Big Island Dairy Plans Growing Its Own Feed
Sunday, September 7th, 2008One of the state’s two remaining dairy farms has started growing its own feed to cope with soaring shipping costs.
Island Dairy in Hamakua, which has 500 cows, spends about $1.6 million a year buying feed from the mainland. Scott Tripp, the dairy’s manager, said the farm should be able to spend half as much by growing its own feed.
On Tuesday, the Hamakua farm harvested and bagged its first crop of corn. It’s currently growing corn on 50 acres, and hopes to expand that to 200 acres.
It has an additional 35 acres of sorghum, alfalfa and peanuts growing in experimental plots, but Tripp isn’t sure how much of those crops he’ll grow. It depends on what other feed sources - bakery leftovers or macadamia nut hulls - he can find.
“Whatever it takes. As long as it’s local,” he said. “I just don’t want to import anything. I want our cows to eat Hawaiian.”
The company aims to be able to supply milk to the entire state, something that would require Island Dairy to milk 1,200 cows. Tripp said that’s possible with pasture improvements, correct fencing, and water management.
Island Dairy invested in the feed growing operation with the help of state funds provided by a livestock revitalization bill. The legislation provided money to help farmers cope with the cost of feed.
The dairy qualified for $250,000 in reimbursements, the maximum allowed under the program, and the company used the money, along with an additional $1 million, to purchase equipment and supplies to grow its own feed.
It also spent money on farm improvements that will make it more efficient.
Feed costs for livestock producers in Hawaii can comprise up to 70 percent of the total production costs versus the close to 50 percent for mainland producers.
Surging fuel prices have boosted the cost of shipping feed. The cost of corn has also risen sharply due to increased demand for the product for use in ethanol.
Only one other farm in Hawaii has attempted to grow its own feed. A dairy on Oahu contracted in 2007 to have a distant neighbor grow corn. That was before the last Oahu dairy folded last year.
Clover Leaf Dairy in Upolu is the other remaining dairy operation in the islands. It has 800 cows, including 650 that produce milk.
Hawaii produced all of its own milk in the 1980s. Today the state imports roughly 82 percent of its milk.
The industry’s decline is due to feed, transportation, fuel and land costs, urban encroachment, limited agriculture land, biofuel production and stagnant sales, as well as drought and earthquake damage.
Credits: Forbes