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 Cows eat at Lynn Boadwine's dairy farm west of Baltic. (Inertia/for SFBJ)
Dairy farmers Allen Merrill of Parker and Lynn Boadwine of Baltic have never seen anything like it.
South Dakota milk production is at a 15-year high, and prices are at near-record levels. “I think the best way to put it is we’re in uncharted waters,” said Merrill, who is treasurer of the United Dairy Industry Association.
“I hate to say it’s unprecedented because it seems people have been saying that since the beginning of time,”
Boadwine said. “I think we had a pretty good year. But as feed prices keep ratcheting up and ratcheting up, it makes it difficult.”
The state’s dairy cows produced 1.64 billion pounds of milk last year – 9 percent more than in 2006. That’s more than 205 million gallons, the equivalent of 257 gallons per South Dakotan.
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