I have a little game I play. When there is a story about people struggling I count the comments until I see the word "Trump." Today's count: 4.
9
Dairy farming is an awful tradition. Forcefully impregnating cows so that you can then steal it's milk from the calf. Veal is a byproduct of this brutal industry. Hopefully the price drops further, and these farmers can seek a more worthy calling.
12
Very good story and great pictures. Thanks for running it and featuring it in the weekend read recommendations. I don't like mega farms either, but it's just what businesses in a lot of sectors need to do to survive. Look what's happening in retail prompted by Amazon. I know a Wisconsin bicycle dealer who tells me he has to get big or get out. And let's not be too sentimental about the small family farm. They were wonderful in a lot of ways but they were also hard to regulate because legislators were loathe to impose more costs on them. Mega farms don't have that public sympathy to insulate them. And as for lobbyists, the Farm Bureau is just as powerful today as it was 20 years ago.
7
We are the only species that drinks another species breast milk. Cows only produce milk after they have a baby. What do you think happens to the male babies?
People are waking up to all of this and choosing cruelty free plant based milk. This is why dairy is dying.
The dairy breakfast is on its way out.
14
@Courtney Give me a break here. This is a wonderful story about my state and our fine people. Personally have no connection to this other than I married a farmers daughter. You probably do not even know what a cheese curd is.
30
I have ancestors who were farmers - just because something was done in the past does not mean it needs to continue. When we know better -we do better.
6
The plight of farmers, dairy farmers in particular is now why I buy our local dairy's milk and ice cream rather than supermarket brand. Go Sassy Cow!
15
Republicans and Trump voters. You reap what you sow.
15
I know this has been going on for a long time, but IQ45 has been the death knell for small farmers. Everything is for big ag. When these guys wise up to what is going on, maybe things will turn around.
11
Yes. Wisconsin has traded family farms for mega farms, thousands of cows who never see pasture, who are forced to be milked in the same place where they spend their entire lives. Our water and lands have become poisoned, and thanks to Scott Walker, previous governor, who by the way, claims he will lead Trump’s 2020 Wisconsin campaign, did a big fat nothing. He chose Cathy Stepp to serve as his Department of Natural Resources head - she had no, absolutely no, college degree. Yet she led our resources and scientists in the department. Together they dismantled the department and dismissed scientists from the department. They made and left Wisconsin deregulated. Get the hint?
Stepp is now Regional Administrator of the EPA for the entire Region 5 of the Trump Administration. Seriously - her education? A graduate of Oak Creek, WI High School. That’s all! The region governs Wisconsin, Michigan, Illinois, Ohio, Indiana. You think there are any agricultural scientific issues that might arise there? Any issues which may have serious risks and ramifications to humans? Well, a high school graduate could take care of those issues, right?
Need I reveal more?
106
We get what we pay for. If we want dirt cheap dairy then we to accept they milk is just another commodity just like computer chips. Without humane concerns, without treating cows as creatures of innate value and without treating human beings as human beings.
Where all things are corporate human beings are just the consuming part of the corporate machine.
26
This country is losing a very special way of life, as more and more family farms are put out of business. It makes me sad to see this happening, and I don’t think it is a good thing for the quality of the foods we eat.
10
I love this story. Thank you!
9
I had a blast going to these as a kid, and I plan on taking any children I may have. Long live the dairy breakfast!
9
Grandson of dairy farmer here.
Once upon a time, the farm subsidies went to family farms and farmers in efforts to help both farmer and consumer. Now that govt. money goes to hyper rich Big Agra which is buying up all the family farms that they are gleefully putting out of business.
The small, bucolic Wisconsin farms of my youth are now humming, dystopian souless operations that care nothing of quality of product nor fate of the people and animals they own.
The dairy breakfast of the near future will be held at Mar a Lago and attended by slicksters in suits who don't know a guernsey from a beagle.
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@James J
Love your comment even though I found it equally sad and true.
Your closing comparison was spot on. I would only ask this:
Would the Mar a Lago slicksters in suits really give a hoot not knowing the difference between a Guernsey and a beagle? My guess is no and would probably think one animal is merely larger than the utter (sorry - couldn't resist).
20
During the depression, FDR got a series of bills passed to save farmers. One of those bills established prices for milk with the most efficient place to produce milk being Eau Claire, WI. The rates for milk/100 pounds was around $13 and for milk produced in CA it was a lot higher. Those depression era prices are still in effect today. So if U are a dairy farmer in WI, you have a hard row to hoe.
Try to imagine the days before milking machines when cows had to be milked manually. If U didn't do it right, bossie can cow kick U right off your 3 legged stool.
