ORWELL, Vt. -
Since January 14 small dairy farms in Vermont have gone out of business. Miles Tudhope has known the dairy industry for more than a quarter of a century.
"There's been good times and really a lot of struggles," said Orwell dairy farmer, Miles Tudhope.
The Orwell farmer says his industry saw a tough year in 2009, "Some farms borrowed a lot of money, I mean they borrowed some tens, hundreds of thousands of dollars to stay in business."
Just three years later, more bad news, the price of milk is projected to fall. Add that to," The feed prices, the fuel prices, every cost are going up and every consumer out there knows," said Tudhope.
14 small dairy farms in Vermont have called it quits and sold off their cattle. Tudhope doesn't seem surprised given what they've been through, "It's the tipping point, the thing that makes them go over the edge. They are tired. They've been doing it for 30, 35 years and they get tired."
Tudhope doesn't plan on retiring anytime soon, "There are a lot of very successful dairy farms in the state that are very prosperous and they will weather the storm and they will be there in the future."
