Are Ohio Dairy Farmers Satisfied With Local Suppliers?
By Aaron Stockberger and Brian Roe Respectively, graduate student and Extension Specialist The face of dairy farming in Ohio is changing. The structure of dairying has evolved immensely in the past few years with regard to technology, size of operation, and the geographical location of farms. One of the consequences of these changes is that the business structure that supports dairy farms (e.g., feed mills, equipment suppliers, and veterinarians) might not react quickly enough to meet the changing demands of dairy farmers. Whether because of farm size or geographical location, farmers could be lacking the necessary farm inputs locally because the local business structure has not realized or has not been able to respond to these changing needs. Analysis of 450 responses to a survey administered to a random sample of Ohio dairy farmers in the summer of 2002 confirms these general trends concerning the business infrastructure supporting dairies. The survey gathered information on various
