Dairy farming
Dairy farming is the agricultural practice of raising animals primarily for their milk, which can be processed into various products such as cheese, butter, and yogurt. While cows are the most common source of milk, goats, sheep, buffalo, and camels are also raised for this purpose. Dairy farming requires a range of responsibilities, including animal care, milk collection, waste management, and sometimes growing feed for the animals. Dairy operations are typically intensive and operate year-round, with modern farms often employing mechanized milking systems and large storage tanks. The dairy industry has evolved significantly from its early roots, with a marked shift towards larger farms due to advancements in transportation and processing technology. In the U.S., the number of dairy farms has dramatically decreased over the decades, with many now being family-owned but operating on a much larger scale. This shift has raised concerns among animal rights advocates regarding animal welfare, while farmers assert their commitment to responsible care. Additionally, there are niche markets within dairy farming, such as organic and raw milk production, which cater to specific consumer demands.
On this Page
Dairy farming
Dairy farming refers to the agricultural process of raising animals for their milk. Dairy farmers may tend the animals and milk them before passing the milk off to others for processing, or farmers may also process the milk to produce drinkable milk, cheese, butter, and other products. While dairy farms most often raise cows, other animals such as goats, buffalo, sheep, and camels can be raised and milked as well. Dairy farm responsibilities can include caring for the animals, collecting the milk, disposing of waste, and, sometimes, raising feed for the animals. Dairy farming is a big business. Studies in the early twenty-first century determined that the average American consumes more than 630 pounds (286 kilograms) of dairy products annually.
Background
Milk is produced by female mammals of all species, including humans, as a primary food source for their offspring. It is not known at what point people decided to consume the milk from other mammals. Experts suspect it may have happened as a matter of necessity when a human mother was killed or became too ill to nurse her child. The first recorded instances of humans drinking milk from other animals occurred around 8000 BCE. By this time, people had already begun raising animals such as goats, sheep, camels, cattle, and buffalo for meat and other purposes. Eventually, they began collecting the milk from these same animals.
Soon, people learned how to make other food products from milk. It is known that the ancient Greeks and Romans had cheese, and cheese is mentioned in the Bible as well. Historians believe cheese developed by accident when milk was stored in an animal skin and formed curds from a combination of heat and movement as it was carried. It is believed yogurt developed in a similar manner. The discovery of these processes would have increased the desirability of milk and promoted the practice of raising animals to procure it.
Initially, dairy farms were small operations that were limited by the farmer's financial ability to purchase and care for the animals and his or her physical ability to collect and process the milk. Processing was originally limited to putting the milk or milk products into containers for sale or trade. This was somewhat of a problem, however.
Milk and its products spoil easily at high temperatures. Spoiled dairy products are not only unappetizing, but they can also be dangerous. During the nineteenth century, many cases of milk-borne illnesses occurred. People did not understand the need for sanitation practices to protect milk from being contaminated, and they sometimes allowed the milk to become too warm. In 1862, French scientist Louis Pasteur discovered that heating the milk to a specific temperature could kill some of the illness-causing bacteria and make it safer to consume. This process, called pasteurization after Pasteur, made it easier to store and transport milk.
Initially, most milk was consumed where it was produced or traded to a neighbor for other goods. As industry began to grow and fewer people had dairy farms, a milk seller would drive a horse-drawn cart around town and deliver dippers full of milk to people to put in their own jugs. The first glass milk bottles were introduced in 1884, and milkmen would deliver the full bottles door to door in the early morning hours. Around this time, the growth of railways made it easier to transport milk greater distances into the cities, where there were no farms. By the twentieth century, dairy farming had changed again, with most milk coming from larger farms with a hundred cows or more. Milk is collected, stored in large tanks, and transferred to large tanker trucks that take it to manufacturing plants. Here, the milk is transformed into beverages, cheeses, yogurt, butter, ice cream, and other products.
