Now, the Department of Agriculture has agreed to raise wholesale prices.

Local dairy farmers like those at Vale Wood Farms in Loretto said the move is necessary because the cost of producing milk has not dropped.

"You used to get the ups and down, except this down is unprecedented in terms of its size and the speed that the prices went up and came back down," said Carissa Itle.

Compared to six months ago, Itle estimated each cow is losing more than $6 of milk a day. With 200 cows, that's a loss of more than $400,000 a year.

She said even though the federal government will raise wholesale prices, the global demand for milk has decreased, so the fix would just be temporary.

"It would certainly be a relief, but it's not really something we're going to work into our long-term plans at all," Itle said. "What the question is -- for every individual family farm -- how can you continue to operate at that loss and wait it out for prices to turn around?"

In the meantime, Itle said the farm is not purchasing new equipment and trying to cut other costs.

"That cost of feeding your cows is about 50 percent of your expenses. You can only trim that cost so far before your cows really start to suffer," she said.

Previous Stories: July 20, 2009: Dairy Farmers Feeling The Squeeze February 11, 2009: Sour Start For Dairy Farmers