Beth Scott | Beacon
Milk prices aff ecting local dairy farms
Daughertys also have 1,400 acres of grain they farm.
Th ey are also planning to expand their dairy farm pro-
By Beth Scott
beth@coshoctoncountybeacon.com
FRESNO – In 2014, milk prices were going strong and
dairy farms around the country were thriving. Since
that time, due to an overabundance of milk and farm-
ers fl ooding the market, milk prices have decreased
drastically.
“You usually have fl uctuations from year-to-year,
but this has been going on for fi ve years now,” said Bill
Daugherty, a fi fth generation dairy farmer in Fresno.
“It’s been a very challenging stretch for the country, the
state, and the county. Dairy farmers have lost a lot of in-
frastructure with dairies going out of business. If milk is
their only source of income, it’s been a diffi cult stretch.”
“So many people want to get out of the dairy busi-
ness,” said Bill’s wife, Caroline. “It’s sad because it’s
their livelihood and I’m sure their farm has been passed
down from generation to generation.”
To help supplement the decrease in milk prices, the
“It’s been a very challenging
stretch for the country, the state,
and the county. Dairy farmers
have lost a lot of infrastructure
with dairies going out of
business. If milk is their only
source of income, it’s been a
diffi cult stretch.”
- Bill Daugherty
duction. Currently, they milk 120 to 130 Holstein cows
but plan to expand this summer to 220 to 240.
Beth Scott | Beacon
“We feel we need to become more eff ective, so we are
looking to build a new facility with four robotic milkers
and 220 stalls,” said Bill. “We are hoping to break ground
this spring or summer and hope to be milking with the
new machines within a year.”
Th e Daughertys decided to install robotic milking
about four or fi ve years ago and would visit other dairies
throughout the country that had robotic milking as they
traveled the country with their daughter’s basketball
team. Robotic milkers can improve production of milk,
decreases labor for the farmer, scans the animal for any
health problems, and can tell which cows have and have
not been milked.
“We want to prepare ourselves for when milk prices
comes back up on the upswing,” said Bill. “We want to
take advantage of that time.”
Th e Daughertys will also be constructing a new barn
that will have a sand bedding fl ushing system where
sand will automatically be fl ushed and recycled sand
will be added to the stalls once a week.
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MARCH 13, 2019