Dairy Farmers Struggle

Cow owners across the nation have witnessed the effects of rising fuel and food costs, as many farmers are now struggling to stay in business. Kelly Wallace reports from Essex, New Jersey.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• dairy
• farmers
• rising
• fuel
• food
• costs

[gongoozler18]

@MsDoreenBarker iber-deficient rations can disrupt physiological mechanisms. So, the junk like soybean meal, corn, and other by-products are harmful to the calf. Plus, the farmers wonder why they aren't digesting the junk. Diets containing 50- to 90-percent grain are more digestible and ferment faster, so the animal is provided with nutrients at a faster rate, and they can grow faster. Low-fiber diet can be very stressful for them & they allow fermentation acids to collect in a digestive tract.

[gongoozler18]

@MsDoreenBarker genetic MUTATION that allowed certain people like the Northern Europeans to continue drinking milk. Mutations are part of nature but are not exactly ''desired'' or ''good,'' just like genetic disorders and mental retardation aren't. Studies have found that group of people who are nomadic herders of livestock remain lactose-tolerant. Nomadic people immigrated to regions that are present day Europe, India, etc. years ago.When cattle are fed grain, productivity is increased, but

[gongoozler18]

@MsDoreenBarker You're an ignoramus. I will never buy cow milk...ever. Are you humans cows? We are on a completely different taxonomic group than a cow. And I know what you're thinking: "We have been drinking cow milk for thousands of years.'' You're wrong. Only certain regions are the type of people are able to digest the lactose in cow milk past childhood. If you look globally, more than 75% of the world is lactose-intolerant!!! Nature just never wanted you perves to drink a cow's milk.The...

[MsDoreenBarker]

Dairy farms are once again going to be struggling as grain prices begin rising again this year. For every cow, it is approximately 24 lbs. of grain a day. Corn alone is expected to rise to $350/ton. High producing cows give about 65-70 lbs of milk. While receiving around $15-18 for every hundred pounds produced. When you do the math on a corn-based diet, that means that each cow gets about $4-5 worth of just corn daily. That doesn't even begin to fact in the hay, building, electricity and so on

[MsDoreenBarker]

@gongoozler18 You need to feed them corn and soybean for the protein and nutrient levels required for them to produce milk.

[gongoozler18]

Um, why are these cows being fed corn and soybeans anyway? They eat grasses!!!

[cowgirl0273]

@lisacole690 If the " farmer has clearly outlived his usefulness and is no longer productive," how do you expect to live? The grocery store doesn't have a magic wand in the back room. As for the "handouts," those come with a lot of rules and regulations. Many farmers don't get them because they want to be able to run their farms the way they want, not how the government wants. And....as someone wonderfully stated below, " What do you expect, cows go to a retirement home?"

[lisacole690]

This farmer has clearly outlived his usefulness and is no longer productive. I only ask that the same considerations he made for his older dairy cows be fully extended to him.

(The reason they keep doing it is because they get so many government handouts aka subsidies... they've not included the handouts in this story.)

[daro2096]

If the farmer is making a loss how can he stay in business?

[aviomaster]

kazims110 -- CAuse he was getting nothing for his WORK ...

WHile goverment is busy killing people in Iraq and Afganistan ,