In the whirlwind of insanity that we are in the middle of now, I am sure of one thing. There will be milk in the tank at the end of the day. Send a truck to pick it up.
Dairies are by nature non-stop. 24 hours a day, 7 days a week, 365 days a year. Milk 2 times a day, or milk 3 times a day, or maybe 4 times, it’s every day. It doesn’t matter if the feed truck breaks down, or the well quits, or someone just doesn’t show up for work, the milking and the feeding has to be done. It will be done somehow, sometimes it is like pulling a rabbit out of a hat.
To a dairy farmer it isn’t about “if” something bad happens – it’s all about how you are going to handle it when it does.
As the world copes with wars, pandemics, economic meltdowns everyone can rest assured, cows will be fed, and cows will be milked because it needs to be done. It is what we do. Sometimes it’s tough, world events can make you feel small when leaders get shot, a space shuttle blows up, skyscrapers fall to the ground, or a virus breaks loose. As everyone does, a dairy farmer will pause, he will gather his thoughts, and start another day doing what needs to be done. He has responsibilities to a lot of people. He can’t quit and take a hiatus for a few days.
One farmer feeds 166 people in this country. It’s a fact that no one thinks about. The average citizen is now 2 or 3 generations removed from a relative that farmed. The thought of many people is that food will always be available and can easily be replaced through science. In large cities it seems agriculture is only appreciated at a farmer’s market with little thought given to the size and scale needed to feed this country.
Then a crisis comes and the complacency melts away. But there is no need to panic, everyone will be okay. Dairymen and farmers will come through. They will do their job the best they can regardless of what is going on. It is who they are.
The American dairyman, give him low prices for milk, give him high prices for feed, let bureaucracy pile regulations on him, add a pandemic, plus a few other world problem and I am still sure of one thing: There will be milk in the tank at the end of the day.
Send the truck.
