The dairy industry continues to change as herd size relative to crop acres increases. This creates a need for more off-farm corn silage to be purchased and more manure to be exported off-farm.

A financial study analyzed 2103 data from five millionaire model dairy farms (MMDF) and 10 organic dairy farms (ODF). These farms are located in northeast Iowa, southwest Wisconsin or northwest Illinois. The farms may or may not be representative of the industry because in both groups the farms were selected based on their willingness to supply data or familiarity by extension personnel.