For in the last several years, boosting milk productivity has become a key tactic for Virginia dairy farmers who are struggling to keep their businesses afloat amid sagging milk prices and rising fuel costs. The increases in milk production have caused an excess of supply and flattening milk prices, which have eroded farmers’ profits. Milk cows are becoming more efficient and dairy producers are relying on fewer of them to keep production steady.

“Years ago you were doing pretty well if your cows averaged about 40 pounds [of milk] a day,” said Turner, 56, a second-generation farmer whose family founded the dairy in the 1940s. “Nowadays you can’t survive on a 40-pound-a-day average.”

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