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I attended my first ever pasture walk at my brother's farm, Dwayne Emke and his wife Cathy, in Forestville.

Having grown up on a dairy farm and helping my brother Dennis on his farm in Cherry Creek, I have some idea of dairy farming and what it involves. After listening to local farmers at the pasture walk discussing the low milk prices, I felt that I should write this.

Lisa Kempisty of Cornell Cooperative Extension - Chautauqua County organized the pasture walk with the help of my brother Dwayne and his wife Cathy. Bill Valler, general manager of Larry Romance & Son Inc., local New Holland dealer from Sheridan, N.Y. and CK Replacement Stalls of Paradise, Pa. donated the beef on weck lunch and Upstate Niagara Cooperative Inc. contributed a generous supply of milk.

About 50 people were in attendance, including local dairy and livestock farmers, agribusiness representatives from Farm Credit, Harry Austin Milling, Dairy One, and local county Legislator, Jerry Park.

Dwayne showed the crowd how and where he moves the 75 cow Holstein and Ayrshire herd after each milking. He believes that he can keep costs down feeding a 15 percent protein grain, with high quality pasture. The highest producing cow receives 18 to 22 pounds. He has water available in all of the pastures from a pond that was developed in 2007.

Milk production has increased by 2,000 pounds in the last two years. Dwayne also spoke of the new tie stalls that were installed by CK Manufacturing. The stalls look great. If you are looking to install new stalls, give CK Manufacturing a call. Following the conversation about the renovated stalls and the pasture improvements, the main topic was the low milk prices farmers are receiving. Dwayne commented that if the milk prices don't improve soon, there will be no more cows grazing pastures in New York. This will also cost thousands of jobs. We must take action soon or we will not know where our milk and dairy products will come from. This scares me. It looks like a way of life that we love may be on its way out. A business can't run in the red and keep operating.

Cathy commented that she must work off the farm for added income and said that this is a must for most families to maintain their businesses. No one has any immediate answers but everyone knows that something must change. We are paying way too much for milk, butter, and cheese in the store and not giving our farmers enough to cover their costs. $10 to $12 per hundred pounds of milk cannot cover the cost of producing milk. All in all, the pasture walk was a success. The rain held off - the food was good and everyone learned something about rotational grazing. Dwayne and Cathy would like to thank everyone who attended and would be glad to help others interested in setting up a pasture walk.