Way to go wes for explaining everything for a dairy farm we have been struggling almost 30 years and nobody can understand why they keep telling us oh you should be making so much money but they just don't understand it and you just explained it 100% thank you

You' covered the main problem with farming that non-farmers don't see; independent farmers are stuck between global conglomerates selling them inputs and other global conglomerates buying their outputs, dictating the narrowing gap between to the farmer. .. The only solution is for farmers to minimize inputs (no chemicals and use their own open--pollinated seeds) while going direct sales to consumers. We have a local dairy that is family owned and run (siblings, cousins, and spouses) selling milk and ice cream all around the area, they are a smaller company than some of the family farms they are buying milk from. They sell at a premium over the supermarket brands because they have great products. The thin-margin commodity farming gig is a super hard path.

OOPS ! I know that was frustrating but I was impressed that you kept your cool. I enjoy the family working together and the talk between you. Thanks Wes, Theresa, William. 👍👍😊😊

Thanks for sharing your challenges with us. Great to see a wife that works with her husband without trying to undermine him. Really appreciate your taking the time to answer Williams questions without giving in to his desires or killing his inquisitive nature. Wishing you and your family the best.

Stubbornness killed a lot of farms over the years.

Great video 👍 It doesn't matter if it's milk corn etc ,the big farming conglomerates pay the lobbiest to protect their vested interest's and doesn't matter who's in the whitehouse 😊

That video was cut short! lol Glad i'm not the only one to have days like that!

Your videos are like a window into your world, love the view!

Ring compressor Wes! Maybe a combination of the ring compressor and a small press?

Early to middle 60’s my family’s first farm house was in the S.E. corner of the little town of Grand Meadow Minnesota. So the house was bordered by residential houses. A few houses down the street was a guy who I’ll call Jim, hauled our milk 25 miles to the AMPI milk plant in Rochester Minnesota. Then my dad found another guy who would haul our milk cheaper than Jim. Jim wasn’t happy and replied with “I live less than a block away”. From then on Jim would whenever he saw either of my parents would put up both hands middle fingers whether it was driving by or randomly passing by 20 miles away even when my parents had any of my older siblings with. This continued for a while until one day my dad took a tractor out pulling a loader Starline barrel type right side unloading manure spreader down the street a little through town to go to a field and spread. One of my brothers was with my dad. And as they passed Jim’s house Jim was sitting on his front steps and of course displayed both middle fingers. My dad continued down the street and did a u turn, pulled in front of Jim’s house and turned on the PTO, unloading the entire manure spreader on the front lawn, front of the house and even some got onto the roof. The Grand Meadow city council called an emergency meeting and my parents were called to be there. The people in the city council knew what an A hole Jim was and a few of them were quietly snickering about what happened but they had to do their job and tell my parents to clean it up asap. So my parents and several of my siblings did a bit of cleaning up one day then it rained that night which took care of the rest of it. I honestly think it’s one of the funniest things my dad did. Had that happened in the last 30 years the story would have had world wide coverage.

13:20 add regular large hose clamps (two/three), for sure one right at the very bottom, lube it all very well with heavy assembly lube and use a large rubber/leather/deadblow hammer(or block of hard wood) if that fails, you'll need a machined cone with alignment guides and have to press it in. may be able to use ring compressor loose with hose clamps making it a taper cone shape and press it in.

Man, you must’ve been getting screwed in New Jersey because I sold my cows in 2011. I originally was going to do it in 2014 but in 2011 here in New York milk hit $20/100 weight for the first time ever so I got good money for my cows because of it so I got out

That's their plan is to get rid of the small family farm and only have a few large ones. It's way easier for them to handle and manipulate one late one then a bunch of smaller ones!

Awesome video Wes you did a awesome job of explaining what your doing.

Elders get set in their ways. They emotionally have difficulty having their ways evaluated even if it's done for the families greater good. Glad you still think about the past and use it to educate your family.

