josh's Page

Hello hows things going?

Our milk barn is about 45 years old, a double 4 herringbone. The vaccum pumps need to be replaced, if replaced we would need to rewire the entire barn.  Our scc is high because of the weak pumps. There are three of us to run the farm. My dad upper 50's would like to take things easier and not have to be here every day to milk, My uncle(mid 60's) mainly just deals with the 200 beef cows and milks with my dad, That leaves me to feed the 200 calves and the milk cows, plus do all the field work.

Any ideas of what it costs to replace the milkers and vacuum pumps?

Right now we're breaking even milking cows. If milk prices would stay where they are and feed costs come down it would be easier to figure out how much money we can afford to put into. 

Our family farm has 60 holsteins and 200 crossed beef cows. We farm 1000 acres which consists of corn, beans, and alfalfa. and 900 acres of pasture.  We have plenty of feed and land but need to update our parlor and loafing barn. Trying to decide if we should invest the needed money or quit the dairy all together. There are 4 other same sized dairies within 10 miles of us and one of them just quit. We would like to continue but looking for someone to milk, feed, or possibly take over and manage.