The increased costs you pay at the grocery store do not help the producer. Prairie View Dairy in Muleshoe is an example of this.
Labor is one of the highest expenditures, despite the fact that the owner, James Hancock, claims he hasn’t lost many staff.
“But whatever roles we’ve lost, we haven’t been able to find successors for that have lasted very long, because they’re constantly off looking for something new,” Hancock added.
Hancock claims that boosting salaries on his farm is difficult, but no one has lately inquired about a position. Hancock now spends $19 to produce 100 pounds of milk, which sells for $21. He claims that the market is expected to decline to $17 per 100 pounds, implying that he would earn less.
Feed prices are another explanation for the high input costs.
“Not a lot of additional feed in the region that we could get a hold of, particularly with the weather,” Hancock added.
Furthermore, getting the stream is difficult.
“You can’t get the semis to come through, there are a lot of missing drivers out there, and you can’t get enough people to carry the feed to you,” Hancock said. “So, all of it adds up to a larger price for us whenever it arrives.”
Hancock claims he had to sell 400 cows last year, reducing his herd to 4,800 head. That was during the dairy farm’s most difficult period, and things are looking up today, but that might change.
“We were upside down on pretty about everything under the sun a year ago, and the year before that as well,” Hancock remarked. “We’ve had, normally in the industry, three poor years to one good year, but this year we’ve got four awful years to one good year.”
A large portion of the product is being exported.
“A lot of exports today, not so much in the nation.” “A lot of our goods is migrating abroad, which is great, but any type of glitch in that market and you’ve got a whole lot of difficulty,” Hancock said.
Based on current market conditions, he believes the fight might endure up to three years.
