The Reisinger family sold their cows in 2021 after owning and managing a dairy farm in Sauk County for almost 100 years and five generations.
“It seems like something has been taken away from you,” Brian Reisinger said.
Brian Reisinger stated the cows delivered more milk than they ever had before the day they left.
“I believe they understood they were headed down that path,” Reisinger said.
Instead of selling the whole property, the Reisingers shifted their focus from milking cows to producing heifers and planting income crops. This is part of a bigger Dairyland phenomenon.
“In general, the farms that have been departing are on the small side. “The farms that are increasing tend to be the larger farms,” said Chuck Nicholson, an associate professor at the Dairy Innovation Hub at UW Madison.
According to Nicholson, Wisconsin has lost roughly 10,000 dairy farms in the last 20 years. According to figures published this month by the National Agricultural Statistics Service, almost 400 dairy farms in Wisconsin closed their doors last year. This is a three-year peak for dairy farm losses.
“It’s not really a little vs huge problem,” Nicholson said. Smaller farms are rapidly abandoning dairy, being acquired by larger farms, or disappearing entirely.
Meanwhile, bigger farms may spread their fixed expenditures, such as structures and equipment, over a greater number of cows, according to Nicholson. Lowering their expenses and increasing their profits.
Wisconsin’s evolving terrain has been influenced by factors other than economy. In Wisconsin, the typical farmer is 55 years old, and not every farmer’s offspring want to take over. Janet Clark attributes the survival of her little family farm to having a second generation eager to continue on the company.
“A lot of farms don’t have the following generation like my parents did,” said Clark, the second-generation owner of Vision Aires Farms in Fond du Lac.
Regardless of how the state arrived, Reisinger believes that the loss of small farms had an influence on Wisconsin’s culture.
“It’s an important element of who we are as Wisconsinites,” Reisinger said. “So when you lose it, you lose a piece of yourself.”
According to Nicholson, these industry shifts are unlikely to affect grocery store shelves. Milk output has risen as larger farms have grown.
