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Jerry Dakin feels a lot better about his farm and business now than he did a few months ago. Hurricane Ian hurt his Dakin Dairy Farms in Myakka City to the tune of millions of dollars.
Dakin said, “I’ve never seen a storm like this. We’re just in the wrong place at the wrong time, and it’s been hard, but we’ve made it through.”
There have been huge losses. Dakin lost 360 cows and a lot of buildings on his land. He won’t be putting up the old buildings again because he couldn’t get insurance for them. Since the storm, Dakin, his crew, and people from the town have been working hard to get the farm back to normal.
Dakin said, “We’re rebuilding all the main buildings and everything else. We’re already back to milking 2,000 cows, and we’re not going back on that.”
Dakin says that putting roofs back on the buildings and making sure fans and misters work are the most important things that are being done. That’s so the cows can stay cool, which is important.
Dakin said, “Our numbers are down, but we’re going to get them back up.” “Our main goal is to fix up the place, and then we’ll bring the cattle back in.”
Dakin says that the farm still needs to be fixed for another 3 months before it is back where it needs to be. He says that inflation means that insurance won’t cover all of the costs of repairs, so he’s still trying to figure that part out. Dakin says he’s thankful for how far they’ve come since Ian and where they’re going with the recovery.
“No matter what is going on, you should always look at the good things,” said Dakin. “And through all of this, there has been a lot of destruction, but there have also been a lot of wins. At Dakin Dairy Farms, we look at all the good things that have happened.
