Why Dairy Farms Matter
Our country’s prosperity stands on the backs of, among other things, dairy cows. Although cows didn’t make the first trip on the Mayflower, the Plimouth Plantation website estimates that they arrived only a few years later. The Colonist relied on them for milk and meat and to fertilize the fields that would eventually let them add vegetables to their diet.
Without a partnership with a patient, willing animal like a dairy cow, settlers might not have survived the early years.
About a hundred years ago almost 700,000 cows dotted the New England countryside, but the decline has been dramatic. New England has lost an estimated 10,000 dairy farms in the last 10 years, with fewer than 2,000 now remaining
That trend is not set in stone and there is still time to change the fate of the remaining farms.
Check the Farm News tab here to learn what is happening, good and bad, understand how complex the dairy business really is and see where we can help keep the cows.
