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More Minnesota dairy farms going under

The executive director of the Minnesota Milk Producers Association says unfortunately there seems to be an uptick in dairy farms going out of business.

“I think it’s pretty obvious when we look at the auction bills and you look as you drive around the countryside.”

But, Lucas Sjostrum tells Brownfield low milk prices aren’t solely to blame.

“Some of them were just planning on being done this year.  Some probably made a wise business decision looking ahead and deciding it’s time to hang it up.  And others are just in a really bad situation financially and we’re forced to.”

He says while it’s clear more dairies have gone under this spring, there aren’t yet specific numbers to verify that.

And Sjostrum points out there’s still opportunity despite current market conditions.

“At those auctions, at those times that are unfortunately really tough to talk about, there’s also people buying the cows (and) buying facilities that might be vacant for a short time.”

He says it’s often during the tough times when innovators and the next generation of dairy farmers emerge.