FYI About Canada's dairy quota system:
Canada's supply management is implemented via a quota system. Farmers can only sell as much as their quota allows. To produce and sell more the farmer must purchase additional quota from other farmers. My neighbor just sold his quota for his little family-run 40 cow operation for a million dollars. Not the whole farm, not even the cows, just the piece of paper. That's $25,000 per cow's worth of quota.
A fellow down the road is expanding his herd. He runs a more modern efficient operation: giant tractors and silos, machines chop bedding and motorized carts distribute it, feeding is likewise mechanized, cows have microchips in their ears etc. Judging from the size of the building he's putting up it looks like he'll be adding 60 or more cows, paying $25,000 up front for the quota for each. Typically this would be borrowed from the bank. The cost of borrowing is effectively factored in to the price he'll receive for his milk, so if he runs an efficient operation (he does) he'll be OK with the interest payments.
So the system we've implemented is basically a way of transferring money from consumers to banks. This sucks, but I can't think of a better way to implement the supply management system.