The situation was different for people with a lot of debt. Buying a farm could cost $10 million, and then another $5000 per cow for the sheds, races and irrigation to convert it to dairy. There were farmers who needed close to $6 per kilo to keep paying their loans.
Mr Doughty didn't think there were many farmers with that much debt in the Whanganui region, and said it still had land suitable for conversion to dairying.
Federated Farmers' Wanganui dairy spokesman Tony Rogers said most dairy farmers would be barely breaking even at $5.25, and the industry would struggle if the payouts remained around $5.50.
He imagined the price would get to around $6 this year, once farmers' Fonterra dividends were factored in. But he said that could change if the value of the New Zealand dollar pushed up to US90 cents.
"We're not just dairy farmers these days. We're also currency traders."
He now owns dairy farms at Turakina and at Inangahua, on the West Coast of the South Island.
Murray Ferris, Federated Farmers' Ruapehu dairy spokesperson, has farms at Piriaka, south of Taumarunui. He said there were 16 dairy farms in the Ruapehu district and they all supplied Fonterra.
The lift in payout would help them, but not enough, he said.
It cost an average of $4.42 to produce a kilogram of milk solids, so a payout of $5.50 wasn't a lot.
"You've got to service debt and pay yourself and do capital replacement. It's probably enough to survive, but definitely not enough to be replacing capital items."
A price between $6 and $7 was probably sustainable, depending what other prices did.
What was worrying farmers in the Ruapehu district was Horizons Regional Council's One Plan. Mr Ferris said dairy incomes would be halved under its new rules, and dairy conversions would be halted.
Mr Doughty said the simplest way to meet the plan's restrictions on nitrogen leaching would be to have fewer animals, which would impact on incomes and possibly mean fewer people on the land.
He predicted there would be compromises from the council and farmers.
"They are essentially saying you need a consent to change land use, and we have known that for some time. I don't think that's a bad thing. You can't have huge land use changes happening without some form of control on it."