With times constantly changing in the dairy producing businesses, many local farms are going out of business, or downsizing. This can be due to large franchises deciding to shut down smaller farms and build their own farm that houses thousands of cows to supply milk for their business. For instance, Walmart is a prime example of this situation because a few years ago they decided to build their own processing plant in Indiana and reject milk from other plants such as Dean’s. This caused small farms, even local farms, to be shut down due to the reason that Dean’s had too much milk and not enough stores to supply. Another reason a farm could downsize or sell out could be due to shared ownership if one owner does not want to be in the farm business anymore.

A couple weeks ago a local farm had an auction to sell cows, heifers, and calves because one of the owners wanting out of the business. Close to 150 cattle were sold that day and a majority of the herd sold included Holsteins and Brown Swiss. One by one they were brought into the ring to be sold and then sent out after the highest bidder was announced. The whooping and hollering from the workers calling out peoples bids became background noise to some because they had heard it so long they were able to ignore the sound.

At the end of the auction, my family ended up getting four animals from the sale. My dad got a Holstein milk cow, my brother got two Brown Swiss heifers, and I got one Brown Swiss heifer. We paid for our purchases, went home, did barn chores, and then hopped in the truck to go pick up the Holstein. She missed home at first, but she has adjusted well, and gets along good with the other cows. The next day we went and picked up the three Brown Swiss. They are housed in my brother’s barn, and they are doing great. They are constantly munching on hay and are excited when they see you with the grain pale.