HARRISBURG, Pa. – The annual Center for Dairy Excellence Financial and Risk Management Conference, held here on Sept. 10, drew more than 100 lenders, vendors, and dairy producers to the Farm Show Complex under the theme “Leveling Up Pennsylvania Dairy.”

The program covered everything from trade negotiations and tariffs to grants and resources that remain under-used by farmers. A Midwest consultant walked the audience through case studies of dairies that weathered financial crises, showing how outside audits reveal bottlenecks and initial changes, such as adding cows or increasing milkings, can prime recovery by maximizing existing assets.

Those lessons came to life in a producer panel, where three dairy farmers spoke candidly about staring down the numbers when they no longer added up and how, step by step, they found the way forward.

Moderated by Dr. Robert Fry, veterinarian, business consultant, and dairy farmer from Kennedyville, Maryland, the panel featured Dee Shafer of Shafdon Farms, Jefferson, Maryland; Dale Brown of JoBo Holsteins, Gettysburg, Pennsylvania; and Mark Mosemann of Misty Mountain Dairy, Warfordsburg, Pennsylvania. Each shared how their dairies pulled back from the brink of financial distress and built systems for long-term stability.

For Dee Shafer, the path began when she and her husband Brent entered into partnership with his parents in 2009. Volatile milk markets, old debt and inconsistent forages left the farm vulnerable. Facilities allowed only a single ration, reproduction lagged, and labor costs ran high near urban centers.

“We hit rock bottom. It took us a while, but we finally realized we needed to get some outside help,” Shafer admitted. “I can’t stress enough the importance of a profit team and a business plan. We needed the team to help us build the business plan and identify goals, to help us build a blueprint so we could grow.”

In 2015, they shifted to an ag-focused accountant, and by 2017 they had contacted the Center for Dairy Excellence and formed a profit team of lender, accountant, nutritionist, and financial consultants. At the time, they were milking 240 cows.

With guidance from the team, they added 40 cows to push returns from existing facilities and dilute fixed costs and debt load. A new lender restructured debt for more flexibility. A new cropping strategy shifted barley and alfalfa acres to double-cropped triticale and corn silage. A new custom operator was hired, and ration changes were made.

Reproduction was tightened. “We do weekly milk testing so that we can see which cows are open and get them bred back faster,” said Shafer, noting they do monthly blood tests on heifers to bring calving age to 20 months.

The results were striking. From 2017 to 2025, Shafdon grew from 240 to 409 cows. The herd average rose 8000 pounds from 20,723 to 28,729, and their break-even milk price fell from above $20 per hundredweight to under $18.

Today, they milk 400 cows three times a day, raise 370 head of youngstock, and have invested in a manure pit, a new heifer barn, and expanded freestalls. Their profit team continues to meet a few times a year, with margin (income-over-feed-cost) as the metric.

“It was never about one big leap,” Shafer said. “We needed a strategy. Having that team around the table gave us the confidence and focus to stick with the plan.”

At JoBo Holsteins, with members of three generations of the extended Hess family involved, Dale Brown is a partner managing daily operations. He recounted how the dairy grew from 180 cows in 1991 to 900 in 2007 with new facilities and a parlor and how growth once revolved around chasing pounds of production.

A change came when they began measuring success differently. “Our best profit year wasn’t when cows were making 90 pounds,” said Brown. “It was when they averaged 78. Production doesn’t necessarily equal profitability.”

Instead of chasing records, JoBo focused on filling their barns and parlor to capacity, milking 1100 cows on the same facilities. Items with questionable returns were cut, and “marginal cow income” became a key metric — calculating how much profit each additional cow contributed after feed and utility costs.

A distressed loan officer on their profit team helped them navigate the toughest years, insisting on facts over emotion. Since 2015, JoBo has been profitable every year but one, and that loss was limited.

Investments have been practical: heavier (and fewer) tractors for better silage packing, a self-propelled mixer to reduce shrink, a wet-calf barn and manure solids separation for exporting solids.

Today, JoBo milks around 1100 cows three times a day, weighing future expansion against both cow comfort and profitability, and figuring out the next direction.

For Mark Mosemann, in partnership with his brother and parents at Misty Mountain Dairy, the herd had expanded steadily since he returned from Penn State in 2000. But they were highly leveraged, which comes at a cost.

When milk prices crashed in 2009, the family made a tough decision. They drew a line: equity would never fall below 25%. If it did, they would walk away.

“My brother said we need to pray for exactly what we need, and I’m standing here as evidence that it took a lot of hard work, but God answered his prayer. Faith and family got us through that point,” Mosemann said, “and so did discipline.”

That discipline took the form of a written business plan, updated annually, and a 5-year capital expense worksheet that forced projects into sequence. Herd growth came internally through repro improvements, with blood pregnancy tests identifying open cows, earlier.

Forage quality improved after shifting to a new custom operator in 2012, and cash flow steadied with monthly payments to custom harvesters and feed growers.

“Don’t underestimate the importance of choosing that ‘office time,’” Mosemann encouraged. “Make it a priority to spend time looking at the numbers and evaluating.”

Today, the Mosemanns milk 500 cows and keep an operating line open but unused. “That was a goal,” he said, “to have an operating loan stay untouched and to build our own operating account to fund projects.”

All three producers agreed the darkest days brought the hardest meetings where third-party advisors proved essential.

Shafer credited their consultant for keeping conversations constructive.

Brown pointed to the distressed loan officer who stripped emotion from the table.

Mosemann emphasized the role of their accountant, who “organized the information and reduced anxiety by helping us understand it.”

Profit teams that met quarterly in crisis now meet annually or semiannually. Each includes an accountant, lender, herd advisors, and in one case a non-ag business consultant.

Asked how they remain disciplined now, Brown said the memory of the bottom is enough: “Once you’ve been there, you don’t want to go back.” He also noted the value of peer groups that share full financials to provide benchmarking and perspective.

Shafer said their profit team continues to be vital in resetting priorities.

Mosemann described networking with other producers and eliminating reliance on operating loans as a personal milestone, though he acknowledged the challenge of teaching these earned-lessons to the next generation that didn’t live through the crisis.

For risk management, all three described layered strategies with DMC, DRP, and feed contracting.

While their stories differed, the threads were remarkably similar. Each farm formed a team of advisors, shifted focus from production records to margins and return-on-investment, and made discipline the foundation for recovery.

Forage quality and timeliness proved as pivotal as milk price, while reproduction protocols and following the data reinforced consistent improvement.

Today, all three dairies operate with stability and a sense of direction. For attendees, the message was clear: dairy farmers can’t control the milk price, but they can control their systems, strategies, discipline, and decision-making with a profit team.