It’s the end of an era for one of the country’s oldest herds. But it’s also the start of a larger effort to support Maine’s dairy industry in a different form.
| Kay Neufeld, Press Herald |
NEW GLOUCESTER — Echoes reverberate off the pristine walls of the dairy barn at Pineland Farms like they never have before. There’s no hay covering the floors. The chirps of birds are no longer drowned out by moos.
Pineland Farms has shut down its milking operation that once filled those stalls and sold off all but two cows in its Holstein herd, considered one of the oldest in the nation. It’s keeping a pair of youngsters for educational purposes.
It’s a bittersweet change for staff at Pineland — a farm, education center and major cheese producer with a large campus in New Gloucester. And it’s an upsetting change for some community members.
But milking and caring for 100 cows had become too costly; Pineland Farms said it lost $500,000 to $600,000 a year on the operation in recent years and was effectively subsidizing its commercial dairy operation. Dairy producers across the state have expressed similar concerns: that costs are unsustainable, profits are shrinking and smaller farms in particular are struggling to stay afloat.
The farm sold 60 milking cows and 40 heifers and calves in March for an average of $2,100 apiece, with most going to two dairy operations, one in New York and another in Vermont. Pineland Farms did not disclose the total sale price.
It might sound counterintuitive, but Pineland believes parting ways with its Holsteins will make Maine’s struggling dairy industry stronger. The farm is growing its educational programming and says its cheesemaking business is going strong.
“We’ve had to think where our focus should be to help dairy in the long run,” said Erik Hayward, executive vice president of the Libra Foundation, which owns Pineland’s nonprofit and for-profit arms.
Keep reading this June 2, 2025, article in the Press Herald at this link
