Sustainable commercial dairy farming

There has been some chatter on another thread about the present state of dairy farming. It was way off topic on that thread, so I'm starting this one.

Before you start, you need to know that we are commercial dairy farmers. We started with nothing 36 years ago this coming May, bought 8 cows and 12 springing heifers and borrowed a tractor. We rented this farm from an elderly woman for 22 years before we were able to buy it. Having no money and not owning the farm for all those years, we were never tempted to build a confinement herd. Our cows have always been pastured. We did feed corn silage for about 10 years but quit growing corn 24 years ago for several reasons. A few years before we quit raising corn, we had gone to a rotational pasture system, moving fences daily on the day pastures. When the intensive rotational pasture movement took root, we had already been following the that particular method long enough to know that it takes considerable effort.

We are not "organic." In order for a dairy to be certified organic, you have to certify that your cows have been treated organically for one year and your land for three. During that period, you are still selling your milk as a non-organic dairy. The paper work and politics of becoming certified can become a life's work. At this point in our dairying life, we are making more net income per cow than many of the organic dairies. The cost of organic feed is almost prohibitive. We choose to farm in a manner that is sustainable, using the our fields to raise grass for pasture and hay and haylage. For our efforts we were chosen as the Conservation Farm of the year for our County last year.