through June 2019, according to the American
Farm Bureau Federation. Minnesota was not far
behind with 31 during that time.
Because of debt, the cost of producing milk
varies among farms. While some farmers can
break even at a price of $18 per hundred
pounds, others need $21 because of their
debt load.
Sometimes the way to survive is to join forces
with neighbors.
Hallett shares some advanced machinery with a
neighboring farmer, like a combine and planting
equipment. And, fortunately, some technology
isn’t expensive. Hallett’s cows carry the same
microchips as Rosendale uses, so he can know
from the comfort of his office the milk weight for
each cow and whether a particular cow had less
milk that day. The chips cost about 12 cents per
month per cow.
Hallett said he wishes he could afford to update
his cow stalls, but that getting credit from
banks is difficult because they consider bigger
operations less risky.
“Who do you think they’re going to work with to
keep them afloat?” Hallett said.
The University of Wisconsin hopes to help with
a project that would integrate all the data farms
collect each day on cows’ production, feed and
health, among other things.
Integrating the data and using artificial
intelligence and machine learning “would
be very helpful to farmers making the best
decisions every single time” in real time, said
Victor Cabrera, the professor at the University of
Wisconsin-Madison who is leading the project.