Gilmer Dairy Farm News

A dairyman in the "heart of dixie": Drought, dwindling resources challenge Alabama Farmer

The following article appeared in the "Dairying Across America" section of Dairy Star, 8/11/07 (Vol.9, No.12), pages 36 & 38.  Dairy Star is published in Sauk Centre, Minnesota.  By Kristin J. Kubisiak, staff writer

Sulligent, AL - Between the sparsely populated towns of Vernon and Sulligent, 95 miles West of Birmingham, one dairyman and his family fight to remain viable in the ever-shrinking Alabama dairy industry.

Dairy producer Will Gilmer milks 185 Holsteins on his Lamar County dairy operation. The Gilmer family has been dairy farming for over 50 years, making theirs the oldest family-owned dairy in the county – and one of only two dairy farms remaining in Lamar.

Gilmer, 28, is a third generation dairy farmer. After earning an agricultural degree from Mississippi State University, he came back home to work on the dairy with his father, David, and mother, Lin. Will and David formed a partnership, Gilmer Dairy Farm, LLC in 2001. Gilmer also farms with his wife, Joni, and their one-and-a-half-year-old son, Linton.  

The numerous challenges facing the Alabama dairyman are intimidating, which may explain why only 76 producers remain in the state. The industry infrastructure has all but vanished, and drought conditions during the growing season this year have presented an additional obstacle for dairymen. 

“The drought is really hurting a lot of people,” Gilmer said. “We’ve had a couple of people who saw us working with hay who stopped to ask if we would be selling any; right now we are not sure if we are going to have enough for ourselves.”

In a good year, Gilmer said, he can grow all of the forage his cows need from the family’s 250 acres. Typically, the Gilmers grow corn, and Bermuda grass instead of alfalfa. Gilmer planted about 100 acres for corn silage and because of the drought he expects to harvest only one-quarter of his normal yield.

“Thirty acres of the corn was so bad we cut it with a hay mower and made balage out of it,” he said. “I couldn’t justify spending the time to run the chopper through it. Another 30 of the 100 acres aren’t much better; they’re 5 feet tall and not much bigger than an index finger around. But there are some ears.”

The remaining corn acres are on some better land, and Gilmer expects to harvest about 65 percent of the normal tonnage, but there won’t be a lot of grain.  “All in all, at best we will get 30 percent of the yield potential,” he said.

Recently, Gilmer completed the first cutting of Bermuda grass hay; normally he would be preparing for the third cutting in mid-August. Because Gilmer expects he will only get a 50 percent yield on his Bermuda grass, he is planning to buy some alfalfa, which costs between $215-$230 per ton. 

“Usually our feed costs are $3.50 per cow, per day,” Gilmer said. “Now we are at $5.10/day. If not for good milk prices, we’d be in trouble. At $21 milk we can afford to feed better.”

Farming on the fringe

 In an area with so few farmers, Gilmer said it’s hard to determine what the “average” dairy farm is like, but he said the dairies he has seen seem to average between 100 to 400-450 cows. The largest dairy in the state is around 800-head.

“Typically, they raise their own heifers and young stock, and put the milking herd out to pasture,” Gilmer said.

Alabama dairy producers usually supplement the milking herd’s diet with TMR or grain. Although he has fed corn silage before, right now Gilmer said his herd’s diet is based on oats, wheat rye grass, cottonseed, cottonseed hulls, alfalfa, and a custom mix of concentrates, corn, soybeans, and vitamins, which is added to the forage. The herd eats out of a sheltered feed bunk in the Gilmers’ 300-acre pasture.

Cows can find additional shelter from the state’s characteristic heat and humidity in a 30-year-old loafing barn with fans, and sprinklers.

“I hope to add some more space in the future so there is room for more cows,” Gilmer said. “The loafing barn was built when we didn’t have nearly as many cows.”

Gilmer milks his herd in a double-10, rapid exit herringbone parlor that was built in 2005. Gilmer’s current RHA is about 19,000, and cows are producing about 58 pounds per day. The Gilmers ship their milk to Barber Dairies, Inc. in Birmingham. 

“For us, that is pretty good, given the time of the year, the heat and humidity, and where we are on the lactation curve,” Gilmer said.

The Gilmers raise 100 percent grade Holsteins, 95 percent of which are artificially inseminated. 

“We raise one bull calf a year out of a better cow, and use it to catch heifers who don’t settle,” Gilmer said. “We are very selective in which bulls we decide to keep.”

Although dairy infrastructure is scarce in the state, because of their proximity to the border, Gilmer’s operation is only 60 miles from the nearest dairy service company – located in Mississippi.

“To my knowledge, there is not a single dairy service company in Alabama,” Gilmer said. “We are lucky because we are on the Mississippi border. If we need something, it is not hard to get our hands on it. It’s more difficult for centrally located dairies. They need to keep supplies and parts on hand.”

Veterinarians are slightly easier to find, however. 

“There are some large animals vets located throughout the state,” Gilmer said.               

The Gilmers’ veterinarian is out of Mississippi, and a 30-mile drive, although in a pinch the Gilmers can rely on a veterinarian in neighboring Vernon who will come out in an emergency.

Despite the obstacles he faces, Gilmer said he still enjoys being a dairy farmer in Alabama, and that operating out of his current location does have its benefits.

“It’s a very rural area and we don’t have a lot of growth coming in,” Gilmer said. “This means our neighbors are country people and if they catch the smell of manure or silage in the air, they are pretty understanding.”

Dairy promotion

Although the dairy industry has been dwindling in Alabama, the Gilmers are doing what they can to spread awareness about the importance of dairy products through a Web site and their “E-dopt a Cow” program.

"Since we can’t do a whole lot of tours, we thought we could reach a larger audience on Internet. A feature of our Web site is the ‘E-dopt a Cow’ program,” Gilmer said.

The inspiration for the program came from Gilmer’s own childhood experience with animal “adoption.” 

“When I was growing up, it was popular in school for a class to ‘adopt’ a whale,” he said. “I thought we could do something like that to spread awareness about the dairy industry. We pick our better cows and allow individuals or classes to ‘e-dopt’ them through our Web site. The classroom gets a photo of their cow that they can print, a pedigree, a ‘cow-o-graphy,’ calving dates, and a running total of her current lactation and how she ranks against her herdmates.”

The response to the program so far has been very positive, and hopefully, Gilmer said, it will have a lasting affect on its participants.

“We have to fight to stay in business, and we have to fight the political process to protect ourselves,” Gilmer said. “Any time you can get someone on your side, that’s great, and there is not better place to start than with children. Hopefully, farm friendly children will grow up to be farm friendly adults.”