Dairy farms are good for Maine

Remember the song “Old MacDonald’s Farm”? Remember the part, “here a cow, there a cow, everywhere a cow”? Well in Maine one our most important industries is the dairy industry, cows and all. There are close to 32,000 cows on 323 dairy farms in Maine. These farms make 590 million pounds of milk per year, which is the same as 69 million gallons of milk a year.

Maine dairy farms range in size from 10 cows to 1,200 cows. Holsteins (black and white) are the most common breed of dairy cow in Maine.

Other popular breeds include Jerseys and Guernseys which are colored tan to reddish brown.

Maine milk is valued for its freshness and high quality. OF COURSE… we have the best dairy farmers in the world! Maine dairy farmers take pride in caring for their animals and providing, good tasting milk and dairy products. Nearly 17 percent or 59 dairy farms are organic. This is the largest percentage in the nation.

Maine has 60 processors. Some process the milk; others make ice cream and cheese. A small group of farmers actually produce all these dairy products right on the farm.

Dairy farmers manage over 700,000 acres of open spaces in Maine. This land is extremely important to us and to the tourist industry. People actually pay to come see our cows! Well not really, but they do come to enjoy the rural nature of our state.

Maine’s dairy farms are small businesses. The farmers are the bookkeepers, supervisors, human resource managers, communications experts, compliance officers, mechanics, vets, breeders and financial planners. This is all in addition to taking care of the animals, raising crops and milking the cows.

The Maine dairy industry provides over 1,300 jobs. When you include the processors the count is well over 4,000 jobs. This effort generates over $570 million into the Maine economy paying over $25 million in taxes to the state and municipality.

Dairy farms are good for Maine! Old MacDonald should be very proud.

If you have any questions about the Maine Dairy industry e-mail mainedairy@aol.com. If you have other questions about this subject, call me at 645- 3420 or e-mail me at drtom16@hotmail.com

As always it is my pleasure to serve the people of District 90. Information for this article was provided by the Maine dairy Industry.

Tom Saviello of Wilton represents House District 90: the towns of Avon, New Vineyard, Phillips, Strong, Temple and Wilton, plus the unorganized territories of East Central Franklin and Perkins and Washington townships.