By DEBORAH GERTZ HUSAR
Herald-Whig Staff Writer

Declining milk prices have Alvin Garman and other dairy farmers scrambling to cut costs without hurting production.

"We're along for the ride whether it's good or bad," said Garman, who milks 150 cows in Memphis, Mo. "It doesn't look very good right now as far as future prices. We're going to have to try to slice off all the corners we can."

Hoping to trim feed costs, Garman just might have to follow the "golden rules" outlined by Mike Hutjens, University of Illinois Extension dairy specialist and a featured speaker at Tuesday's Dairy Days in Quincy.

The annual Extension program, with a theme of economic expectations this year, brings together dairy specialists, vendors and producers from Illinois, Missouri and Iowa.

"Everybody knows milk price is down about $5 per hundred from where we were just several months ago, and looks like it could drop another $1, $2. Our dairymen all over the Midwest and all over the U.S. are really under the gun on how to make up that loss," Hutjens said. "The good news is about $1.50 can be done on feed."

But Hutjens said there's strategy involved.

"If you're here in Quincy and you're not feeding corn gluten feed and distillers grain, you must be a rich dairy farmer because that's the cheapest way to feed cows. Those byproduct feeds are very economical here in Illinois," he said.

Beyond that, listen to your cows.

"If they give less milk, they told you something. If milk protein goes down, they told you something," Hutjens said. "Cows pretty much reflect what kind of management strategies and changes you're imposing on them."

Even with feeding changes, farmers need to look at cutting costs in other areas.

"There's no way I can feed you back to $17 milk, but I can help you. You can make some decisions on the farm to recoup one-third of that," Hutjens said. "The other two-thirds has to come out of something else -- labor, debt retirement, equity, depreciation."

-- dhusar@whig.com/221-3379