Overview
Dairy farms often operate 365 days a year. Animals need to be fed and milked multiple times a day, and farmers must monitor the animals for signs of illness. Some farms also grow their own feed for the animals, adding planting, harvesting, and food storage to an already long list of responsibilities. Animal waste must be removed and disposed of, and the areas where animals are kept must be cleaned. Most contemporary dairy farms use large milking machines as well as large tanks to store the milk until it is collected for processing. These areas must be cleaned regularly as well. Dairy farm operators also have to coordinate employee schedules and work with veterinarians and government officials to ensure the health of the animals and the safety of the milk.
From the end of the twentieth through the early twenty-first century, larger farms have replaced smaller individually owned farms. According to the US Department of Agriculture (USDA), the number of dairy farms in America dropped from 648,000 in 1970 to around 75,000 by 2006. By 2022, the number of dairy farms in the United States had dropped to 24,470. Nearly all these farms were family owned, with an average of around 135 cows per farm. Some larger farms in America and elsewhere had thousands of cows. Collectively, in 2022, US farmers had 9.3 million milk cows and sales totaling $52.8 billion, according to the US Department of Agriculture. Each cow produces an average of 6.5 gallons (25 liters) of milk per day.
California is the leading producer of milk in the United States, followed by Wisconsin. Dairy farming is big business in these and other states. The industry employs about 400,000 workers in California alone. These employees range from owners and managers to hourly laborers. The net income for an average farm in 2022 was about $66,626, according to the US Department of Agriculture.
Although there is a trend toward larger operations with mechanized milking machinery and other equipment to handle large quantities of milk, there is also an increasing number of specialized dairy farms. Some focus on organic milk, produced under stringent guidelines that require the use of organically grown feed and prohibit the use of pesticides, antibiotics, and growth hormones. Some farms also specialize in the production and sale of raw milk, which is more natural than pasteurized milk but not legal in all areas due to safety concerns.
Despite the steady demand for reasonably priced milk products, dairy farming has been the subject of some controversy. Animal rights groups claim that large farms are inhumane because they do not allow the animals to live a natural life. Dairy farmers counter that all responsible farmers take good care of the animals that represent their livelihood.
Bibliography
Aubrey, Allison. "The Average American Ate (Literally) a Ton This Year." NPR, 31 Dec. 2011, www.npr.org/sections/thesalt/2011/12/31/144478009/the-average-american-ate-literally-a-ton-this-year. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
"Dairy Facts." Purdue University, www.ansc.purdue.edu/faen/dairy%20facts.html. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
"Dairy Cattle and Milk Production." Census of Agriculture, US Department of Agriculture, Sept. 2024, www.nass.usda.gov/Publications/Highlights/2024/Census22‗HL‗Dairy.pdf. Accessed 13 Jan. 2025.
"8 Things You Need to Know Before Starting Your Own Dairy Farm." Penn State Extension,11 Aug. 2017, extension.psu.edu/8-things-you-need-to-know-before-starting-your-own-dairy-farm. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
"The History of Milk." Agriculture and Horticulture Development Board, United Kingdom, dairy.ahdb.org.uk/talking-to-the-public/talking-to-schools/providing-school-milk/the-history-of-milk/#.WcWiN62ZOCS. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Kramer, Mary Hope. "Dairy Farmer Career Profile." The Balance, 13 Apr. 2017, www.thebalance.com/dairy-farmer-125610. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Kurlansky, Mark. "Inside the Milk Machine: How Modern Dairy Works." Modern Farmer, 17 Mar. 2014, modernfarmer.com/2014/03/real-talk-milk/. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
"Learn the Answers to Frequently Asked Questions about Dairy Farming." Midwest Dairy Association, www.midwestdairy.com/farm-life/common-questions/. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.
Treur, Julaine. "Milk Myths Debunked: Dairy Is Scary—or Not?" Dairy Farmers of Canada, 8 Feb. 2016, www.dairyfarmers.ca/farmers-voice/farming/milk-myths-debunked-dairy-is-scary-or-not. Accessed 22 Sept. 2017.