WILSON — A local dairy farm is closing after 21 years.
Danielewicz Dairy Farm in Wilson will be shutting down because of the financial difficulty it faced as a result of the drop in milk prices. The farm has been located on Wilson Youngstown Road since Owner Flevie Danielewicz opened it in 1988.
“With the milk prices so low and everything else going up, it was hard,” said Flevie’s daughter Louise Brachmann, who also serves as the farm manager.
Danielewicz has his original location on Baer Road in Sanborn, which his father, George, opened in the 1940s. Involved with the farm since he was a child, Flevie dropped out of school and took over the farm when his father passed away. At the time, the farm was in debt and had about 250 cows. Not too long after, the farm paid the debt off and found itself needing more space.
“We got to a point where we had to go big or quit,” Brachmann said. “Expand or quit. In 1988 when we moved here, we had about 500 cows.”
Sanborn farm was used to raise crops to feed their cattle on the Wilson farm. Now the family plans to use the Sanborn farm as a cash crop farm, Brachmann said.
The price of milk has fallen considerably — about 50 percent from last summer’s prices and the high prices of 2007. Analysts expect milk prices to remain low through at least the first half of the year, and prices later this year may only be high enough to cover production costs. The U.S. Agriculture Department is forecasting the price of Class III milk, which is used to make cheese, to average $10.60 to $11.40 in 2009, down from a $17.44 average last year. Brachmann said the farm wasn’t making as much as last year and certainly not as well as in 2007. One year ago, Danielewicz was taking in about $17 to $18 per hundred pounds. Now it is about $10, Brachmann said.
While in the process of closing, the farm began a cattle dispersal auction Thursday. The auction continues for its final day today, beginning at 9 a.m. at the farm, 3071 Wilson Youngstown Road, Wilson. Danielewicz Dairy had about 1,700 cattle, including 1,270 milking cows, 230 dry cows, 80 close-bred heifers and 120 calves. Prior to the start of the three-day auction, Brachmann gave a speech about the closing of the farm.
“Today is a very sad day for all of us,” she said.
Brachmann said it wasn’t just a sad day for her father or the family, but for farmers. Farmers make up a great deal of the food supply for the country, so when one closes, it affects a lot more than just those who worked on the farm. But in closing, Brachmann recited something her mother taught her over the years.
“She always says, ‘God never closes one door without opening another,’ ” Brachmann said. “So even though we don’t understand everything, it always happens for a reason.”
Contact reporter Joe Olenick at 439-9222, ext. 6241.
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