Michigan dairy farm will no longer milk cows after this year

Nov 16, 2017

The price of milk compared to the price of production factored into the decision

By Diego Flammini
News Reporter
Farms.com

A 50-year-old dairy farm in Michigan’s Leelanau County milked its last cows over the weekend.

Producers from Schaub Dairy Farm decided that with the cost of production rising, but the price of milk failing to catch up, it was time to move away from dairy production.

“There was just an excessive amount of milk in the industry in the state of Michigan, which kept the prices low on the farmer’s end,” Eric Risbridger told UpNorthLive.com yesterday.

Michigan’s mailbox milk price in August was $16.06 per hundredweight, according to the USDA’s Agricultural Marketing Service. That number was up from $15.33 per hundredweight in July, but it still isn’t enough for the dairy operation to continue, Risbridger said.

“They said the milk prices were going to come up to maybe $17 per hundredweight,” he told UpNorthLive.com. “But it never made that. It always (seemed) to stay down on the lower end.”

The farm will continue to raise corn and hay, and raise calves that will be sent to auction.

But walking into the barn each day will feel a little bit different, says Risbridger.

“They’re my girls, I raised them and spent every day with them,” he told UpNorthLive.com. “It was sad to see them leave and I just have to have faith that they’re going to be well taken care of at another farm.”

Video: What Does 20 MILLION Hogs a Year Look Like?

?? The Multi-Plant System Processing 20 Million Hogs Annually in the Midwest JBS USA operates multiple large-scale pork processing facilities across the Midwest, including major plants in Iowa, Minnesota, and Indiana. Combined, these facilities have the capacity to process approximately 20 million hogs annually.

Each plant operates high-speed automated slaughter systems capable of processing up to 20,000 head per day, followed by fabrication lines that break carcasses into primals, sub-primals, and case-ready retail products.

Hog procurement is coordinated through electronic marketing platforms that connect regional contract finishing operations and independent producers to plant demand schedules. This digital procurement system allows for steady supply flow and scheduling efficiency across multiple facilities.

Processing plants incorporate comprehensive food safety systems, including pathogen intervention technologies, rapid chilling processes, and integrated cold-chain management. USDA inspection is embedded throughout the harvest and fabrication stages to ensure regulatory compliance and product integrity. Finished pork products — from bulk primals to retail-ready packaged cuts — are distributed through coordinated logistics networks serving domestic and export markets.