Dairy farming is an “energy intensive” and “food intensive” business, said Galen. “It’s those corn, soybean and alfalfa prices that have just skyrocketed. ... This high inflation environment is particularly caustic for people who have to feed their livestock.”

While his daughter, Grace, fine-tuned the grooming given to Holstein heifers recently at the Newton County Fair, Joe Hilgenberg, of Neosho, described the crunch dairy producers face.

Hilgenberg said he has milked cows all his life, and the current situation is tough. Soaring prices send his costs to levels that surpass “decent milk prices,” he said.

Hilgenberg also said he works pouring concrete away from the farm “to pay for my hobby (milking cows).”

Much of the 150-cow heard dairy operation is handled by his partner, Tim Linger.

Farms drop off

That environment is making it tough for a business that already had seen a sharp drop in numbers in Missouri.

The National Agricultural Statistics Service reported that 30 years ago, in 1978, Missouri had 272,000 milk cows that produced nearly 2.72 billion pounds of milk. In 2007, the state reported a population of 112,000 milk cows and production less than 1.7 billion pounds.

Missouri milk production has slipped about another 8 percent from a year ago, Purdom said.

Southwest Missouri still remains one of the major milk-producing regions of the state, with Lawrence County one of the largest dairy counties in Missouri — second only to Wright County in fact — but the number of dairy farms in the area has fallen by about half or more. A 1987 agricultural census found 216 farms in Lawrence County had milk cows compared with 134 in 2002, when the last census was done. The number of Jasper County farms with milk cows fell from 100 in 1987 to 46 in 2002.

Purdom said a lot of milk producers want to take part in a program to sell out; meanwhile, few younger farmers are getting into the dairy business.

“We are a senior group,” Purdom said of dairy producers.

Tony Rickard, University of Missouri dairy specialist at Cassville, said rising costs are eating up dairy profits. The cost of feed is now close to what some dairy farmers receive in payment for milk, and monthly milk checks barely match monthly feed costs in some dairies, he said.

A big corn crop this fall could trigger lower feed costs and bring relief, he said.

Stacey Hamilton, an extension dairy specialist at Greenfield, also is advising dairy producers to make grass management the highest priority.