Nowhere is the rising cost of energy being felt more than in agriculture. In an effort save fuel costs, many farmers have found the old ways are still the best.
Cows grazing in a grassy field makes for a serene sight, but it's one we haven't seen as much in recent years. To increase milk production, farmers are told by Cornell to keep them in the barn, cut the grass and deliver it to them. Now circumstances are forcing a second look at the so-called "confinement" system. Kathi Arnold of Twin Oaks Farm in Truxton says the system is energy intensive.
"In a confinement system their food entirely comes through fossil fuel derived activities," Arnold said.
All that cutting, raking chopping hauling mixing and feeding is killing farmers' bottom line.
so it's back to the future. Let the cows go get their own grass. Arnold says she's not alone, and that more than 3/4 of dairy operations in her area are going back to the old ways