A big step in this direction was the passage of the Missouri Dairy Revitalization Act of 2015 by the general assembly this year. Rep. Bill Reiboldt (R-160), a state legislator from Newton County and a dairyman for 41 years, said the Missouri Revitalization Act shows that people in his state understand how important agriculture is to the state’s economy.
“The bill was passed but not funded,” Reibolt said. “We hope to get funding in the supplemental budget this year.”
If funding can be secured this year through the supplemental budget, supporters of the act want to have it listed as a regular line item in following state budgets.
The act adds to the dairy title of the federal farm bill by requiring the Missouri Department of Agriculture to establish a dairy producer insurance premium assistance program for producers who take part in the federal Margin Protection Program for Dairy. The legislation also calls for the establishment of the Missouri Dairy Scholars Program. This provides for 80 scholarships that can be applied as tuition at any college or university in Missouri for students in agriculture related degree programs. HB 259 also requires the University of Missouri’s Commercial Agriculture Program to conduct an annual study of the dairy industry and develop a plan for how to grow the dairy industry in Missouri.
“Support from the general assembly as well as the governor is very good right now,” Richard Fordyce, Missouri director of agriculture, said. “I think the time is right for the dairy industry to move forward. All the stars are aligned.”
In order capture this momentum, Fordyce said producers need to present a common message on how to grow the industry, build relationships with other ag industries in the state and know the state’s strengths as they relate to dairy production. Those strengths include plentiful feed supply, land at a great price compared to other states and a favorable business climate.
Missouri is a forage-based state and this is still a good thing for dairy production. Scott Poock, an Extension veterinarian at the University of Missouri, said dairy production advantages for the state are both diversity-conventional and grass-based dairies. They are doing well in the state because of plentiful forages, markets and an available heifer supply. The production challenges, according to Poock, include heat stress, reproduction and milk quality.
A producer panel discussed a variety of issues pertaining to revitalizing the dairy industry in Missouri. Taking part in the panel discussion were John Schoen from Oak Ridge, Sean Cornelius from Hamilton and Lloyd Gunter from Conway. The first question to the panel was asking if Missouri dairy farms can compete with dairy farms in other states.
All three felt they could compete with dairy farms in other regions but there were some concerns. Gunter said hiring and retaining labor is his No. 1 problem. He added smaller dairies may not be as competitive in some areas and they may need to do a better job of breeding their cows. Schoen, whose dairy is in the southern half of the state, said dairies in his region have a great location for shipping milk south. The Southeast United States is a milk deficit area. Although feed is plentiful, Schoen said, in general, producers need to do a better job of growing alfalfa.
The three producers on the panel said the barriers to expanding existing dairy farms in Missouri were access to capital, local health ordinances, access to new equipment and infrastructure.
“My new dairy barn is 22 years old,” Cornelius said. “There are lots of advances in technology since we built that barn. Being only one of two dairies in the county now, my local dairy service is a little over two hours away from me.”
Land availability is another concern. Land to grow crops for a dairy herd and to spread manure is not always available. Gunter said in his area farmers are often outbid on land by sportsmen, retirees and the Conservation Reserve Program.
Cornelius said other states have been able to work around the problem of land availability by developing long-term agreements with adjoining land owners for purchasing crops and being able to apply manure to their land.
“I don’t think we have done enough to educate our friends who grow crops about what we can do for them,” Cornelius said.
When asked what it would take to attract dairy operations to the state, Schoen said the state can expand the industry with the dairy farms that are already in the state.
“Why can’t we take care of the dairy farmers of Missouri and grow internally?” Schoen said. “Fifty percent of the cows in the report presented today do not have a barn. That is not good for animal comfort or good for production. We could do a little more with housing, cooling in the summer and more comfort in the winter. We could grow 10 percent easily with the cows already in Missouri just by improving cow comfort.”
Until 1953 there always had been more dairy cows than beef cows in Missouri. Today there are 21 beef cows for every milk cow. Dairy cows will never outnumber beef cows again, but there is room for expansion of the dairy industry in the state.
Source: HPJ