June is Dairy Month and that’s cause for celebration.
Dairy farmers in Arkansas and Oklahoma may be few, but the farmers – and their cows – have racked up some pretty impressive numbers in recent years.
According to information from the Midwest Dairy Association, Oklahoma is home to 172 licensed dairy herds that produced about 81 million gallons of milk in 2014. The state ranks 30th in the nation for milk production and the average dairy cow in the state produces 2,041 gallons of milk annually.
The Midwest Dairy Association also reports that Arkansas is home to about 75 licensed dairy farms and it is 47th in the nation in milk production with 11.2 million gallons produced in 2014. As far as overall individual production, the average cow in the “Natural State” produces about 1,356 gallons of milk a year.
Dairy farming has a long-standing tradition for many families in the Ozarks – yet another reason to celebrate. You’ll read about some of those families in this edition of Ozarks Farm & Neighbor. According to the United States Department of Agriculture, 97 percent of the dairy farms in the United States are family-owned operations, not the “corporate farms” that non-agricultural folks like to complain about.
Dairy farmers in Oklahoma and Arkansas also provide much more to the region than milk and cheese.
Dairy farms have a greater impact on the local, regional and state economy than many people might think.
In Arkansas, there are three processing plants that produce one or more dairy products, and there are four in Oklahoma. Those plants provide employment opportunities hundreds of people. Those jobs include the truckers who bring the milk from the farm to the processor, workers who process and package the milk or other dairy products, warehouse workers and those who reload the trucks for another group of truck drivers who deliver milk, and other dairy products, to retailers.
Also, farmers help put a lot of cheese back into the economy. According to the Midwest Dairy Association, Oklahoma farmers generate about $170 million in milk sales annually, while those in Arkansas rack up about $22 million in sales.
While the dairy industry continues to play a vital role in the regions’s economy, dairy farmers and processors are struggling to remain in business.
Along the rural roads where I grew up, there was dairy farm after dairy farm; some big, some small. Today, very few remain. Some producers stopped milking because of health or age issues, for others replacing their milk cows with beef breeds meant the difference between survival and bankruptcy. I’m sure most readers can think of similar stories. As milk production dropped, dairy-processing plants followed and jobs were lost.
While cattle prices remain high, prices paid to dairy farmers for their milk have dropped significantly over the last year. Some folks say milk prices have “bottomed out” and producers are hopeful that there are better days in sight – giving us a whole new reason to celebrate Dairy Month next year.
Julie
