Dairy farming in the U.S. certainly varies by region. Weather patterns, altitude, resources and government all play a role in the successes and challenges dairies face. Brad Bateman gives us a look at what dairy farming is like out West.
Bateman co-owns Bateman Mosida Farms in Alberta, Utah with his family. The farm is about an hour south of Salt Lake City. He tells Mid-West Farm Report that weather, water and prices are a top concern for dairies in his region — not in the same way that Wisconsin farmers might be thinking.
Bateman Mosida Farms, a fifth-generation farm, operates about 3,500 acres and milks 8,000 cows three times a day. Twelve robots milk about 620 cows — this is a test run to see if robots are viable on a larger scale.
The farm has been recognized as a sustainability leader by World Dairy Expo and others. The area is windy with light soil, so the farm double-crops and practices no-till to keep the soil in place. Bateman Mosida Farms also operates a solar farm that produces 100 percent of the farm’s needs. The farm also reuses water several times on the farm before applying it to fields.
“Out in the West, water is a big issue,” Bateman says. “It’s hard for Midwest people to understand what a big deal water is, but we are so short of water out West, especially in Utah, we are at the epicenter of that drought.”
The farm has gotten the water right to put in a new well. He says with the drought, the wind has been longer and stronger — think up to 60 mile-per-hour winds. Bateman Mosida Farms is considering building an indoor feed facility to prevent feed from blowing away. Meanwhile, the heat is becoming an issue.
“We had the hottest summer on record in Utah,” Bateman said. “We had so many days over 100… it was 30 something days over 100 where 20 years ago we might have one or two days over 100 or none.”
He adds that water, weather and price pressure is pushing dairy farms to exit the business, and says he wants to see policy that treats large and small dairies equally.
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