Producers Should Pay Attention To Diesel Prices

A Dairy Herd Management article

While dairy farmers obsess over milk prices and watch feed costs like hawks, there’s another expense quietly draining thousands of dollars from their bottom line every month — and most don’t realize how exposed they are until it’s too late.

The fuel pump doesn’t announce itself with the drama of a milk price crash, but in 2026, diesel has become one of the most dangerous unmanaged risks on the dairy farm balance sheet.

For Ken McCarty, co-owner of McCarty Family Farms in Rexford, Kan. — the 2025 Milk Business Leader in Technology Award winner — fuel isn’t just another line item on the budget; it’s the lifeblood of an operation that milks thousands of cows across multiple states, running feed trucks, tractors and skid steers around the clock.

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