Oh Now Now the cursing comes on, that is a hard delicate job Wes I sure hope that you got it together Ok!!

Ok don't leave us hanging. Did you win with that struggle bus.

The saying for our area, if you wanted a large dairy or other type of farm, you have to develop a large trucking or earthmoving company first. The dairy breeding company we used got better when they started doing better dna and other analysis on their bulls, consistent gains in the dairy heifers followed. There should have been more than one milk testing lab so samples could swapped by the labs for a testing comparison, checking the scan machines. We had multiple labs a long time might only be a few now. A cleaning fault in the milk tankers caused bad milk and the milk company blamed the dairy farmers for years.

Good morning did you know mr Holstein.? Bill teets farm was about a mile away fro,m where i grew up. He told me it didnt matter what you did , there was never much money in dairy

My friend was a hauler. He had one farm that was upset with butterfat on their test and pay. They complained a lot. They asked the hauler to say something. So he asked why their test was so low. Field department said they had a good test for Holstein herd. Hauler told them they have 100% jersey herd. O. Their test came up, slowly. But we’re never compensated.

Sounds exactly like some grain elevators and how they vary... take a load of soybeans from teh same field, pull samples, send to elevators... one elevator comes back with 0.3% dockage, one comes back at 4.0% dockage, and another at 1.0%... Not a typo. Didn't know about that with dairy... Oh that ending. I hope you found all the pieces again.

You need to take lessons from Horrigan dairy. He has a web page, and they are expanding their dairy operation, adding a rotating milking station, just dug a super lagoon...Now that is how to make it in the dairy business. I bet they sell their butterfat for good coin.

Great video

Wes, I raised the same way as your grand father, if it doesn't produce, make money, get rid of it or butcher it for meat. Oil/grease the inside of the ring compressor, it will slide into place for you Wes. I know in the last video you're a bit frustrated but, on this job you're doing, gotta be patient. And yes, the "tack" hammer for the win, it will work for you. Personally, give us more "stories" like this one, that is if you want to. Cheers :)

cow aint making money, to the butcher it goes, mmm steak, I love steaks and most every cut of beef (when prepared properly). lol

👍👍

Should be able to use a 1/4" ratchet and extension on that ring compressor.

Good video.

Heat equals expansion, cold equals contraction, meaning shrinkage 🤪

Dairy farming is not profitable for a very simple reason. Farmers believe that the more you produce equates to more profit. Up production, and the money will pour in. Of course that would work if milk was being sold out of stores every day, but we all know that is not the case. Take some Countries that have a Quota system, there is only a set amount that can be produced in a given area, and depending on what a given Dairy has for a quota, determines what they can produce. Price is set by a milk board and from what I can see all these farms do very well. You cannot flood a market with more product that is not needed and expect to get a higher price for that product.

In the 60's there were 8 dariy farms in this township alone all grade A. By the mid 90's they were down to 2 and only one was grade A. By 2010 it was down to one and then we got hit by a drought. Had to sell the cows. Nothing like watching a whole lifetime of work and blood being loaded up on a couple trucks and going down the road. Today we have a nice 1500 head milking parlor down the road all government subsedized and of course forein owned. The owner does not actually own a cotterkey in the business and can pick up and leave in the middle of the night with all the money. The land is all owned by forien investors. All the equipment is being paid for by our government and all the hired hands are illegal immigrents so they pay them shit. The only solace that I feel is they are getting paid the same for their milk that we got paid back in the eighties.

When I do them ratchet clutches I use a heavy duty hose clamp,fun,,fun

My daughter started welding wire fed at 5yr

I was 8 the first time I was allowed to weld.

they're all hosed, because I rarely eat ice cream, nor drink milk....

Dairy farmers in my area used to get paid for dead or downer animals too. Then they gave a pair of leather gloves for one and for the last 20 years they charge thr farmer $20

I’ve milked cows but they were someone else’s. I understand the struggle a little better now. 🤔

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Make ”ok so” great again!!!

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Best day in my life was when I sold my dairy cows