Dale and Karen Cihlar of Algoma, Wisconsin, can vouch firsthand about just how tough things are in the American dairy industry right now. Low milk prices are making it difficult for American producers to get the loan capital they need to stay in operation. The Cihlars were literally down to their last option for more operating money when they turned to crowdfunding through the GoFundMe website. Down to their last chance, they saw a miracle happen.
“Milk prices were down, and we had lost some cattle,” said Karen Cihlar. “We also had a big payment due on our manure storage facility. My husband (Dale) went to some loan officers, looking for a $35,000 loan for livestock because we were down in numbers. We also wanted to pay off a little debt. The bankers told us they weren’t loaning money to dairy farmers at the present time because of low projected milk futures prices.”
“When we asked the loan officers what to do, a lot of them said walk away,” she recalled. “I told Dale that just wasn’t an option. We have six or seven years in this business, everything is paid for, and the farm is ours. No, we weren’t going to walk away. We gotta fight.”
She had noticed in previous weeks that there were other farmers with campaigns on GoFundMe. Karen asked Dale if it was something he wanted to try, and he said “no.” He didn’t want other people to know what’s going on in their business.
“I said ‘if we have to pull a U-Haul up to the house and load up, they’re going to know our business,’” she recalled. “The last loan officer we went to said, ‘do what you have to do and don’t worry about what anyone thinks because they’re not in your shoes.’ That night, Dale told me ‘no to GoFundMe one more time. However, I really felt we should try it.
“I went over to our daughter’s house for some help and we did it,” she added. “We started getting donations right away.
Here’s the rest of the story:
In case you were wondering? The campaign was for the exact amount the family was turned down for; $35,000. The five-month campaign has raised over $90,300! Amazing!