
S1E646 - E646 The Biggest Dairies Pay the Highest Wages. Their Labor Costs $1.85/cwt.
Published: September 8, 2026
Duration: 24:21
Large dairies pay the highest hourly wages in the business, yet their labor runs just $1.85/cwt. On herds under 50 cows, labor hits $13.18.
When an I-9 records audit stripped 38 workers from a 6,500-cow South Dakota dairy, ownership spent $110,000 bringing in visa workers rather than raising starting pay. On this edition of The Bullvine Podcast, we break down why dairy consolidation is driven by worker throughput rather than cheap labor, and how unpaid family hours distort small-herd cost structures.
What You'll Learn:
• Why $12.78 of a small herd's labor cost never hits a payroll check
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