Are there many dairies in those states or southern Indiana Ohio? Are they kinda grouped in certain areas within each state? And what is considered a big dairy in the area?

There’s a 40, 60, 250, 600, and 1500 head dairy within 20 minutes of me. I’ve heard rumors of the 40 starting to liquidate the cow herd. I know of at least that many that have shut the doors since 2010.

When I left the WKU dairy 3 years ago there were right at 400 dairies left in KY. Don’t want to leave anyone out, but there’s Big pocket of great dairies in the Warren,barren,metcalf, Todd and Christian county area
[url=http://https://www.kydairy.org/uploads/2/4/0/0/24007917/ky_dairy_map_5_2021.pdf][/url]

Almost non existent in my part of the state now. When i was a kid about every farmer around here raised a few acres of tobacco and milked 15 or 20 cows. i guess the government paid them to quit milking or something like that.

The ones I knew of locally either retired or sold out and started row
Cropping. One of those dairies was a good size farm last time I talked to him he was milking around 250 to 300 head .

Thanks for the replies , the reason I'm asking is I have an idea for a future endeavor and the infrastructure from a large dairy, barns and water system that type stuff would be a cost saver for getting started.

From 2022

https://www.ams.usda.gov/sites/default/files/media/FMMO_USDA_58.pdf

Thanks that is help full.

In Mn, obviously not Kentucky or Tennessee, there are very few mom and pop dairy operations anymore. It’s been go big or go home for a couple decades. I trap a couple of them. 600 cows is not un-herd of anymore. Some are bigger.

A lot depends on the price support the producers get. I doubt the government is shutting down operations unless the bacterial counts; barn cleanliness; water quality and pesticide concentrations are out of control. Getting down-graded from A to B grade is the production killer.