THE BEST PLACE TO DAIRY

By: Rick Mooney
Reprinted with permission of Farm Journal, Inc.
DAIRY TODAY/JANUARY 1999

How Counties Ranked | "Best Place to Dairy" Survey

Well, OK, we know what you're thinking: Trying to pick one county in the United States as the best place to be in the dairy business is a pretty subjective venture at best. On top of that, you might consider any group of editors who tries to do just that to be a tad on the presumptuous side.

We'll give you the first point-yes, it was a subjective undertaking. As for the second point, we believe we've built a fairly convincing case for making Marathon County, Wisconsin, our No. 1 choice as the best spot in the nation to be milking cows as the sun rises on 1999.

Start with milk prices and milk marketing opportunities-one of five categories we used to rate the various counties we scrutinized (see" How We Did It"). According to the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP), 19 handlers (cooperatives, fluid processors and proprietary plants) are licensed to do business in the county.

Neighboring Clark County has the same number. "It's very competitive here," says Sandi Cihlar, whose

husband Dennis and brother-in-law Allan milk 180 cows near Mosinee. "Producers don't have to go looking for a place to market their milk. The plants usually come to you."

The competition for milk translates into a fairly favorable milk price. According to USDA's mailbox price numbers for 1997, Marathon County producers realized an average per-cwt. Price of $13.21. That's a full 22 cents above the all-market average for Federal Orders throughout the U.S.

Working hand in hand with these good milk process are fairly favorable input costs, due in large part to the county's solid dairy infrastructure. "Because of all the plants here, producers don't have to truck their milk very far". says Ralph Zirbel, owner of the Edelweiss Cheese Co. in Stratford, WI.

"The biggest share of our milk comes from farms that are less than 60 miles away from our plant. Some of our trucks are only gone 45 minutes before they come back full," he says.

The large concentration of dairy farms (1.161 in 1997 according to DATCP) and dairy cattle (61,000) also means support service businesses abound in the county. "in a 30-mile radius, we have a half dozen veterinary clinics and probably the same number of milk equipment dealers," says Mark Mroczenski, who along with his wife, Dawn, milks 50 cows on a grass-based operation near the town of Athens. "Just about every little town has a feed mill. Athens (population 1,000), which is just six miles away, has two of them."

"It's a very competitive situation," adds Scott Trimner, another Athens area farmer, who milk 400 cows in partnership with his brother-in-law Tom Mueller. "And that can lead to some very good deals when you're shopping for inputs like feed and machinery. You ask for bids and you get them."

The concentration of small farms plays another role. "A person looking to expand doesn't have to go very far to find good heifers because a lot of the smaller farms have a surplus," says Roger Ross. He and wife Debbie milk 300 cows near the town of Edgar. "The same is true for high-quality alfalfa hay."

Life is more than just a business, of course, and Marathon County also scored well in the segment of our survey devoted to quality of life. Big-city amenities like shopping, health care, off-farm employment and cultural activities can be found in abundance in Wausau, the county's largest city (population 120,000). Larger metro areas such as Madison, Green Bay and Eau Claire are within a two-hour drive for most county residents.

Still, most producers believe the real attraction of the county lies outside city limits. "The county overall is

still pretty rural and very scenic," says Meldon Maguire. He and his wife, Karen, milk 50 cows near Mosinee. "We have an excellent county park system and the Wisconsin northwoods is close by for hunting and fishing."

Most important to the Maguires and their daughters (Brooke, age 7; Skye, 5; Fawne, 1) is elementary and secondary schools in the county carry excellent reputations. "We hear great things about the schools," says Karen. "It seems like most of them have good administrators and teachers. They're doing some really good things."

To be sure, Marathon County does have its shortcomings. For example, some producers fault the county's dairy sector as a whole for being relatively slow to adopt cutting-edge business and production practices. Trying to explain why this is so sparks a fair amount of speculation of the part of locals. "Dairy producers just seem to be a lot more progressive in other parts of the sate," says one producer. "I think people here are more conservative, less willing to accept change."

Debbie Ross, of Edgar, theorizes that a nondairy specialty crop may play the major role. "Back in the 1960s and 1970s a lot of dairy farmers in the county diversified into ginseng." She says. "Because it was profitable, a lot of farmers saw it as a way to increase income without increasing cow numbers.

"Now the economics have changed again. Canada has taken a lot of the ginseng markets, and more dairy farmers are looking to expand their milking operations."

Other producers point to the harsh Wisconsin winters as a major drawback of dairying in Marathon County. According to National Weather Service statistics, the average low temperature for January in Wausau is 3º F compared to a national average low of 27ºF.

"It's just too cold," says Roger Ross. "But that's more of a problem for the people than the cows. Except for one or two days in the winter and three or four days in the summer, this is about as close as you can get to an ideal climate for milking cows."

Without a doubt, though, urban sprawl is the issue most on the minds of Marathon County producers these days. Workers in growing towns such as Wausau, Medford and Marshfield are building more homes in prime farming areas. "People want to live out in the country," says Marathon County Extension agent Mike Wildeck. "They'll buy a 250-acre dairy farm because there's a trout stream running through it and then plant the whole thing to wildflowers."

Sprawl has put a fair amount of pressure on land prices. According to a 1997 study by the state's Department of Revenue, farmland without buildings in the county fetched an average selling price of $626/acre when it continued in an agricultural use, and $608/acre when it was "diverted" to another use.

While those might seem like fire-sale land prices to producers living in some ther areas of the country, "its more than double what farmers around here were paying for land just five years ago," says Tom Mueller, partner in the 400 cow Miltrim Dairy near Athens.

Even so, most of the Marathon County producers we interviewed for this story say they couldn't imagine dairying or living anywhere else.

"Sometimes I think we take what we have around here for granted," says Mueller. "We know dairy farmers in other parts of the country, and a lot of them tell us they're envious of what we have here."

Adds grazer Mark Mroczenski: "We really don't want to make it sound too good. Before you know it, everyone will want to come here to be in the dairy business."

How Counties Ranked | "Best Place to Dairy" Survey