PORTLAND PRESS HERALD • June 2, 2025
Pineland Farms has shut down its milking operation and sold off all but two cows in its Holstein herd, considered one of the oldest in the nation. It’s keeping a pair of youngsters for educational purposes. It’s a bittersweet change for staff at Pineland Farms — a farm, education center and major cheese producer with a large campus in New Gloucester. And it’s an upsetting change for some community members. But milking and caring for 100 cows had become too costly — Pineland Farms said it lost $500,000 to $600,000 a year on the operation in recent years. Dairy producers across the state have expressed similar concerns: that costs are unsustainable, profits are shrinking and smaller farms in particular are struggling to stay afloat.