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BRANDON, Vt. (AP) — Some U.S. dairy farmers are rethinking their business plan after watching milk prices crash repeatedly in the past decade.
A small number are turning to dairy goats. Chris Lekberg of Brandon sold his cows after milk prices crashed to about $11 per hundred pounds in 2002. He now has more than 50 goats and gets about $45 per hundred pounds for their milk.
Lekberg says he's making a profit and with stable goat milk prices, he's more confident about what his income will be.
Some feel goats make sense in Vermont, which has seen hundreds of its cow dairies go under in recent years.
The USDA's National Agricultural Statistics Service says the number of dairy goats nationwide has grown from about 335,000 to 360,000 in the past four years.