Hey guys. This is part 1 of a New series on if it would be possible to start milking cows here. I show what’s here, what’s not here, what could have and should be done. Thanks for watching. Check out Instagram for farm history photos.
Nice video ! I milk cows now and have for 45 years. Still with the old bucket milkers ! Yes you can start milking cows today.....provided you can find a hauler to pick it up. Marketing is the key. Having said that...... get rid of all the extras .... !!!!! No need to feed the cows in the barn....no need for a barn cleaner !! Dont keep the cows in the barn. They stay much healthier out roaming around. No leg issues ! Less mastitis issues ! They need good wind protection during the cold winters as we have here in Iowa. Better yet.... dry most of the cows up during the winter time. Calve starting March 1st. Use rotational grazing is key ! Never invest in a TMR....or silage equipment ! Feed cows outside....free choice. They will balance their own ration! Wrap silage hay..balage the best feed product out there.....in round bale feeders. No leaf loss....can gain at least an extra half crop of hay throughout the year. Cut and bale the same day ! Less tire traffic on the hay fields ! Six crops of high quality hay per year....25 day cutting interval . You can buy a full line of high quality " used " equipment for under 25,000 dollars. Two tractors...small 4'x4" round baler....rake....hay racks ( to haul the round bales home with )....haybine... and a bale wrapper. Most farmers own a wheel drive truck...... often thats the cost of a full line of equipment. Remember though...... your married to the cows ! If you cant stay home.......dont think about milking cows ! Over the 45 yrs Ive milked cows. I miss being in the barn 10 days due to a hernia surgery. Farming can be a joy......depends on the operator !
This could prove to be an interesting series. I don't have any dairy experience but, I think I hear a cash register going "cha chang" with the options of barn repairs vs building another. Stay safe.
I was raised on a dairy farm. You are right there has to be separation between the cows and the milk house two doors sounds correct. That's the way it was on our family farm
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I just put in the loop tie stalls you are talking about they bolt onto the concrete curb I'm really happy with them I also took out the cow mats and bolted a 3 inch PVC pipe on the back of the stall and filled the stalls with sand the cows love it and went way up in milk production the hole project cost under 10,000 on 45 stalls
We milked in tie stalls until we just recently switched to my grandpas old parlor, and looking at your tie stalls I think there to small for hold big Holsteins, might be a better option to do jerseys, or any other small dairy breeds
Imagination is a wonderful thing to have but the cruel reality is the thing that gets in the way. I know been there alot ! My advice, don't let it beat you, you can do it !
We've got the same problems here, there use to be alot of dairys here but then the dairy processor's decided to corner up the market and buying up rival's and then the big supermarkets decided they want the milk for even less !!! Now dairy farm's are struggling to stay running now.
watching this again. its sad to see empty barns. would I if I could. probably. as i get older the itch is getting less. lol dad used to be a Patz dealer, we installed a lot of that poly in mangers and everyone saw a couple lbs a day from the cows simply by eating more. in the corners of the concrete the wet feed gets stinky and then the cows slow down on eating. if i had to on our farm start a small dairy i would put up a little building just for the milkhouse and parlor. then cows would be on pasture/loafing shed out of a lean to. also would work with more grazing then traditional ways. would still have a tmr and a meal a day of top quality. would work more for animal health and efficiency. no need to keep max production if the cows last longer.
I tested milk for a while. Out of 50ish farms I visited. The happiest were those that had a real job: doctor, cabinet maker, lawyer, and retired millionaire. They all had nice clean places. All were small, less than 40 cows. Chores were quick before, after work. Probably a tax write off for their high incomes.
I would love to. I would have to get his permission. Here is a link to s video that was done. ru-vid.com/video/%D0%B2%D0%B8%D0%B4%D0%B5%D0%BE-fdgqEwuJsqo.html
There is only one way to make money in farming small and that is make what you produce different from what people can get in the grocery store. Hard to do with dairy. I judged cows on a farm that made 40% of its income on breeding stock. Some things depend on your state laws. Here you can't sell raw milk but you can sell shares in a cow or sell it as "pet food ". I remember in one of my classes at MSU the professor handed out a chart on farm per cow profit. Most sat around break even but two farms were very high. One was a high production farm, the other was the only operation that managed cows on pasture. The pasture operation had cut its inputs so much that the per cow profit was equal to the higher production farm.
