Young couple shows there’s money in start-up grass dairy

By Larry Tranel, Kieler, Wisconsin —There is no money in dairying. Dairying is too much work. It takes too much capital to start dairying. You can’t graze dairy cows profitably. You cannot outwinter dairy cattle and survive. You can’t crossbreed dairy cows. You can’t start dairying with high-priced land and cows.

You can’t be profitable with 15,000 pounds of milk per cow. One person cannot handle 80 cows. Profits of $1,000 per crop acre or $1,000 per cow for return to labor cannot be done. Earning $30-$50 per labor hour milking cows is impossible. Landlords are better off getting rid of the dairy cows and cash cropping the farm. You can’t earn a 20% return on assets from dairying. You need more than 80 cows or 80 acres to make it dairying. The naysayers go on and on. Continue reading “From zero to $300,000 in five years”