RAYMOND, Miss. -- Longtime dairy farmers David and Will Gilmer made the tough decision six years ago to get out of the dairy cattle business.

The father-and-son team managed a herd of 360 dairy cows, 230 of which were milked twice daily, seven days a week. The remaining 130 were replacement cows. David Gilmer explained in the miniseries “On the Farm,” this number was the maximum the pair could maintain on the amount of pastures and rented crop land they have in Sulligent, Alabama.

“The dairy business changed, and it was going to make it harder for a small operation to thrive,” said David Gilmer, who along with Will, ran the dairy his father began about 70 years ago on the family’s generations-old farm. “The profit and loss margin just kept getting smaller. Costs kept going up and the price you got for the milk did not go up in proportion.

“If you are going to make anything, you make it off volume, and we could not expand anymore because we are landlocked. That’s when we decided to try our hand at beef cattle,” said David Gilmer.

Produced by the University Television Center at Mississippi State University, the four-part film series highlights the industry and personal challenges of agricultural workers. The series is a partnership between the MSU Extension Service and the MSU College of Agriculture and Life Sciences, with funding from the U.S. Department of Agriculture.

More and more small dairy farmers in the Southeast have faced the decision to close their dairies or reorganize their operations in the last five to 10 years as rising production costs cut into profits. It’s a storm that’s been brewing over the last 20 years.

“Farmers are facing lower prices for milk, and the cost of production is a huge part of the story right now,” said Josh Maples, agricultural economist with the MSU Extension Service. “We’ve seen these things come together over the last few decades, and it’s leading to fewer dairies in our state and in our region.”

Today, Mississippi has 6,000 dairy cows according to the latest State of Agriculture Overview released by the USDA National Agricultural Statistics Service in January. That’s down 2,000 head from 2022, when the state had 55 dairy farms with an average of 145 head of cattle each.

However, the beef cattle business comes with its own stressful challenges. The Gilmers admit they encountered a steep learning curve – from herd management to business management.

“Even though they are both cows, their nutritional needs are different. What you are trying to do with them is different,” said Will Gilmer. “We have years of experience managing cows a certain way, and now we’re having to change how we did that. If we don’t do it right, we’ll get into a world of hurt, and it will lead us into trouble.”

The bottom line and the future of the farm can weigh heavily at times.

“I think about whether we are hitting the right numbers every time my wife gets on me about spending some money or when I get the fertilizer bill or something like that,” David Gilmer said.

The stress farmers feel can lead to mental health risks for them. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, male agricultural workers have the fourth highest suicide rate among men in all industries. 

“Farmers as a group have experienced high suicide rates, addiction, depression and stress-related illness, which can be made worse because the problems often remain hidden,” said David Buys, MSU Extension health specialist. “There are legitimate reasons why people in agriculture are struggling. They feel an extraordinary amount of stress because of the things out of their control: economics, weather, input costs, commodity prices, ag policy and so much more.”

The second season of “On the Farm” airs on Mississippi Public Broadcasting’s TV channel July 1 at 9 p.m., July 5 at 7:30 p.m. and July 7 at 4:30 p.m. Each of the four stories will air in full as a single, one-hour episode.

The films also spotlight resources and organizations that can assist producers in crisis and feature specialists from MSU in agricultural economics, family science and clinical psychology. These specialists connect the lived experiences of the farmers to scientific literature on rural and agricultural lifestyles.

Others profiled in “On the Farm” include Sunflower County catfish producers Ben and Ed Pentecost, Pike County large animal veterinarian Kim Klunk and Starkville farmer Sam McLemore.

To hear more of the Gilmers’ story, along with the stories of others, watch the entire “On the Farm” miniseries at https://www.onthefarm.life.

To learn about Mental Health First Aid training, visit the Extension website at https://tinyurl.com/4buuy4vx or contact the local Extension office. If you or someone you know is struggling or in crisis, help is available. Call or text 988 or start a chat at 988lifeline.org.