Editor’s note: This article is the first in a two-part series. I meet farmers who are in the fifth or even sixth generation on their farm. I have met a few with double-digit generations. My wife and I both have brothers on Century Farms that are transitioning to our nephews.

In November of 2017, the milk price finally broke out of the prolonged sideways market that began way back in July 2016. Unfortunately, that break fell on the downside, and farmers were faced with lower trending prices for the next month-and-a-half.

It seems like every month there’s a new precision dairy monitoring technology introduced to the dairy market. Each introduction coincides with a lot of hype about how this new technology is going to change the dairy industry, with articles in mainstream media about how these new “Fitbits for cows” can be used to identify sick cows and cows in heat.

Lean would be one definition of the financial situation in today’s dairy industry. But the concept of lean represents a mindset of farming that takes stock of every step in the production process to reduce waste.

As a veterinarian, one of the things I dreaded (besides more paperwork) when the Veterinary Feed Directive (VFD) came about was hearing producers say, “This is just an excuse for vets to charge me more money.”

An idea to educate their city friends about life on the farm transformed the Peterson Farm Brothers from Assaria, Kansas, into internet sensations and advocates for agriculture around the world.

For U.S. dairy farmers, 2017 started with lofty financial hopes. By the end of the year, productivity and income were up from 2016, but weakening prices had tempered those expectations.

Finding dairy labor is tough. Finding legal employees is even harder. But the challenges don’t stop when that individual shows up for work on their first day.

When times get tough, it’s time to sharpen your pencil and dig in. It’s no secret the dairy industry is in a downturn; we’re facing low prices and increasingly tight margins. Young and beginning farmers who may not have a lot of experience with volatility can be even more vulnerable to industry downturns.

“Not all families have family Christmas.” This was how Ron Hanson, farm business succession consultant and professor emeritus at University of Nebraska, opened his sessions on overcoming family challenges in succession planning at the 2018 Pennsylvania Dairy Summit in February.