend a chunk of my Saturday mornings pounding away on the keyboard. This Saturday isn’t much different, but I wanted to carve out a moment in between servicing the lawnmower and mounting new bathroom hand towel rings to say hello and give you a quick update.
The word is out and it is indeed true, my family is getting out of the dairy business. We made the decision to start transitioning to beef production back in 2017, and over the past five years we have been breeding our dairy cattle nearly exclusively to Black Angus and Hereford bulls. This has allowed us to grow our beef herd to over 320 total head of cattle, and we aren’t too far away from our initial target of 200-225 “mama cows.” On the flip side, our breeding program has yielded fewer and fewer dairy heifers each year, and for the last couple we’ve culled more dairy cows than we’ve had heifers to replace them in the milking barn.
Whereas this practice has allowed us to slowly downsize our dairy herd through attrition, this week we took a big step towards our dairy-less future by selling 69 head to a large farm in south Georgia. As of today, we still have 80 cows actively milking along with another 20 dry cows and pregnant heifers. How long will we hold on to them before selling out completely? Probably in the first half of 2023, but we’ll see what we see. Until that time, we’ll still be in the milking barn twice-a-day every day…we just won’t be in there quite as long.
Let me add in a couple of quick notes about the current state of the dairy industry in Alabama. From the production side, I think there are only 13 licensed Grade-A dairies still in operation, down from 130 (five in Lamar County) twenty years ago. Until this week, I think we were the third or fourth largest in the state. As for the total number of dairy cattle in the Alabama, the latest estimate I’ve seen puts that number around 3000 head. By contrast, the Georgia farm that bought our cattle is expanding to 14,000 cows. That’s right, that one farm will have more than 4x the cows milked on all the dairies in Alabama combined.
Meanwhile, this week also saw us wrap up the absolute worst corn silage harvest in my memory. We didn’t plant as much corn as we usually do and what we planted was very late. The mid-summer drought took a heavy toll upon it, and as a result we are going into the Fall with silage in only one of three pits (and it’s half-filled at best). We still have quite a few acres of hay left to harvest and cool season grasses to plant, so in spite of the poor corn yield we are hopeful we’ll have sufficient forage for our beef cows and reduced dairy herd to get us through until next Spring.
Well folks, I apologize for not offering you any insight beyond what’s happening on my own farm, but my wife just reminded me that those towel rings have proven over the last several weeks that they will not mount themselves. Hopefully next time I’ll have the time to tackle a couple of topics that are of more interest and impact. Until then, y’all have a good’un.
Sad to see you go but understand the circumstances that led to this decision. The Gilmer’s are like part of our family. I have enjoyed you reporting from the barn, field and pasture. That fir all you do and have done to promote your family business and that for others. Will continue to follow you and your musings as long as you share with your followers. Good luck and God bless. Johnny Lee, Southside, AL