Another tough year for family farms

US - The year just completed was a difficult one for Vermont's dairy farmers. Again.
calendar icon 3 January 2007
clock icon 1 minute read
Milk prices, as always, were too low, especially in the face of high energy prices that affected everything from the light bill to the cost of shipping the milk to fueling up the tractors.

Then came the rains.

The spring deluge -- making for the wettest June since the 1920s and precipitation running almost 8 inches above normal by the end of July -- led to poor harvest of crops such as hay and corn, feed for the cows.

Not only was the harvest, down, but the quality of the feed suffered. Farmers coming into the winter faced the added expense of both buying additional feed and supplements to make sure the cows would be getting the nutrients they need.

Things were so bleak by the spring that the Legislature last session took the extraordinary step of setting aside $8.6 million dollars of state money to help dairy farmers.

The list of woes, however, is just the latest string of stresses pressuring Vermont's dairy industry.

Source: Burlington Free Press
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