What Enterprise is Sustainable for Me?
Milk
To evaluate how well this enterprise aligns with your farm's agronomic, marketing, financial and management resources, answer these five questions. Then, calculate your score.
Using a scale from 0 to 100, scores indicate your farm's likely success with an enterprise.
The following questions are relevant to grass-fed and pasture-raised production.
The icons link to resources you can use to answer these questions.
QUESTIONS
HELP ME ANSWER THIS
1. A dairy cow’s milking productivity depends highly on diet. Will you closely manage forage resources and other feeds as needed to ensure your grass-fed dairy cows have the appropriate nutrition?
Yes
No
No
2. Cooperatives handle a majority of milk marketed in the U.S. Unless they join a co-op, dairies will likely need to develop their own markets. Do you commit to one of the following three pathways to market milk you produce?
- Access a co-op that would buy grass-fed or pasture-raised milk at a price that allows for recouping costs.
- Sell your milk to a co-op as commodity milk and then perhaps buy back from the cooperative the portion of your milk that you can process and sell as a farmstead creamery. When repurchasing your milk, anticipate paying the co-op a premium relative to the price you receive when selling the rest of your milk to the co-op.
- Establish and maintain markets for all milk you produce.
Yes
No
No
3. To sustain operations, a dairy requires replacement heifers to take the place of culled cows and grow the herd as needed. Does your management style lend itself to carefully overseeing replacement heifers’ development, or do you have a source for purchasing good-quality heifers?
Yes
No
No
4. Dairies can require significant capital investments. Examples include the pastures used for grazing, machinery and equipment, milking parlor, other structures and the dairy cows themselves. Do you have the financial resources to fund the needed startup capital for a dairy?
Yes
No
No
5. To maximize milk production, a dairy must prioritize cow care. To keep animals healthy and productive, will you implement biosecurity practices, monitor and treat conditions such as mastitis, administer vaccinations and schedule dry periods — a break between one lactation period and the next?
Yes
No
No
Your ResultsX
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Respond to the questions for an enterprise. Each question touches on a key factor that affects an enterprise's sustainability on your farm.2 of 3
Icons to the side of questions direct to other decision tools that share detailed information about a question's topic.3 of 3
After completing all questions for an enterprise, calculate your score. A pop-up page will share your results. Scores closer to 100 suggest the enterprise would align well with your farm. Scores closer to 0 suggest the enterprise would not fit as well, based on your responses to the questions.