The farm lobby is still very powerful. Did U know that 40% of our national corn crop is used to make ethanol? Using a food crop to produce something we burn in our cars. Forget about changing that - only the AMA has more power.
3
I find the image and description of the 3-day-old calf disturbing. Why is this practically newborn calf away from his/her mother drinking "gatorade" from a bottle?
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“There are so many scary changes, but you just have to accept them,” she said.
Cheesehead until I die. My grandfather lost his Wisconsin farm during the depression. Lived all my childhood next to farms.
So sad what that woman said. Travel on rural Wisconsin roads and you cannot get anything but Fox, Sinclair Radio and religious programs that preach that Democrats are the devil. McDonalds only has Fox on its tvs.
No wonder there is a cultural divide. No wonder that rural America is red. No wonder that the poor woman said “There are so many scary changes, but you just have to accept them..." Because if you do not believe that there is an alternative she is correct.
28
Milk and cheese and eggs combine/to make a meal that's mighty fine/It sticks to ribs and fills the belly/Pass the toast and apple jelly/Homer may have had Ulysses/But dairy breakfasts ain't for sissies!
9
This is sooooo cool!
I want to go
10
Small farms are a true resource for this country in so many ways. But it's disheartening to realize how many of them fall into the trap of supporting Trump. Just south of Albany in Clarksville is a large dairy farm that still does residential milk deliveries. Over their home's driveway and across the street on their equipment shed are two large Trump flags. While Trump may well support the Cargil's, ADM's, and other corporate Ag businesses, the small farmers will be left out. When the deck gets that stacked against them they have little to no chance.
28
Proud of my state and these families that are the heart and soul of the dairy industry here. I grew up on a dairy farm in Wisconsin. Like most of the farms in my county, the barn now stands empty. The land is still cropped, but there are no cows --producing milk no longer made sense economically. We need a comprehensive change in the way we support farming to bring back the small farm. Thank you to the NYT for running this article.
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@J Dahl
Hello fellow farmer from Wisconsin!
I simply LOVE your comment.
7
Breaks my heart. This is why I buy milk and yogurt from my local creamery. Yes, it's more expensive but I have seen the cows that made that milk and shook the hand of the dairy farmer that cared for those cows.
I love the picture of the 2 elderly men eating their breakfast.
69
I'm pushing 60 years old. I was born and raised in WI and moved to TX in the 80's. My uncles and grandparents were dairy farmers, and as a child I enjoyed watching the cows happily grazing in the fields. These were not mistreated animals.
Over the past 10-15 years, though, the mega dairy farms have monopolized the dairy industry in WI. Now when I go back to my home state I see huge barns holding hundreds or thousands of cows that live in a stall and never, ever see the light of day. Three-story tall mountains of manure outside of these barns emit a horrid smell for miles around.
Small farmers are getting pushed out, and animals are suffering in the name of the almighty dollar.
My wife and I became vegan about five years ago, in part to protest this animal abuse.
107
@KevinB
I hear ya loud and clear.
What caused my parents to sell their farm in the late 60s was because all but three of their kids had left home for college and jobs in Milwaukee and California (the remaining three kids were still in grade school and one had a life threatening illness) There simply were not enough kids to help with the farm, especially the field work. Also, my parents were getting older and just couldn't handle the great physical work farming demands.
The day the farm was sold and we moved "into town" was one of my saddest memories of childhood. I never felt as safe and "at home" as I did on our farm. I missed all of my cats, dogs, and my own cow, Darlene, which I used to ride like a horse (I made my saddle out of a burlap feed bag and my reins out of binder twine. As a farmer, one learned to improvise with whatever materials one had on hand).
43
Beautiful story. Thank you for this gift.
21
Lived on a dairy farm once, admittedly in Australia though, and it seems extremely sad to me if the way of life is dying in the US.
14
The article tells that the number of farms has dropped dramatically, but it has no mention of the size of the farms that are left. It's not that the herds disappear, it's that they merge into one huge farm, corporately owned, often by outsiders.
63
The dairy industry has been propped up by the federal government for way too long - to the point where the market has become totally distorted and the nation has much more capacity than the market justifies. Here in California we subsidize large scale dairy ranching at Pt. Reyes Nat'l Seashore. This distorts the regional market, and is bad for other dairy in the region. Now the Pt. Reyes ranchers want the Park Service to kill off Tule Elk at the Seashore so the elk don't compete with their cows. Given the state of the dairy industry, federal lands, especially national parks, should not be used for subsidized cattle ranching.
