Murraydale matters: How a family-centered dairy is thriving in a giant-dominated industry
Giant farms dominate the dairy landscape. According to Jon Winsten with the Northeast Dairy Business Innovation Center (NE-DBIC), the last 20 years have seen a 63% decrease in the number of farms, but overall milk production has risen by 28% – with massive farms driven to produce more and more milk per cow.
These farms have saved gains in feed, labor and capital efficiency, boosting their milk output an estimated 350% per farm even as farm numbers have plummeted. The ecosystem this creates makes the survival of smaller farms increasingly difficult.
As milk production becomes more efficient and costs fall, milk prices drop, making it harder for small farms to compete. Amid this shift, operations like Murraydale Farm, in Truxton, NY, have found steady footing and growth pursuing regenerative grazing. It’s not an appeal to nostalgia – it’s strategic.
It’s a challenge to keep efficiency, ecology and family at the center of farming, but Ryan and Annie Murray are proving every day that cultivating a regenerative, pasture‑based dairy in a consolidating industry is still possible. In a recent web session with NE-DBIC, the Murrays told their story.
Building from Almost Nothing
At 19, Ryan began buying weaned calves which were housed outdoors 365 days a year. He was registered organic by 2013 and began leasing an old tie-stall barn. They were scrappy, “learn-by-doing” years. There was very limited capital which wasn’t begged, borrowed or “stolen,” including two fence reels, 50 posts and a pitchfork.
Over the next few years his herd would increase to 60 animals operating with seasonal calving in an improved barn and an improved fence.
Around the same time that Ryan married Annie, he was able to purchase his first tractor. He hired a part-time employee to help him and Annie milk their then-80 cows twice a day. His parents’ farm became available after they purchased a larger farm nearby. That means today, the farm has been in the Murray family for almost 100 years.
Not long after the move, their only employee left, and since their newborn son Charlie was several years away from helping with farm chores, they switched to milking once a day. Production dipped, but the cows experienced better health and quality of life. The Murrays were able to devote time to other farm projects.
Although breeding rates saw great improvement, not many calves were raised to replace the older cows and they didn’t flourish like the calves fed twice a day. That forced an operational pivot.
Parlor Conversion & Renewed Expansion
The parlor conversion (which Ryan described as a “building the plane while flying”) involved construction happening around daily milking. Transitioning to a TRANS Iowa swing parlor streamlined throughput and reduced labor strain, setting the farm up for its next phase of growth.
Returning to milking twice daily, while still spending less total time in the parlor, allowed Murraydale to raise more calves, rebuild herd momentum and prepare for the larger equipment and facility investments that would support long‑term expansion.
Murraydale Farm now operates with a clearer sense of direction, shifting to bi‑seasonal calving to maintain year‑round milk flow, steady employment and higher per‑cow production. Herd growth continues alongside infrastructure improvements, including a free-stall project slated for this year, and afternoon chores are transitioning to hired help to protect family time and operational resilience.
Anchored by a low‑overhead grazing model that maximizes pasture intake, streamlines labor and limits infrastructure to what truly matters, the Murrays continue to scale with intention, guided not by industry pressure, but by a family‑centered philosophy built for the future.
by Joseph Armstrong
