03/02/2026
Dairy farming is a challenging profession. Farmers have lots of odds working against them all the timeā¦weather, markets, diseases, pests, rising input costs, regulations, labor struggles, physical demands, increasing farmer age, etc.
Small farms often have a more disproportionate share of these stressors due to their inability to spread costs as efficiently as larger operations. Dairy farms in this country are vanishing by the thousands each year. From 2004-2024, 63% of the dairy farms in this country have exited the business. Florida is not exempt from this exodus. Many of our fellow Florida dairy producers have closed their barn doorsā¦several of them being close friendsā¦just within the past year or two. Overall dairy cow numbers in the US remain relatively flat, while production continues to increase. Farms are consolidating & large farms are getting larger. From an efficiency perspective, this is a plus, as the larger, more technologically advanced farms can more efficiently produce more milk per cow. From a local social level, this is likely not advantageous, as we are losing farms that are often the backbones of our rural communities.
As a small family farm, we are not immune to these enormous pressures. The past several years have been challenging. We have discussed the fact that if we had not started the Creamery, we would have likely exited the dairy industry 5-7 years ago. Our ability to provide our local community with nourishing & delicious local dairy products has been a refreshing reprieve for us.
As we looked forward and needed to make decisions for our longevity, we realized that we must go against all trends & downsize our already small farmš³
At our high, we have milked as many as 400+ cows. We did this while selling our milk to our farmer-owned milk marketing cooperative. Within the past 2 years we have shrunk our milking herd to around 200 head, still selling most of our milk through the co-op, with a smaller amount of our milk going directly to our Creamery.
At the end of 2025, we made the drastic, & somewhat terrifying decision, to downsize even further & leave our milk marketing cooperative, to only supply milk to our Creamery. We have been (& continue) to shrink our milking herd size to around 40-50 head. Time will tell if this decision was a wise one, but we are currently certain that this is the right direction for our farm.
So, if you would like to support a small, family-owned dairy farm going through a scary transition period, then please stop by the Creamery & Market and indulge in an ice cream treat or grab a bottle (or 2) of milk!
We appreciate your support more than you will ever knowā¤ļøā¤ļø
Or if you, or someone you know, are looking for some dairy cows, please let us know!
We have cows at multiple ages & stages of lactation available for sale, plus heifers (both bred & younger aged). Please reach out directly to 850-573-1456 (text is often easier with my hectic schedule).