I would start with tie stalls and sand for bedding. We had rubber mats and sand on top of the rubber mats. In your particular Barn it almost appears as though the stalls on the left are shorter than the stalls on the right. A large Holstein cow would have trouble with comfort
Thank you for your video it brought back memories of what could have been at our dairy. At our particular family farm Holstein cows have been replaced with meat goats. My brothers son does a fine job with goats
I know a guy that is mainly cash crop and milks maybe 30-40 cows im the slow season to keep a income. Just wanted to say if you didnt know if you wanted to do one or the other.
your good with one door as long as they are no cows or calves around the door and would like you said move everything from the ground except the water to the vacuum line to the top even the milk line to the tank. 25 cows and and 25 more to come into the barn later on when get money to build onto the dairy.
You can always cross the HF's with smaller Brown Swiss, scandinavian reds or even Jersey. Our cows became too big for our '70's barn, so we just choose other genetics.
our milk prices here where i live just dropped again 2 cts per gallon the other week. i have a friend who i worked with that help's his son keep a herd of dairy cows , well just about everything. if it wasn't for the father's income, the farm would have to shut down. and he's been helping since the late 90's. he claims this yr(2018) is to be a bad yr for milk prices towards the farmer. this just stinks, as both my grandparents milked till maybe 1970. one had 4 cows, the other milked up to 25 back then.
My dream would be to take an old barn and convert it to a feeder operation. But sadly almost all the barns around here have been bulldozed the ground is more.vsluble to farm and the guys that raise beef cattle don't really put them under roofs. They just use wind breaks, or let them fend for themselves out grazing corn field with a lite supplement of feed
Good day. It sounds good! MY dad was in dairy long time, before quota. In Canada it would cost a fortune, but it's the quota fellows that making the money up here. All I can say is good luck. Thanks
man with prices in Mn. right now a dollar or two under cost of production starting a dairy would be impossible. no bank would lend a dollar unless you had a lot of your own to contribute.
Yea, it’s just not possible right now. Like I said, even if you had all the money in the world, making a bad investment is still making a bad investment
If a guy could start up with 25 cows I would start milking, but I was told now days, you have to milk 60 minimum before a creamery would even consider picking up your milk... Not sure if this is true, but I was told this on another page dealing with dairy.
Yea part 2 tomorrow I talk about how it could be done to milk 90. I just toured my uncles farm yesterday and saw 4 robots, methane digester, automix calf feeders.... it would be a joke for me to try it. Even if the money was here, it still wouldn’t be feasible. I would build broiler houses before dairy.
Ok, I did hear about the self closing, I imagine the rules changed so much from the ‘80s if the Fed inspector came today I’d have 100 pages of violations
PA Farms Some stuff is grandfathered but if you quit and then start up again I think they make you meet present day regulations. Had two different inspectors the last ten years and the one we got now is the most painful ever. She's as wide as she is tall and has done and knows everything lol
Hi just started watching u soldmy cows 5 years ago .got forced out by big guys and mmpa milk co would give anything to fill barn back up I milked 45 jerseys and holsteins would let a young person use the place and help them start up that's the only way some one could start.everything is here and runs we are at a turning point right now .city people are turning against big farms . Water and land is being ruined by them .people want to buy food from small farms would like to hear back from you
hey sir i no of mmpa stands for, Michigan milk producers association. yes I live in northern Michigan, I have been trying to buy a place up here. but the places I find are outrages, and not worth the money, someone is sure jacking he prises in this state on their old places. i take you might be willing to rent out your dairy barn? send me an email with your number I can give you a call ok. rhmassey@gmail.com
Too much government in dairy business, everything is tegu lasted to death, even the milk prices are controlled by the govt. Farmers don't stand a chance now days
mega dairy farms taken over.. becoming a monopoly industry If left unmonitored and unregulated, monopolies can adversely affect businesses (dairy farms) the monopoly dairy farms can control prices. check out the link i added (www.cbsnews.com/news/does-dean-foods-have-monopoly-power/)
Yea there are a lot of mega dairies in PA. There are also many small and medium ones. Lots of farms yet with 60-150 cows that are still going. I’m not sure, the market may be different from state to state.
