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Worker Miguel Gonzales prepares cows at Sustaire Dairy for milking. Staff photo by Taylor Nye -
Andrew Velasquez pressure washes a rotary hay rake at Sustaire Dairy. Staff photo by Taylor Nye
Producers confident commodities will remain strong
SALTILLO—Near the Greenwood community south of Saltillo, life on the Sustaire Dairy does not seem to have been affected by the recent outbreak of COVID-19, also known as coronavirus.
“We’re fixing to get chickens in next week, so we have not stopped at all,” owner Mark Sustaire said.
Yet while the farm bustles with activity as workers pressure wash the rotary hay rake and load the mixer wagon, Sustaire has awaited news of economic developments with bated breath, he said.
“I’ve been trying to listen to the governor in between all the work we’ve had to do,” Sustaire said, tuning into the his side-by-side’s radio in the productive rye fields.
Sustaire isn’t alone. With eight to 10 employees and more than 450 head of milk cows, he owns one of the 2,200 farms in Hopkins County and is a part of the county’s dairy industry that generated $79 million in 2017, according to the USDA. Once the dairy capital of Texas, Hopkins now sits at 11th in the state, according to the USDA.
“It’s an unusual time,” Darren Turley, executive director of the Texas Dairymen’s Association said. “Every day we’re talking more and more about what’s going to happen.”
Dairy production, and agriculture in general, falls under critical infrastructure, according to Texas gubernatorial mandates. According to Turley, demand for dairy has been up in the early weeks of the coronavirus outbreak due to emergency preparedness.
“We’re seeing our product get to the shelves uninterrupted,” Turley noted. “In fact, people are buying extra and trying to be prepared in case the shutdown lingers. As an industry, we’re bottling a lot right now and sending it to the stores.”
Of note, said Turley, is that within the first several weeks of the COVID-19 response, dairy producers saw an uptick in demand.
“People are starting to understand the impact of the market,” Turley said. “Whenever you see empty shelves, you understand the impact pretty quickly. … The ability to have milk was previously taken for granted.”
Just because the dairy industry is seeing a high demand now, though, does not mean that dairy farmers are immune from fluctuations in the stock market due to the coronavirus pandemic, Turley said.
“It’s a big concern right now,” Turley said. “Ag products, like other products, can fall, and that will translate to lower prices for producers in the coming months.”
“From a dairy perspective it’s been tough. We were looking at an up market, and within a few days, it dropped by about 30%,” Sustaire said. “It’s real numbers that affect me and other Hopkins County dairy farmers.”
However, according to Turley, he has confidence that even if exports of dairy products drop down in the following months, domestic consumption of dairy will remain strong.
“The general public can continue to have faith in us,” Turley said. “We’re working very hard to keep the products moving. We’ve never been in a situation like this, but dairy farming is a 24/7 business. We’ll take care of our animals and produce milk, no matter the situation.”