Honestly, I'd rather hire someone at a reasonable wage, train them, and turn them loose without my supervision, or spend 10k and automate part of my production,

Honestly, I'd rather hire someone at a reasonable wage, train them, and turn them loose without my supervision, or spend 10k and automate part of my production, than have to supervise people. It's likely a bit different in dairying than it would be for something like vegetable production - I don't have lots of repetitive, low-skill tasks (sorry, vegetable farming people!) like weeding or harvesting that I could safely unleash untrained people upon. I have a hard enough time finding reliable paid help (and we're well above minimum wage); managing people with even less incentive to put in a day's work isn't that appealing. :)