These stories are kind of hard to hear, but I imagine there are many dairy farmers that can relate to this scenario. This article was written by Dennis Pollock for the Western Farm Press. Here is an excerpt…
FRED MACHADO, Easton, Calif., 77 years old, spent more than a six decades milking cows, but the dairy he started in 1950 now stands silent, a casualty of an almost unprecedented depression for California dairymen.
On that table is a decorative, wooden likeness of a cow that holds a floral display. In time, such decorations – wooden cows over his fireplace mantle, cow bookends in his office, another cow holder for flowers outside – will be the only cows in Machado’s life for the first time in nearly 70 years.
Machado still has 500 heifers, but he’ll sell them, too. His milking days, which started in the Azores when he was 8 years old, are over. His milking parlor is empty and still now, and his corrals are mostly empty. Machado and family members concede the decision to close their dairy operation and sell the animals was a wrenching one. But they saw it as necessary because they were losing $70,000 a month by keeping it in operation.
“It was a family decision,” Machado says. “It was not what we wanted to do, but it was the best thing for us to do. It feels kind of empty, but we’ll get by.
“We didn’t see a light at the end of the tunnel. There were two choices – mortgage our land to stay in a losing business or get out and save the farm.”
3 Comments on “Lifetime As Dairy Farmer Comes to an End”
It to Happened in Hanford Ca on Sat Aug 22, 2009 at the Cunha Dairy. It is a very sad day to see all of those beautiful dairy cows leaving the herd. The dry cows and the hospital pens were taken to Easton Sale on Sat. And the milkers will soon follow. Many are bred and would be calving. The dry cow pen many would be calving soon. The loss is great and It is sad to say not over yet. This is something that has never been seen in the dairy industry at all in the USA. Something like this did not even happen during the great depression. What will it take for the federal government to step in and help out our dairy farmers and other farmers and help protect our food supply. California is one of the Top producing Dairy states in the USA. Fresno, Tulare and Kings Counties are the TOP Dairy counties in Ca. And we are loosing them fast to this time in history. Families are being torn apart either by suicide or driven apart by divorce and depression. Something needs to happen to save what is left of our dairy industry. Open it back up to the dairies to be able to sale the Raw milk from out of the tank to the public for those health conscious public as long as SCC in the bulk tanks stay with in a certain level with strict testing every month or every few weeks. Something needs to be done to save our few remaining small dairymen. The Lenders and Banks are not working with them like the Government said they should be. The banks are refusing to even do anything to help which they should. What would work taking land away from someone and then it sitting idle years and years and years and not being able to be sold due to the tough economic times. Or working with the farmers to lower interest rates and increasing pay back times to help them out in this rough times till things settle out. This would be the best way to handle this but then again that would be to easy. And no one these days would even think about it because it is to easy. Don’t send these beautiful animals to slaughter with calves in there uterus ready to be born. You are not only killing off the cow but also her unborn calf. This is inhuman and a waste of genetics. I would rescue one but she already had the stupid CWT tag in her ear. I don’t want her to go to auction for hamburger or dog or cat food. I want to bring her home for a family milk cow. To be milked with our goats but that dang tag stands in my way. We rent from them and it is a very sad day. We wonder what is going to happen with our house we are renting and have lived in for 7 years. This is our home and if we have to sale our animals and move I will be heart broken so will our kids they love it here.
It to Happened in Hanford Ca on Sat Aug 22, 2009 at the Cunha Dairy. It is a very sad day to see all of those beautiful dairy cows leaving the herd. The dry cows and the hospital pens were taken to Easton Sale on Sat. And the milkers will soon follow. Many are bred and would be calving. The dry cow pen many would be calving soon. The loss is great and It is sad to say not over yet. This is something that has never been seen in the dairy industry at all in the USA. Something like this did not even happen during the great depression. What will it take for the federal government to step in and help out our dairy farmers and other farmers and help protect our food supply. California is one of the Top producing Dairy states in the USA. Fresno, Tulare and Kings Counties are the TOP Dairy counties in Ca. And we are loosing them fast to this time in history. Families are being torn apart either by suicide or driven apart by divorce and depression. Something needs to happen to save what is left of our dairy industry. Open it back up to the dairies to be able to sale the Raw milk from out of the tank to the public for those health conscious public as long as SCC in the bulk tanks stay with in a certain level with strict testing every month or every few weeks. Something needs to be done to save our few remaining small dairymen. The Lenders and Banks are not working with them like the Government said they should be. The banks are refusing to even do anything to help which they should. What would work taking land away from someone and then it sitting idle years and years and years and not being able to be sold due to the tough economic times. Or working with the farmers to lower interest rates and increasing pay back times to help them out in this rough times till things settle out. This would be the best way to handle this but then again that would be to easy. And no one these days would even think about it because it is to easy. Don’t send these beautiful animals to slaughter with calves in there uterus ready to be born. You are not only killing off the cow but also her unborn calf. This is inhuman and a waste of genetics. I would rescue one but she already had the stupid CWT tag in her ear. I don’t want her to go to auction for hamburger or dog or cat food. I want to bring her home for a family milk cow. To be milked with our goats but that dang tag stands in my way. We rent from them and it is a very sad day. We wonder what is going to happen with our house we are renting and have lived in for 7 years. This is our home and if we have to sale our animals and move I will be heart broken so will our kids they love it here.
It to Happened in Hanford Ca on Sat Aug 22, 2009 at the Cunha Dairy. It is a very sad day to see all of those beautiful dairy cows leaving the herd. The dry cows and the hospital pens were taken to Easton Sale on Sat. And the milkers will soon follow. Many are bred and would be calving. The dry cow pen many would be calving soon. The loss is great and It is sad to say not over yet. This is something that has never been seen in the dairy industry at all in the USA. Something like this did not even happen during the great depression. What will it take for the federal government to step in and help out our dairy farmers and other farmers and help protect our food supply. California is one of the Top producing Dairy states in the USA. Fresno, Tulare and Kings Counties are the TOP Dairy counties in Ca. And we are loosing them fast to this time in history. Families are being torn apart either by suicide or driven apart by divorce and depression. Something needs to happen to save what is left of our dairy industry. Open it back up to the dairies to be able to sale the Raw milk from out of the tank to the public for those health conscious public as long as SCC in the bulk tanks stay with in a certain level with strict testing every month or every few weeks. Something needs to be done to save our few remaining small dairymen. The Lenders and Banks are not working with them like the Government said they should be. The banks are refusing to even do anything to help which they should. What would work taking land away from someone and then it sitting idle years and years and years and not being able to be sold due to the tough economic times. Or working with the farmers to lower interest rates and increasing pay back times to help them out in this rough times till things settle out. This would be the best way to handle this but then again that would be to easy. And no one these days would even think about it because it is to easy. Don’t send these beautiful animals to slaughter with calves in there uterus ready to be born. You are not only killing off the cow but also her unborn calf. This is inhuman and a waste of genetics. I would rescue one but she already had the stupid CWT tag in her ear. I don’t want her to go to auction for hamburger or dog or cat food. I want to bring her home for a family milk cow. To be milked with our goats but that dang tag stands in my way. We rent from them and it is a very sad day. We wonder what is going to happen with our house we are renting and have lived in for 7 years. This is our home and if we have to sale our animals and move I will be heart broken so will our kids they love it here.