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HYDE PARK, Vermont (AP) – Struggling with a changing industry, two brothers who run their family’s dairy farm in Vermont have made the drastic decision to hand over hundreds of cows for goats.
The Jones family, who have raised cows for 150 years at Joneslan Farm, house around 1,000 goats in their barn, which remains adorned with painted cutouts of dairy cattle. Fluctuating milk prices paid to dairy farmers and rising costs have caused some small family farms to go big or close – or get creative like brothers Brian and Steven.
The Jones brothers have completed construction of their milking parlor and delivered their first goat’s milk earlier this year to the Vermont Creamery, owned by Land O ‘Lakes, which will be used for making the cheese.
They plan to milk 1,200 to 1,500 dairy goats within two years.
“We are growing all the time,” said Brian Jones.
According to the U.S. Department of Agriculture, the number of dairy cow farms fell by more than half between 2003 and 2020, while the number of cows nationwide increased as farms consolidated.
At the same time, the dairy goat industry in the United States has grown significantly over the past 20 years, with the number of dairy goats increasing from over 190,000 in 1997 to 440,000 last year, an increase of 2% from 2019, according to the United States. Department of Agriculture. The last quinquennial census of agriculture shows that the number of dairy goat farms has more than doubled, from 15,000 in 1997 to more than 35,000 in 2017. The next quinquennial census will take place in 2022.
“There is slow but steady growth,” said Terry Gipson, extension manager at the American Institute for Goat Research at Langston University in Langston, Oklahoma, of the national inventory, or goat count.
One of the main reasons for the growth is that America has developed a taste for goat cheese – semi-cured soft goats, he said. Some people also keep small herds of goats for their own milk, as pets, and for shows.
“Goats are definitely an animal that I think more and more people are getting to know about their product. It’s becoming more and more acceptable, ”said Thomas Considine, senior vice president of the American Dairy Goat Association. “So on the business side more and more people have definitely approved or got used to using goat cheese, goat milk, kefir, even butter and ice cream and yogurt are definitely made.”
California, Wisconsin, and Iowa are the major goat dairy states, but popular and curious ruminants are increasingly showing up in other states. In Maine, for example, the number of licensed dairy goat farms has increased from 10 in 2001 to 54 this year, with five more license applicants. Twenty of them have been added in the past 10 years. The Vermont Agriculture Agency only started tracking the number of dairy goat farms in 2019, when there were 42. It has grown to 46 so far this year.
Iowa now has about 200 licensed dairy goat operations, representing nearly 20% of the state’s licensed dairy operations, according to Larry Tranel, an extension dairy specialist at Iowa State University. Add to that 300 other unlicensed goat farms and dairies that could represent 30% of the state’s dairy farmers, he said.
The growth is sustainable as specialty cheeses continue to grow, Tranel said.
At Joneslan Farm, on a dirt road overlooking the mountains, the goats burst into baaing and crowd against the fences inside the barn to inspect whoever enters, munching on hay. Twice a day, they flock to the salon to get milked.
The Jones brothers find goats easier to raise than cows. They have to feed them much less, but goats have a shorter lactation period than cows, milking an average of 250 days a year compared to 305 days for cows, Gipson said.
“Goats have a lot more personality than cows, that’s for sure. Very curious, ”said Brian Jones, adding that they always wanted to snack on something.
The brothers enjoy their regular milk check.
“You at least have an idea of what you can plan for. No big surprises, ”said Brian Jones.
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