Some of the 375 cows were sold and shipped to New York from Prince William County’s last dairy farm, Dutch Land Farm in Nokesville, on Wednesday, March 11. Courtesy photo.
The last remaining dairy farm in Prince William County, Dutch Land Farm in Nokesville, has shut down its dairy operation. The farm will continue to produce crops like soy and corn.
“It was a sad day,” said Lisa House, who owns the 600-acre farm with her husband, Dale House.
The last of the farm’s 375 dairy cattle were shipped to a farm in upstate New York on Wednesday, March 11. House said the dairy farm was in operation in the county for more than 100 years.
“We’re going to reassess what we’re doing,” House said. “We won’t be going back in the dairy business.”
House said the primary reason for closing the farm’s dairy operation was a decline in milk prices over the last few years, a problem that has forced many dairy farms to close across the United States.
Since 2000, the number of U.S. dairy farms has declined rapidly. From 1992 to 2018, more than 94,000 family dairies closed their doors at the rate of 10 dairy farms per day. The trend has continued at a steady pace. Since 2018, about 3,000 dairy farms went out of business across the U.S., according to the National Farmers Union.
Jay Yankey, manager of the Prince William Soil and Water Conservation District, said the region’s dairy farms have been hit hard by the downturn in the dairy market in recent years.
“It’s not unique to this area. It’s a problem across the country,” Yankey said. “There’s just not a lot of profit in it.”
Yankey said Kettle Wind Farm in Nokesville, which had been the county’s only other dairy farm, closed its dairy operation in 2018. Kettle Wind still maintains a crop farming operation.
Source: princewilliamtimes.com
