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Dairy farm numbers trending lower in the Midwest

Ag bankers say an oversupply of milk and efficient producers are changing the dairy landscape.

“For some, it’s time.  For some, it’s tragedy.”  Wisconsin banker Dave Coggins says about 500 dairies have closed their doors in his state this year.

Texas banker Kirk Thomas says about twenty years ago California dairy farmers relocated to his area in West Texas where today operations are milking about 2,000 cows.  “I hate to say it, but much of that excess production is coming from dairies in our area.”  He says producers aren’t under the same kind of stress as those in the Midwest at this point.

Dairy farm contraction is being reported across the Upper Midwest which is extending through Illinois, Ohio and to even smaller producing states.  Iowa is expected to lose about seven percent of its dairy farms this year.

The University of Missouri says the number of dairy cows in their state has been trending lower since the ‘90s.  A recent study found from 2000 to 2014, the number Missouri dairy farms dropped by more than 45 percent and that number is expected to continue lower.

 

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