73 out of every 100

There's always those statistics that dentist's or doctor's use; 1 out of 10 dentist's choose Colgate toothpaste or 1 out of 3 American's smoke. What ever the case my be I'm sure you never thought of this one.... 73 out of every 100. I bet I have your mind going a mile a minute trying to figure out what this statistic could mean.


No it's not 73 out of every 100 bumble bees are female


No it's not every 73 out of 100 students turn in their homework on time


But rather...


YES! 73 out of every 100 Dairy Farmers have another source of income other then just milking cows.


Wow! 73% of our Dairy Farmer's do not solely rely on their milk check they in fact work another job or raise other animals or grown 1,000's of acres of crops to break even or come out on top. That is just mind boggling!!


The Dairy Industry is one of the most unpredictable and unsteady industries and markets out there. One season the price of milk could be decent but then something happens across seas or mother nature decides to be hard headed and the milk price does a complete 180 due to those supply and demand needs.


73 out of every 100 Dairy Farmers have another source of income whether it's their spouse bringing it in or they are bringing it in on their own. To survive off  the milk check is one of the hardest situations; things could change in the blink of an eye.


For example, if China or foreign countries need milk then we ship tons of milk across seas and our pay check is decent but once they decide they have too much and do not need any from the United States we have an excess here and the price drops. Since I've been milking here on my Grandfather's farm, going on 11 months, the price has dropped almost $10 per 100 pounds of milk. In May, when I started, we were getting roughly $26 for every 100 pounds of milk and today we are getting about $15 for every 100 pounds. It dropped about $6 in one month for us as well. How many of you could deal with the inconsistency of milk prices and the uncertainty of when and how much it will drop.


Many American's could not and would not deal with a pay cut that brutal but we as Dairy Farmer's live everyday not knowing what that milk check will be like in the next two weeks. Someone has to bare the stress, uncertainty, and the brutal pay cuts to feed the World.


I'm sure many of you have never thought about this before because I know a year ago I didn't. But now that I am affected and live it first hand I know how tough it is for us Dairy Farmer's and how frustrating and depressing it gets but we have to stick with it, It's what we live for, it's what we love.


That is why I have been so quite lately because I have picked up two other part time jobs on top of my full time milking and managing the cows here on the farm. I have been so crazy busy but it all pays off, it allows me to wake up every morning with a huge smile on my face and 60 milking mama's out in the barn waiting on me and allows me to go to bed at night knowing I have another source of income to keep me milking and taking of my girls for another day because I can pay my bills with the support of two other jobs.


And that's why we choose to have side jobs/business because it is in our blood we cannot get away from our families legacy, we can't get away from our passion, and we can't get away from this beautiful life God has created for us.


...73 out of every 100 farmer's rather work double time then to give up this way of life...


Just remember that just because that gallon of milk costs almost $5 doesn't mean we are rich by any circumstances we see less than $1 of that $5 price.


I milk cows every morning at 5am eat breakfast and then I'm out the door to muck horse stalls every morning for about 2-3 hours, come back to the farm to do chores and tend to calves, heifers, and cows and then milk again at 3:30pm followed by supper at 5:30pm and then either after dinner or anytime I find during the day I am doing office work for my part time job as the Executive Assistant for the York County Agriculture Business Council. All this allows me to enjoy milking cows a lot more because I don't stress about the milk check as much and other farmer's are in the same boat as me.


So just remember that if you bump into a dairy farmer there's a huge possibility he/she does more then just milking cows! "73 out of every 100 Dairy Farmers", I heard this at a customer appreciation seminar and it honestly blew my mind, I never thought about how many dairy farmer's have another source of income but as I thought about it I could name quite a few... they may have a hog barn or a chicken house, they may grow and harvest 1,000's of acres of crops, they may own their own landscaping business, be a 31 consultant, work for an artificial insemination company on the side, have their own produce or market stand, sell raw milk or cheese, they may haul milk at night, could be a salesmen or just work from a computer like me. Whatever the case may be they are doing it to get by not because they have too much time on their hands!