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When is it time to sell the dairy?

 

A cattle marketer says a dairy farmer’s decision to exit the business is life changing.

“It’s very emotional, it’s life changing when they’ve dealt with the cows everyday to not having them.  It’s a process they’ll have to go through and they’ll ask, ‘When’s the right time to sell my cows?’  My response always is when you’re ready too.”  Chad Kreeger markets dairy cattle through United Producers, Inc. in Michigan.

He tells Brownfield several years of low milk prices have been the final straw for some farmers to sell the cows.  “There has been some obvious financial incidents of people leaving the business, but you also see a lot of people without another generation coming into the business just deciding this is the time.  They’ve milked cows long enough and they want to do something else.”

Kreeger says most herd dispersal sales he’s coordinated are for farms milking between 200-400 cows, and while it can take years for farmers to be ready to sell, the process takes about a month before the final auction.  “If you keep the cows because they’re not worth as much but you’re continuing to do backwards every month by keeping them, pretty soon it doesn’t matter what the cows are worth, you’re still further behind.”

Kreeger says cattle prices have dropped about 20 percent in the last six months with depressed dairy markets and more herds being dispersed in Michigan.

AUDIO: Interview with Chad Kreeger