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May 14, 2008 2:19 pm US/Eastern
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Oil Prices, Grain Shortage Affecting Dairy Farms
DRACUT (WBZ) ―
Cows have been a staple on Warren Shaw's property for nearly a century -- raised and milked by members of the Shaw family.
They do it all here: produce bottle and sell. But skyrocketing oil prices coupled with grain shortages are hitting hard. "In last two years (we) had to increase prices more than in the previous 10."
While he's making ends meet, Shaw says, he's not making money. First, he's got to feed his herd of Holsteins. "It's what's called a total mix ration" -- a mix of corn, grass, which the Shaws grow themselves, and grain, which might as well be gold.
"In a small farm like this, you're grain bill might be $8 to $10,000 a month. When your grain bill starts to go up $1,000 a month, you really have a problem."
And that, says Shaw, has happened every month since January.
The corn in the cow's feed is grown by the Shaw family on a property in New Hampshire. They use fertilizer -- the price of which has risen significantly. Forty percent since last year.
The effect on a quart of whole milk? "Two years ago, this product right here sold for 99-cents a bottle. Now it's $1.45," explained Shaw.
And he's making less. Bottles are recycled, but because they can no longer afford people failing to return them, the honor system was replaced last year with a 75-cent deposit.
While customers accept the higher prices "it's a must, a necessity."
Those prices aren't high enough, Shaw says, to keep the farm from eating its profits.
Dairy has been a tough business for years. According to the Massachusetts Association of Dairy Farmers, the number of dairy farms in the state has dropped from 812 to 181 in the last quarter century.
Four have closed this year.
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