At Maddox Farms, it costs about eight bucks a day to feed each cow, and there are thousands of them. Just a few weeks ago, it was about seven bucks a day. The folks who work out here say this is an international problem that's getting worse by the day.
From one day to the next, Maddox Farms was slapped with a 25% increase in corn alone.
Stephen Maddox explained, "The decrease from $14.3 billion bushels down 12.8 and dropping daily and its putting pressure on the world food supply prices have jumped 90-100 dollars a ton."
So what does that mean for us, the consumer? The increases are passed right on down, and dairy farms are watching their colleagues struggle to stay above water.
"They are being forced out," Maddox said. "Economics aren't there, uncertainty is there, and the banks at the end of their ropes."
For Maddox, it's become too personal to quit. He knows every cow not by number, but by name.
Maddox added, "For the first time this year we're considering when is enough enough and that hurts I was born in the industry."
For now, he'll strive to keep the feed coming and the quality up, but he worries what's next, whether the family business will sustain yet another generation.
And it's not just corn, everything's inter-related, which means we can all expect the price of other commodities to rise.