I agree with you mostly. The mega farms are having an impact on the supply of dairy. Right now there is too much dairy. Another problem is that people are thinking plant based milk is a healthier option. I believe it is not the case. Plant based milk is basically processed milk. Anything processed is bad for you as far as I am concerned. Another problem is the state restrictions on dairy farmer's. Especially in New York state. Having concrete floors is ridiculous. I grew up on a dairy in western new York. I am now looking to start my own and in reviewing the laws and codes of dairy farming in NY is crazy.
There is no money in dairy any more unless you have a $h!t ton of money you need to get rid of or you're a factory farm or you allow the banks to own you. In my area we are forced to take 70s and 80s milk prices or dump our milk because we don't have any creameries left to buy our milk so with 70s and 80s milk prices and increased employee wages and 200-300% increase in equipment costs both new and used there is nothing left for the farm or farmer. Factory and government farms are the only ones making anything today, the day of small herd family farms are over.
1 door - just needs to be self closing. A spring works well. Slow moving self closing mechanism does NOT work because it closes slowly and lets flies in. I milk in 70 cow tie-stall and pipeline system. I have 1 door. Mattresses are great , I have them , also have plastic sheet 30" wide and the length of the mangers . These manger liners worked as well as tiles at fraction of cost. Just measure width , roll out and slide into manger - DONE !. The absolute most important thing for you to do is ROTATIONAL GRAZING. No spring work and expenses except a little fertilizer. Only need a little machinery to make hay bales -dry or baleage. That can be hired out if need be. Look up rotational grazing on You Tube. hint - perrenial grasses grazed cost 1/3 as much as corn alfalfa ration . Perrenial grasses made into big bales dry or balage cost 2/3 as much as corn alfalfa ration AND IS MORE NUTRICIOUS !!! Total year cost for roughage (your biggest expense) ens up cut in half !(1/3 for 6 months - 2/3 for 6 months!) That is how I farm and make good money.
If money was no object, your be better out of there and start new. Too much work those old barns. Be good for goats.Milk truck might not approve of pickup with a new setup with 25 cows but could be different there.
I feel bad for one Dairy in the area. In 2002 they built a $250k State of the art stall barn and were going good. In 2005 they had to have sale. They sold the farm for about what they had invested in the barn
I milked cows for 40 years in a stanchion barn and am paying the price for it now. I'd rip everything out of the barn and build a low cost parlor. Just google "UW Extension low cost parlor" You can build something quite functional for a lot less than you think. I know several farms around here that have done that.That barn was probably built way back you weren't supposed to have an opening directly from the barn into the milkhouse. That was the rule back in the 50s for sanitary reasons: flies, etc. That rule changed in the late 60s, you could have a door that was self closing.
Farmer Pete Hello farmer Pete. Sounds very familiar, i have been doing it for 30 years, and now i can hardly put on my own shoes. If it wasn't for my dad(he can't stand the idea of selling the cows) or for the money that i need for my 2 daughters that are only 6, i would quiet dairy today. And yes i would been with pain in the hart! But one way or the other i can't keep doing this work till i am 65. How about you ? Do you still milk? Sorry for my english .
We did have a raw milk guy in the valley for about 6-7 years. He ended up having sale. I think he was able to bottle it on site. Not sure what happened to the operation though.
PA Farms what happened was government over regulation here in PA. My neighbor milked 15 cows sold raw milk and made cheese. PA required him to put in a break room and bathroom in the cheese plant portion that was gonna cost around $15k and they were requiring more testing so he said it wasn't worth it and quit. Its the same thing with local butcher shops their regulating them out of business also. My nephew has a shop and with so many closing he's booked over a year out.
My family sold everything off in 1995 because of milk prices. They were small scale, and they just couldn’t make a profit off it anymore. I can’t imagine how bad it is now. Then again, the only reason they had gone into it in the first place was because my dad and uncle’s 4H project blew up into a full blown dairy farm.
@@justinstearns9723 My son just started milking cows last year 2021. And yes there is money in it ! Its about saving your money. No party / drinking time ! Farming !!!!!!! His last milk check was over 8000 dollars. What a farmer does with that money is key ! Most spend in area other then farming !
