Interesting dairy farm-- definately not a homestead

[FarmerChick]

It males sense that a cow would milk herself several times a day - that's the way a calf would nurse, after all. I'm not against good systems, but I don't think that system shown in the video is a good system, nor will I ever. The further we remove our food animals from nature, the worse the product is for us, and the worse the life is for them.

but honestly Ann how do you feed millions of people
how to you provide product in this world as it is now????

 

[Dace]

It males sense that a cow would milk herself several times a day - that's the way a calf would nurse, after all. I'm not against good systems, but I don't think that system shown in the video is a good system, nor will I ever. The further we remove our food animals from nature, the worse the product is for us, and the worse the life is for them.

but honestly Ann how do you feed millions of people
how to you provide product in this world as it is now????

The problem is that people have no interest in feeding themselves. They just want to go to the store and pick up the cheapest gallon of milk they can get. They do not know or care that feeding cows the way industrial agro does is not healthy for them or us. The system will not change until people stop buying cheap milk (meat, artificial food, fill in the blank, etc) and are willing to consume less at perhaps a higher price.....then let's see things turn back over to the small farmer who is not worried about feeding million, only worried about feeding his community.

 

[Frosting]

It isn't as productive to have cows that are 10 years old. Any animal when farmed has a "super productive" life time of best bang for the buck. (of course there are cow exceptions where older still holds production) Most business use this to their advantage and send the animal on when production does slack off or the animal is too old for safe breeding.....onto the rest of the food chain. (I am talking about a real business of farming any animal and this is my practice also for my farm)

Excuse me but, 10 year old cows can be very productive. We farm for a living. It is the farm that pays the bulk of the bills. My DH works out for the health insurance, as is the case for many farmers here. If a cow doesn't pay her way and make some profit she has to go. It's all in the care of the animal and the mentality of the farmer. If your mentality of the farmer is they can't, then they won't no matter how well the cow does.

I agree with reinbeau on the fact that people are removing themselves to far from the food chain. The day will come when they won't know how to have a simple garden, heck many don't already. Then when a crisis hits they will suffer greatly. It's sad when people think their food comes from the grocery store and really have no clue or care how it gets there.

 

[FarmerChick]

It males sense that a cow would milk herself several times a day - that's the way a calf would nurse, after all. I'm not against good systems, but I don't think that system shown in the video is a good system, nor will I ever. The further we remove our food animals from nature, the worse the product is for us, and the worse the life is for them.

but honestly Ann how do you feed millions of people
how to you provide product in this world as it is now????

The problem is that people have no interest in feeding themselves. They just want to go to the store and pick up the cheapest gallon of milk they can get. They do not know or care that feeding cows the way industrial agro does is not healthy for them or us. The system will not change until people stop buying cheap milk (meat, artificial food, fill in the blank, etc) and are willing to consume less at perhaps a higher price.....then let's see things turn back over to the small farmer who is not worried about feeding million, only worried about feeding his community.

a small farmer feeding a community can't make a living wage to survive in this economy....property taxes along on larger acreage is tough...I know.

see ---there are cities and cities depend on others to help support that city. there is no way millions and millions can pay more for food etc. when they do not have the resources to do so.

take los angeles. how do you make a community feed itself when it is concrete and "service" and "tech" jobs??? it is not like there are enough small farms in the area to feed those people

bulk food must be produced and until the end of the world situation happens, be real, it won't change and food is needed

a person, as an individual, can decide how to buy food...cheap or pay higher etc. for healthier, but cheap and high quantities of food ARE needed to support the masses.

 

[Frosting]

What is the worst in general....are the expensives and regulations that come with a small dairy.

Those same expenses and regulations are there for the large farms as well. Plus, they have to hire employees=more expenese and more headaches as it's hard to find good trustworthy employees. I know of farmers here that wish they hadn't grown. They are having a harder time since growing than they did as the small guy.

 

[Frosting]

cheap or pay higher etc. for healthier, but cheap and high quantities of food ARE needed to support the masses.

Really, how do they manage in other countries? My BIL and his family lived overseas for a few years. $6/gallon of milk would be an example of food prices. It's this country that is spoiled with low food prices.

