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Rolla, ND | Sounds like you are saying a guy can afford to produce really low priced forage for his dairy instead of growing much more profitable crops.
Hay has to compete, doesn't really matter whether it is self produced or bought. Owning and controlling the land base and hay production lets one handle some short term things differently but it really isn't that much different long term. Controlling land won't let you produce something on it that is worth a lot less than other things you could produce on it. Do that and neighbors will outdistance you and it's really just a question of when you sell out. You may fool yourself while you consume what should be the income off that land but it will go to the same place.
High feed prices will indeed result in a sell off of dairies. Then milk will get short and that will drive an expansion in production. Different dairies have different ways of handling the ebb and flow. Owning land and effectively selling production at a loss for a time is one way.
Note what happened to the hog guys that said their whole plan was to market their corn as hogs and that owning that land would let them stay in hog production where a guy who bought feed couldn't.
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Future of the dairy economy and the forage market
