Dairy Program, Number of Dairy Farms

USDA is reporting that over half the nation's dairy farms have signed up in the new dairy program.

What struck me was the small number of farms. According to Hoard's Dairyman as of 2012:

Since 1992, the drop in licensed, or so-called commercial dairy farms, has been 80,028 from 131,509 to 51,481. That’s a 61 percent drop during that time. Of the 80,028 dairies that exited the business during the past two decades, the vast majority, 57,497 or 72 percent, sold their cows between 1992 and 2002. That is an average of 5,861 dairy herds each year. Since then, the total has been cut more than in half. From 2003 to 2011, only 22,531 businesses left our industry for a nine-year average of 2,503.

Some law schools are concerned about the drop in enrollment, but they haven't seen a 61 percent drop.