 

[FarmerChick]

It isn't as productive to have cows that are 10 years old. Any animal when farmed has a "super productive" life time of best bang for the buck. (of course there are cow exceptions where older still holds production) Most business use this to their advantage and send the animal on when production does slack off or the animal is too old for safe breeding.....onto the rest of the food chain. (I am talking about a real business of farming any animal and this is my practice also for my farm)

Excuse me but, 10 year old cows can be very productive. We farm for a living. It is the farm that pays the bulk of the bills. My DH works out for the health insurance, as is the case for many farmers here. If a cow doesn't pay her way and make some profit she has to go. It's all in the care of the animal and the mentality of the farmer. If your mentality of the farmer is they can't, then they won't no matter how well the cow does.

I agree with reinbeau on the fact that people are removing themselves to far from the food chain. The day will come when they won't know how to have a simple garden, heck many don't already. Then when a crisis hits they will suffer greatly. It's sad when people think their food comes from the grocery store and really have no clue or care how it gets there.

No need to say excuse me!!

Note I did say there are cow exceptions to the rule of age.

And my friend farms as a living. there is no work outside the home. the farm supports the entire lifestyle. A business (a true business!!!) must support everything. and that means insurance etc. which my friends farm does.

And I so agree that people are so far from what is real food. But with the masses of people and "jobs" that are tech and service oriented...not everyone in this world now will ever be farmers or care!! they have money to buy food and that is the lifestyle they want. So it is up to farms to supply MASSIVE amts. of food.



this isn't going to change any time soon. so key being, produce alot of food at the best situation that one can and try to be friendly to critters and earth while doing it.

 

[reinbeau]

That 'feeding millions' is the same malarkey Monsanto uses to justify their world take over of all things related to our food supply. I don't buy it. Teach them to take care of their own food supply, be it home by home or village by village. Cheap food costs us far too much in the long run. Look at the diets today with the processed cheap food. All to sell more corn, every single molecule of it. Our whole food supply model is wrong, it's not geared towards our good health, it's geared towards the bottom line of a few corporations.

Yes, I live what I preach. Ok, I'm done ranting.

 

[FarmerChick]

What is the worst in general....are the expensives and regulations that come with a small dairy.

Those same expenses and regulations are there for the large farms as well. Plus, they have to hire employees=more expenese and more headaches as it's hard to find good trustworthy employees. I know of farmers here that wish they hadn't grown. They are having a harder time since growing than they did as the small guy.

While you are correct....a small farm can not compete with a larger farm when it comes to "doing for themselves"

Barb grows her own fields for silage. about 300 acres in production.

She got hit with drought and not enough hay to make it..had to purchase hay from NY at the tune of $5,400 per truckload. She bought 2.

A large farm can easily cut those costs like crazy buying 15 tractor trailer loads of hay...and the cost savings is huge and I mean huge compared to a smaller farmer having to "buy" when required.

Barb has tried to hire ONE person to help her and she offeres great pay and great incentives like meat when they butcher etc.....no one, and I mean no one will do it. Her last guy, a nice man passed away about 4 years ago (he worked there about 7 years) and she can not get 1 person to work for her.


Bigger farms can offer insurance, job stability etc. And no it isn't a headache cause having employees is what a business does

 

[Frosting]

A business (a true business!!!) must support everything. and that means insurance etc. which my friends farm does.

The farm supports itself. It is a true business and I resent you implying otherwise. We could get by on the farm alone, if we were to choose to give up other things. But, feel that somethings are more important than others. If we can't have a little to enjoy life with then why bother with life.

As for the city people being able to afford to buy their food. If they gave up some of their things, they could afford higher prices too. After all, we made it as a farm with gas prices high last year. Even were able to pay off some big bills. We bought 40 acres of land and paid it off in 4 years. This is an example of something we could have given up. By that I mean we could have taken longer to pay it off. Our whole farm is paid for. Every piece of equipment, every cow, both vechiles, etc. There isn't a loan out on anything because we choose to make higher payments and have DH work out for the insurance.