MILKING THE PLAINS: MOVEMENT OF LARGE DAIRY OPERATIONS INTO SOUTHWESTERN KANSAS*

abstract. Western Kansas has an historical identification with cattle, with a focus on cattle ranching and more specifically since the s, beef-cattle feedlots. Since the mid-s large dairy operations have moved into southwestern Kansas. Today more than twenty large dairies house more than , milk cows. These operate as confined feeding opera-tions similar to beef-cattle feedlots. Regional advantages for the dairy industry include affordable land with wide-open space, local residents ’ cattle- and dairy-friendly attitudes, and other factors. Regional promoters have actively recruited dairies, and a dairy-business support system has emerged. The prospects for continued expansion of dairies in south-western Kansas are unclear; despite the locational advantages and the possibility that the industry may continue to relocate here, as did the cattle-feeding industry several decades ago, further moves into the area may depend on continued resources availability and addi-tional infrastructure development. Keywords: agriculture, dairy, geographical restructuring, Great Plains, High Plains, Kansas. Over the past century and more, the Great Plains developed an identity as a re-gion of rangeland, cattle, and wheat. In public perception the major agricultura