IMPROVING MILK QUALITY AND THE ECONOMIC VIABILITY OF THE AMISH DAIRY FARM

摘要

Agriculture is the most important industry in Wayne and Holmes Counties with the dairy industry the most important agriculture. The 2003 cash receipts for agriculture sales were 162 dollar and 85.6 million dollar for Wayne and Holmes Counties. Wayne County ranks number one and Holmes County number three in Ohio in gross farm receipts from milk sales with 79.5 million dollar and 30 million dollar. In Wayne County there are 475 dairy farms with 1/3 being Amish and in Holmes County 493 dairy farms with2/3 being Amish. These two counties contain 18% of Ohio's dairy cows. Traditionally the Amish dairy farm consisted of 12 to 20 cows milked by hand and milk shipped in cans as manufacture grade milk. Dairy farms increasingly face the changing economic forces the "free market place" imposes on all segments of U.S. agriculture. The Amish dairy producer is not immune to these forces thus causing significant change in the traditional way of dairying. Efforts to improve farm income usually come down to five strategies: 1) reduce operating costs per cow; 2) improve production per cow; 3) increase herd size; 4) work off the farm; or 5) increased price by improving milk quality.