A farm in Central Florida is hoping for better luck in the new year. Carol Peters used to work as an engineer and beat breast cancer. She and her husband John, who used to be a firefighter in Orange County and is now retired, run Slow Turtle Farms in Eustis. It is one of only two Grade-A dairy farms in the state, but it is now out of milk.
Peters pointed to some of her stock and said, “This is the only group we still milk.” “They only give a small amount of what they give now.”
Goats can stop making milk when they are stressed. Because of the hurricane and the recent cold weather, production has almost come to a stop.
Together with the fact that the prices of alfalfa, hay, and feed have nearly doubled, this has made things very hard for the farm.
Peters said, “I remember crying when it went up to $400.” “It’s now $668.”
During the pandemic, the dairy was too new for the government to help, so Peters’ husband, John, used all of his retirement savings to keep the farm going.
“It’s scary,” Peters said. “And it’s not something that can’t be fixed. All we have to do is get back to the point where milk is flowing again.”
A lot of the goats are pregnant right now, which means they will soon start making milk again.
Peters is selling some of her goats to get by until then. She is going to sell fudge soon after the new year begins. She is thinking about doing farm-to-table events as a way to raise money. She is asking for help through GoFundMe, which hurt her.
She also tells people how important it is to buy local.
“You’re keeping your money in the area,” Peters said. “We then support all the other small farms and businesses in the area.”
