KTIV NewsChannel 4 Sioux City IA: News, Weather and SportsSiouxland dairy weathering economic storm

Siouxland dairy weathering economic storm

MAURICE, Iowa (KTIV) -- The economy has affected livestock industries across the country, but for dairy producers the price of milk prices has turned sour.

"The dairy industry is definitely going through hard times just like any livestock industry. Milk prices are down, consumption has backed off, the economy in the world, you know, just affected everything," said Dykstra Dairy owner Darin Dykstra. "But we know there's better days ahead."

Dykstra has turned that optimism into action on his operation, to look for the best ways to be as efficient as possible. Dykstra says it's not always easy, but being efficient is a team effort.

"Making sure our employees know it's a difficult time too. So when they're out there doing their job, we always try and have them do the best job they can, but in this kind of economy, every little thing counts. So making sure the employees understand, 'Hey, if there's ways that you guys can see that we can cut costs or be more efficient,' let us know and we'll work on something together as a team," Dykstra said.

Dykstra says there are some areas a dairy just can't cut.

"Cow comfort is very important. If we don't have comfortable cows we're not going to get as much production. We don't have as much production we aren't going to be as profitable," Dykstra said.

In today's industry, being profitable takes a lot of work.