Young Farmers Talk About Emerging Threats to Dairy
From labor to rising feed costs, to regulations and more—the challenges that face dairy farmers are far from small. Three young dairy producers shared their takes on challenges and opportunities that they are presented with at the 20th Anniversary of the Milk Business Conference in Las Vegas, Nev.
Ben Smith says he tries to not worry a whole lot because some things are simply out of his control. Located an hour south of the nation’s capital, Smith says he is not worried about regulations.
“I’m not feeling any pressure,” he says. “I feel good about our milk market and the Southeast. It is going to demand more milk,” he says.
Fourth-generation dairy farmer, Ben Smith, from Remington, Va., owns and operates Cool Lawn, LLC., an 800-cow registered Holstein herd, consisting of 17 employees, and 3,000 rented and owned acres. Smith helps with his family’s ice cream business, Moo Thru. Along with the dairy, Smith operates a hay business producing over 2,000 tons of quality hay for equestrian use.
Smith shares that as a young farmer, his limited experience in the dairy industry challenges him.
“As a young farmer and not having all that much experience, motivating and leading people and trying to show my dream to other people and get them motivated,” he says. “You don’t see that many 31-year-old Super Bowl coaches. It takes time and comes with experience.”
While Tony Lopes has a different take on challenges that face his dairy in California.
Along with his parents Darlene and Paul, Lopes milk 4,000 Holsteins on four separate facilities in a 2-mile radius, along with managing a 2,500-head beef-on-dairy feedlot and farm approximately 2,000 acres.
Lopes shares that what the KPI numbers can’t quantify is what exactly is unfolding on his family dairy.
“Water is in front of a lot of people's minds,” he shares, although Lopes states he is in a fortunate position with his irrigation district.
However, another big concern for Lopes is the transportation and logistics it takes to get feed from the Midwest out to California.
“I think a lot of these supply chain constraints, labor constraints, increases in inflationary pressures that surround energy costs and other inputs…we’re just kind of in for a new normal,” he says.
The young producers said they don’t spend too much time worrying about things that are beyond their control.
“We just need to operate with a longer-range outlook,” Lopes states. “We need to be engaged in risk management, we need to be doing everything that we can to make our business competitive and resilient in what could be classified as pretty scary and different times.”
Lopes continues and says producers must be good operators so they can withstand the headwinds that are beyond their control.
“Prior to the COVID pandemic, we never really questioned if the trains were going to run or if our Amazon package was going to show up in the mail,” he says.
From the shortages of eartags that many producers from coast to coast felt, Lopes says it is all about mitigating risk and making the best out of an unideal situation.
In New York, Rachel Holtz says a big concern is labor and managing the new overtime threshold that will drop from 60 hours to 40 in 2032.
“We do worry about that a lot and how are we going to go forward with that,” he says. “Are we going to have a third shift or even a fourth shift come in and help compensate for that?”
Holtz is part of Willow Bend Farm, LLC, which is home to 5,300 cows in Ontario County, New York on three different sites. Additionally, they farm 10,000 crop acres and raise around 4,800 heifers.
Willow Bend Farm already does pay overtime but managing the new overtime rule will take some time for them to figure out.
“This is our biggest challenge that we are worried about,” she says. “But, we have a good milk market and I think we can grow and we have a good future ahead.”
To watch the entire Young Producer panel from the 20th Anniversary of the Milk Business Conference, click on Young Cooperators Panel at the MILK Business Conference - YouTube
