My neighbor's cows are counting on crowdfunding.
Crowdfunding has become the way to bypass old worn out methods of raising money. Innovators now finance films, video games, inventions, and much more through compelling online campaigns. Get enough people interested and those dreams become reality. There are new Indiegogo and Kickstarter success stories every day.
Now there's a crowdfunding site specifically designed to raise money for personal causes. GoFundMe.com is the answer if you want to rebuild a run-down playground, fund medical treatment, pay college tuition, save a historic site, or cover your wedding costs. Started in 2010, this site grew 500 percent from 2011 to 2012. Today millions of dollars are raised each month by tens of thousands of users. People like the tallest man in the U.S. who needed help paying for shoes custom-made to fit his feet. He raised over 46,000 dollars. Or the mom who raised four thousand dollars so her daughter could go to space camp. Or the couple who are hoping to finance the adoption of two children from the Democratic Republic of Congo.
Which brings me to saving my neighbor's cows.
Every day as I walk my dogs, I pass Ron's farm. My husband and I have brainstormed with him about how he can save his farm. It's nothing Ron has done wrong. His cows are healthy and contented. He's careful to move them from pasture to pasture for the best grazing. His calves drink milk, not milk replacer. He devotes all day, every day, to tending his land and his animals. But it's nearly impossible to stay in business as a small scale dairy farmer these days.
That's because there's a dairy crisis. Prices paid to farmers are less than they were in the 1970's. Ron's dairy sells milk destined for cheese and butter. He earns less than $11 a hundredweight (per 12 gallons) although on averageit costs him more to tend the cows producing that hundredweight. Someone is making a profit, but not the folks who are milking cows.
Many are selling off their herds to leave farming behind. Ron is determined to stay on the 70 acres that have been in his family for 62 years. Although he doesn't have the resources to fix up his house or outbuildings, that doesn't matter to him. He's just looking for ways to keep his cows. One solution is to raise this year's calves to start a herd of grassfed beef cattle.
But it'll take nearly a year and a half before the first steer is ready for market. Ron will need funds to fence some more pastures, to replace lost dairy income, and to keep tending to his contented cattle. We know what it's like to raise these gentle creatures. We can't imagine our neighbor losing his herd to today's cruel economic realities.
So I'm giving GoFundMe a try. I've set up a page toraise money to keep Ron's cows on his farm. Ron doesn't have a computer but he's holding out hope that people who do will care.
