Partly cloudy this evening followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers after midnight. Low 49F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%..

Partly cloudy this evening followed by mostly cloudy skies and a few showers after midnight. Low 49F. Winds light and variable. Chance of rain 30%.

Esau Garcia fills up a drinking water bucket for some calves on the Veddler Dairy Farm in Osceola County Wednesday, Aug. 9.

Pictured is some textured grain in the calf barn on the Veddler Dairy Farm in Osceola County. Terry Veddler said that “everything is very expensive” right now, including one of the biggest expenses on a dairy farm — the grain and other commodities that are mixed together in a feed ration for the livestock.

Cattle huddle near a cooling fan Wednesday, Aug. 9 on the Veddler Dairy Farm in Osceola County, near the border of Missaukee County.

Cattle huddle near a cooling fan Wednesday, Aug. 9 on the Veddler Dairy Farm in Osceola County.

Esau Garcia fills up a drinking water bucket for some calves on the Veddler Dairy Farm in Osceola County Wednesday, Aug. 9.

Pictured is some textured grain in the calf barn on the Veddler Dairy Farm in Osceola County. Terry Veddler said that “everything is very expensive” right now, including one of the biggest expenses on a dairy farm — the grain and other commodities that are mixed together in a feed ration for the livestock.

Cattle huddle near a cooling fan Wednesday, Aug. 9 on the Veddler Dairy Farm in Osceola County, near the border of Missaukee County.

Cattle huddle near a cooling fan Wednesday, Aug. 9 on the Veddler Dairy Farm in Osceola County.

MCBAIN — Northern Michigan farmers are optimistic that stable milk prices and a decent corn harvest later this year will make up for higher commodity, fuel and equipment costs.

Marion dairy farmer Bob Lee said inflation has caused the price of diesel fuel to go up substantially; and for farms that have tractors and other equipment that run solely on diesel, it doesn’t take long for even moderately increased costs to add up.

“It makes your head spin,” Lee said. “Everything we do runs with diesel.”

In addition, Lee said supply chain issues are causing months-long delays in obtaining necessary equipment. He said he ordered a replacement part for a machine that broke down in May and still hasn’t received it.

Like other businesses, farms also are dealing with labor shortages.

Around Memorial Day, Lee installed a robotic milking machine to replace the worn out milk parlor he had been using for 50 years. Not only is the machine a technological improvement over the old-fashioned parlor, it also alleviates ongoing challenges they’ve faced finding help on the farm.

“We either had to quit or do something,” Lee said. “It’s getting so hard to keep good people.”

Terry Veddler, one of the operators of Veddler Dairy Farm — a 2,900-cattle operation on the border of Missaukee and Osceola counties — said that “everything is very expensive” right now. That includes one of the biggest expenses on a dairy farm — the grain and other commodities that are mixed together in a feed ration for the livestock.

During good harvest years, they can shave off a big portion of this cost by using their own corn kernels in the ration mix. During bad years, they have to purchase kernels from elsewhere to supplement the mix.

So far this year, while it’s been pretty hot and dry, corn has held up well in Northern Michigan.

“We’ve had some timely rains,” Veddler said. “I would say we’re about average (for corn growth). Not as good as last year. That was the best year that I can ever remember ... Having the excess feed definitely helps. It can carry you through a bad year.”

“It looks really nice right now,” Lee agreed. “Rains were timely enough. There were a few weeks of brown grass but everything is coming back now. I think Michigan has been pretty fortunate by that standpoint.”

Jodi DeHate, Missaukee Conservation District MAEAP technician for Missaukee, Wexford, Kalkaska and Crawford counties, said the growing season got off to a slow start because there wasn’t much moisture in the ground following the mild, relatively snow-less winter.

Conditions were hot and dry through much of June, which caused some to worry that corn growth would be stunted, but just as it was getting to the point of seriously affecting the crop, the rains came — not in heavy amounts, but enough to make a difference.

“We’ve gotten rain right when we needed it,” DeHate said. “It could have been so much worse.”

DeHate said she thinks corn held up as well as it did because of improved genetics in the corn strains. If this year had happened in the 1980s, DeHate predicted that it would have been a lot more harmful to the crop.

“The corn is able to flex with the weather better,” DeHate. “I’ve not seen it die as quickly as it did when I was a kid.”

The alfalfa crop also is looking to be about average this year, although the first couple of cuttings had slightly lower yields than usual, likely as a result of dry conditions early in the season, DeHate said.

While the promising corn harvest may help to take the edge off higher costs caused by inflation, the factor perhaps most responsible for putting farmers in the black this year is the improved dairy market.

Veddler said the price of milk rose with inflation during the first two quarters of the year, although it’s moderated slightly this quarter.

“Milk prices have been good this summer,” Lee concurred. “There was a good 2-3 months there. It lets you get caught up a little bit. Every year has different things you have to deal with. I think it will be a fairly decent year, overall.”

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