In late 2017, Will Gilmer and his father, David, faced a tough decision. Their multigenerational dairy farm near Sulligent, Ala., needed major upgrades and more cows to keep the business scaled for profit. Even if they made the changes, there was no guarantee the operation would make it.
“Ultimately, we framed it as a question of whether or not it would be a good business decision to commit ourselves to another 20 years in the dairy industry given all the economic and infrastructure challenges facing the industry in our region,” Gilmer said.
Their plan was to build a beef herd over five to six years while still running the dairy, hoping milk prices would at least stay stable enough for them to make the transition…