Trends in the Northeast dairy industry: Large-scale modern confinement feeding and management-intensive grazing

Abstract

This paper provides a summary of results from a recent survey of 987 dairy farmers in 4 northeastern US states. The survey results provide descriptive characteristics of the current state of dairy farming in the region, as well as farmer satisfaction levels, concerns, and plans for the future of their farming operations. The paper analyses characteristics of two increasingly important dairy production systems used in the Northeast. Averages from across the survey states (Maryland, Pennsylvania, New York, and Vermont) show that approximately 13% of dairy producers use management-intensive or rotational grazing and 7% use large, modern confinement systems with more than 300 cows. These more specialized production systems show many significant differences in farm and farmer characteristics, satisfaction levels, and plans for the future compared with farms using more traditional production systems. The changing structure of the dairy industry has potentially important implications for environmental quality, rural communities, and the food system.

Well-managed grazing systems: A forgotten hero of conservation

“…Agriculture in the United States is certainly different than it was a century ago-many producers have abandoned diversified farming with numerous crops, grazing livestock, and managed woodlands for an industrial model based on specialization of a few crops if land were available or large confined animal feeding operations if land were limiting (Winsten et al 2010;Nelson et al 2012). Nearly 80% of US beef producers have a herd size of <50 head, and 76% of dairy producers have a herd size of <100 head (USDA NASS 2011).…”

Energy and greenhouse gas analysis of northeast U.S. dairy cropping systems

“…Dairy farms rely heavily on fossil energy inputs like fuel, fertilizers, herbicides, and pesticides, which contribute directly to greenhouse gas (GHG) levels in the atmosphere (Robertson et al, 2000;Cruse et al, 2010;Woodhouse, 2010;Gelfand et al, 2010;Davis et al, 2012). For several decades the number of dairy farms in this region has been decreasing, bifurcating into both larger consolidated operations as well as smaller owner-operated farms (Winsten et al, 2010). At the same time there has been an increase in specialized crop farms without animals, while livestock farms are housing more animals on smaller areas of land.…”

Feed management practices to reduce manure phosphorus excretion in dairy cattle

“…The rotation of the animals through the sections allows the grazed sections to regrow before re-grazing and because the grazing period in each section is very short, severe treading and overgrazing is avoided resulting in reduced P losses. A survey the North-eastern United States showed that 13% of the dairy producers use this method with the number of farms using the system increasing (Winsten et al, 2010). The system was typically used by small or medium size herds (50 to 70 animals), because it is labour-intensive.…”

“…The system was typically used by small or medium size herds (50 to 70 animals), because it is labour-intensive. Producers using the system had better economic and environmental advantages than producers using traditional systems for dairy cattle (Winsten et al, 2010). Haan et al (2006) compared the effect of rotational stocking to a residual sward height of 5 or 10 cm with continuous stocking and ungrazed pastures.…”