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@David
Americans love their "democratic" political system and believe it is more resistant to corruption that other authoritarian systems. Unfortunately it is far from the ideal. Politicians pander to the big lobby dollars spent by corporations to influence legislation, resulting in the hollowing out of what was known as the "family farm". The book "The Meat Racket" by Christopher Leonard is an eye-opening read. Thank God Costco os ramping up it's own chicken operations - I'm sure they'll be a bit more understanding towards the small contract farmers. Sadly, it will be no help to the "family farm", the owners of which are too fragmented to afford a powerful lobby.
5
@David
Thank you for posting this. The picture of squished-together cows made me think of the Tule Elk herd roaming Pt. Reyes. Big money promotes the dairy industry, but no profit from restoring wildness.
6
People just aren’t eating and drinking dairy in the same quantities any more. They are wishing for something that won’t happen. But sometimes adverse things happen to good people.
9
Perhaps it's time to treat our family farmers the way we treat our military and say,
Thank you for your service.
But words aren't enough. They need support to keep doing what they have been doing for generations. They have been the backbone of America for so long that we have forgotten what they do and how hard they work.
Big Agra has had the same effect on them that the big box stores have had on mom and pop shops across the country.
At least they are immune to the internet boom... for now.
22
@Larry
In what way have we forgotten? The US government heavily subsidizes corn, milk, and an ag bill was just passed.
25
Wow! Thank you for such a great article that captures the essence of Wisconsin's dairy farmers. And thank you farmers, for your work to stray true to the land and community.
17
We sold the cows (stayed in the heifer business) in 1981, and it was a good business decision.
Of course, I don’t miss getting up at 2:15 AM.
But I still miss the cows. More than I ever imagined.
22
Who covers the costs?
Do the guests pay a small fee for the hospitality or do all the farmers band together?
Great tradition.
8
@johhnyb You pay a small fee, and local businesses get a chance to market their new dairy products to potential customers. It's fun to sample their goods. It's a win-win.
2
The proceeds from our local dairy breakfast go to scholarships for F.F.A. students.
3
Folks can get a breakfast with “milk, yogurt, cheese curds, scrambled eggs, pancakes and sausage, ice cream or frozen custard, often topped with local strawberries” pretty much anywhere. It’s not a unique menu. But this group, topping nearly 3000, comes yearly to support these wonderful, hardworking and generous farmers, their families and their chosen lifestyle. Just the idea and opportunity to see antique tractors, where milk comes from and how a cow is milked, or “the feeding a 3-day-old calf a mixture of electrolytes and water” are special reasons to trek out to the Creamery Creek Holsteins Farms.
I grew up on a 60 acre dairy farm in Wisconsin. I recall with great fondness and respect for the amount of labor and time BOTH of my parents devoted to that life. At the time, the help of my two older brothers and two older sisters were indispensable. Even the help of the five younger ones like me was necessitated. No one sat around eating bon bons and reading comic books.
I was grateful for that kind of childhood, but farming is also one of the most demanding, difficult, dangerous yet enthralling and rewarding “careers” one can have. It’s a 24/7 job and most times, one’s success or failure from year to year is dependent on the weather.
I understand why people love and cherish farming. I also understand when it becomes too difficult and demanding to continue. Can’t help but love those Creamery Creek Holsteins farmers and ALL farmers.
Thanks for a great article!
70
I am from this land, and it breaks my heart. But they must find a new path. As more and more people view the videos of what it takes to produce milk -enforced rape, screaming calves - and not just a day a year, not just a stun gun to the head, but daily, ubiquitous cruelty (force your friend to watch a video - they will hate you, then they will stop drinking milk), this simply will have to stop. Because once you know how it works, you won't be able to force down a glass, or eat ice cream. You won't because once you are told, your natural decency will stop you. The dairy industry must go away and it will. I'm sorry that these decent people, caught in this horrorshow field, but find a new path, but they will.
God bless them.
23
@roger
I think instead of turning our backs on dairy out of moral outrage, there is a different path. Perhaps farmers could stop selling out to large conglomerates and turn toward humane farming practices on a smaller scale, turning out high quality, morally responsible foods. If we have been learning anything about the American consumer in the past twenty years, it is that people will pay more money for higher quality, morally sound, natural food products. I understand the disdain for animal cruelty -- an obvious evil -- but if we stop it correctly, we could help agriculture evolve to a higher calling to restore smaller farms with a focus on quality over quantity.
35
@roger
There are other ways. I grew up next to a small dairy farm. The cows were well treated and cared for. Mega/industrial farms do not have to be the standard.
37
@roger I don't drink milk, but I do use milk, buttermilk and cream in cooking and baking. And I eat plenty of ice cream. All of these products come from small, local farms that, as far as I can tell, treat their animals well.
18