US dairying at tipping point

It’s important not to underestimate the sheer size of the change being contemplated. Most of the United States’ 9.4 million cows are kept in barns, where they produce considerably more milk than cows grazing outdoors in paddocks.

But even in the super-sized United States, bigger is no longer necessarily seen as better.

The vocal animal rights movement in the United States is putting pressure on containment farmers to let their animals live in the open, and retailers such as Whole Foods Market are paying a premium for “range-fed” milk.

Add in the fact super-producing dairy cows in the Unites States are fed on processed grains, which are prone to fierce price fluctuations, and it’s obvious why there’s a growing interest in conversions.

Skyrocketing grain prices have sent many dairy farmers to the wall in recent years, and the industry is now in a state of desperation. For the past 18 months, the US milk price has languished well below the costs of production.

In a bid to free farmers from the whims of grain prices, the US dairy industry is now cautiously eyeing up lower-yield, and lower-cost, grass-fed farming as an alternative.

The country’s largest co-operative, Dairy Farmers of America, has told its 18,000 members that pasture-based farming is the way of the future.

The New Zealand connection

While the initial outlay for land may be hefty, American farmers who have converted to grass-fed systems say they are comforted by the knowledge they are buying assets that will appreciate, rather than infrastructure such as barns, which quickly lose value and require expensive maintenance.

And in years like this, when the dairy payout is bleak, those grazing their cows on grass have fewer overheads and, therefore, more chance of riding out the downturn.

However, after all those years farming in barns, the US dairy industry is light on modern grass-fed dairying know-how. This is where New Zealand comes in.

The University of Georgia alumni magazine recently quoted agriculture professor Julia Gaskin in an article about ‘New Zealand-style farming’.

She said while the return to grass-fed dairying was still in its infancy in Georgia, “we need all the tools in our toolbox to make farms more profitable. Eco-diversity is the key to helping decimated farming communities bounce back.”

Georgia, along with another Southern state, Missouri, is leading the charge.

In a recent article, the Irish Farmers Journal reported on Kiwi and Irish investment in grass-based farming in Missouri. It profiled New Zealanders Tony Coltman and Kevin Van der Poel, who manage three herds in South Missouri for a group of New Zealand investors called Focal Dairies.

The investors have been farming in the mid-west state since 2005.

Working the World Dairy Expo

The World Dairy Expo held in Madison, Wisconsin from 29 September is the largest dairy show in the Americas. As a sign of the times, this year it will for the first time feature a pasture pavilion.