Dairy Farmers Like Dairy Farming … October 26, 2007
According to one study, Dairy farming is not just about milk profits. How about Arizona Dairy farmers? AZ Dairy Farmers voice your take on this study! Submit a comment.
- Posted in : General
- Author : freshair
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I think there’s a very interesting sub-text to the results of this study. It suggests that large free-stall dairies and smaller, highly managed grazing dairies have the highest rates of owner happiness. Compared to the other two types of dairies, these two are also the most advanced and intensive types of dairy farms in Wisconsin. What I suspect we see with owners of these two types of farms is an active role in running these dairies as businesses and not simply as part of a lifestyle. No adult in Wisconsin is likely to have been born on either type of dairy, instead the standard dairy farm in WI 30 years ago would have been the non-intensive pasture or the small confinement farms.
The farmers that are most satisfied then appear to be the ones that weren’t content to farms as their parents did, but took an active role in modernizing the dairy. Instead of clinging to the past, these dairymen and women innovated. And for the most part, that risk appears to have paid off, as these operators are happier and generally wealthier.
This study is pretty interesting, as I think it says a lot about modern agriculture and hints at why the number of farmers in this country continues to decline. It also shows that being an innovator pays, not just materially, but also in ones general outlook on life.