Delores L. Walker, Free Press Reporter

Local dairy farmers and County Agent Chris Vann contributed to this story.



Area dairymen were already feeling the effects of the two-year drop in milk prices and now are faced with the rising costs of milk production….simply put, the local dairies are having to drain their reserves just to pay for feed, insurance, fuel, electricity and the other 101 things required to operate a dairy in the year 2003.



County Agent Chris Vann cited several reasons the local dairies are feeling the pinch but, the most obvious is the fact that most smaller dairies cannot compete with big corporations that are buying up dairies in western states by the hundreds.



“It’s a matter of supply and demand,” Vann said. “And in that area we are outnumbered, the larger corporation dairies are producing the milk and shipping it to midwest and eastern states at a cheaper price than it can be produced here.



Vann said the dairymen are accustomed to the ebb and flow in milk prices “but it usually doesn’t last this long,” said Vann.



There are 24 dairies in Lafayette County and 18 in Suwannee County. The average milking herd runs about 500 head.



Ed Perry’s Dairy goes a little above the average, milking 900 cows that produce 6,700 gallons a day.



Perry said in order to achieve that amount the dairy runs 24-hours a day with the cows being milked three times a day.



But, even with that statistic that sounds so successful and lucrative Perry said this is the worst time financially that he has ever experienced because of the downturn of milk prices, going as low as they were in 1968 and causing dairies to lose as much as 25 cents on the gallon while the cost of producing that gallon has continued to rise.



Kevin Jackson of Alton Dairy agrees with Perry that when you figure in the rising cost of insurance coverage, fuel prices and the cost of updating your facilities to accommodate state and local environmental guidelines you border on the red side of the account ledger most of the time.



Perry said a dairy the size of his can lose from $30,000 to $50,000 a month with the smaller dairies standing to lose $15 to $20 thousand a month.



Even though Lafayette County is listed by Dairy Farmers, Inc./Dairy Council of Florida as one of the top three leading counties for dairy production there are five dairies “for sale” in the county.



According to local farmers that have farmed their land for generations the hurt runs deep as they see their sons and daughters struggling to hold the family dairy’s head above water. One mother said, “It’s the end of a tradition, the passing of the farm from one generation to another is disappearing…..it’s so sad,” she said.



Chris Vann said one-half of Lafayette County’s’ economy is garnered from the agricultural community with the dairy farmers contributing up to $26 million a year in revenues. Vann says for every $1 a farm grosses it’s worth $5 to $7 in the local community as it spins through the community between 5 to 7 times.



Aside from the dairy families being affected, you have to consider the loss of jobs that would occur should a number of the county’s dairies close. Although the economy of a small county like Lafayette would immediately feel the loss of money circulation at local businesses……the classic domino effect would be felt throughout the surrounding counties and possibly the state.



Future editions will continue along this same trail as we explore the potential loss for the county in dollars.