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Western Kansas hosts fourth Dairy UniversityBy Bob Wetmore Western Kansas has the right combination of climate, feed, labor, overhead costs and economies of scale, making it a good place for larger dairy farms, according to Kansas State University Extension dairy specialist John Smith. Smith spoke to a group of more than 70 community leaders and dairy-interested attendees from around Kansas at a regional Dairy University meeting in Dodge City, Kan., on Aug. 27. The meeting was organized by the Western Kansas Regional Economic Development Alliance as part of its ongoing program to attract and support dairy farms in western Kansas. The wKREDA group has been hosting these informational seminars since 1996. According to wKREDA dairy committee member and seminar organizer Joann Knight, of the Dodge City/Ford County Development Corporation, western Kansas has seen 23 new commercial dairies and an addition of nearly 100,000 dairy cows to the area. Due to lack of dairy plants, most of the milk is shipped out of the area to drop points for out-of-state processing. As the number of cows increases, experts and officials expect to see a processing plant being built in the region. 
The two-day meeting began with tours of Royal Dairy and Powerline Dairy, both in Gray County, Kan. Royal Dairy, a dry lot operation, currently milks about 6,000 cows and is a "self-contained" operation, raising its own replacement heifers. The dairy, in operation since September of 2000, milks in a double-60 parallel Germania parlor and ships nine tanker loads of milk a day. Powerline Dairy is a new dairy under construction which expects to begin milking in two side-by-side 72-stall Westfalia-Surge rotary parlors within the next 45 days. Powerline hopes to eventually be milking 6,400 cows. With one of the area's earliest dairies operating north of the city of Cimarron, Gray County now has three "mega" dairy farms. During the seminar, Smith outlined why trends across the U.S. have made western Kansas an ideal dairy location. With the current rate of decline of the total number of U.S. dairy farms and cow inventories, annual milk production has continued to increase since 1975 to meet demand. Smith said that with a multiplier factor, western Kansas has about $1.3 billion cycling through its economy. He said the industry directly employs about 565 people in the region. He cited locally-grown forage with reduced transportation costs and climate as two of the area's attractive factors. He said this is an important factor since feed costs are about half of production costs. Due to the large numbers of beef operations, acceptance of dairies as "just another part of our local agriculture" has been an important part of the mix. In fact, livestock and dairy operations have found significant ways to work together--from forage production to replacements--making co-location even easier. Smith also said that western Kansas offers a unique opportunity for prospective dairy producers to pick a wide range of dairy designs, with dry lots, covered free stalls and completely climate-controlled operations. Experimentation with these different operations has been appealing to incoming dairy owners. Dairies are not necessarily big users of water, according to Smith. Recycling of water back to irrigation and the valuable addition of manure as a replacement for fertilizer purchases makes the installations even more valuable. He listed some of the area's challenges as being able to bring in capable managers, technical support and water availability. Kansas State University agricultural economist Kevin Dhuyveter, presented a trends and profitability analysis to the seminar attendees. Dhuyvetter said, "Production per cow has been increasing, allowing total milk produced to increase in spite of reducing the number of farms and cows." This may be a result of large farms adopting technologies that make them highly productive. Dhuyvetter outlined the movement of dairy from the traditional dairy states to more western U.S. locations. Dhuyvetter detailed elements behind this trend. Elements included a dry climate, making it easier to manage manure, building of dry lot dairies and plentiful irrigated production. More moderate heat, cold and humidity allowed easier milk production. Large tracts of isolated land also offer opportunities for less complaints from non-agriculutural neighbors. Other presenters included Kansas State University ag engineer Joe Harner, who talked about choosing dairy sites and water needs. Steve Irsik, owner of Royal Dairy, discussed factors community leaders should consider for attracting more dairies to western Kansas. Other speakers discussed regulatory issues from the Kansas Department of Health and Environment, securing water resources and how to finance a dairy. The two-day session concluded by showing that dairy consolidation, rapid change, structural change and shifts in regional milk production may continue to bring dairies to western Kansas. 10/13/08 Date: 10/10/08 Advertisement
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