Emery View Farms in Newfield is a microcosm of the struggle dairy farmers across the Finger Lakes are involved in to stay in business and also a proud testament to the indomitable spirit of farmers united in the struggle.
Ronald Emery, 71, and his son, Frank, 44, are in Ronald's words, “doing all they can just to keep their heads above water.” They milk 42 cows on a third-generation family farm that Ronald's dad bought in 1941.Standing outside the milk house, as Frank is busy within sterilizing equipment before milking time, Ronald reflects on a career spent on and off the farm.
“I drove school bus for 43 years, delivered mail for 40 years and farmed it all at the same time just to make certain the bills were paid on time and I would be able to keep the farm in the family and pass it on to Frank,” he said.
One look at Ronald and you can see it hasn't been easy for him.
Sleep-starved from getting up every morning at 4, rail-thin from constantly being on the move working, two fingers are missing from his right hand after a farm accident, yet his eyes are clear and burn with intensity, and his body is taut and wiry like a steel cable.
“When I was younger, in the spring I would stay up all night plowing and then do the morning chores, catch a nap and keep right on going,” he said.
Frank emerges from the milk house and pets a purring barn cat pushing against his leg. A graduate of Newfield High School, soft-spoken and shy with a full beard that makes him look older than his 44 years, he also has experienced the dangers of farm life including a high fall from a silo and a chainsaw mishap that left deep scars. But like his resilient dad, he soldiers on with no second thoughts, completely dedicated to his chosen way of life.
From the barn door, Ronald points out a Holstein calf that takes a few wobbly steps before falling down.
“The part of her brain that helps her maintain equilibrium doesn't work,” he explained. “Pete White, our veterinarian, said he hadn't come across anything like that for a long time. He thought it was pretty unusual.”
Sadly, according to Ronald, the calf will not figure in the farm's long-range plans. In contrast, there is Edna, a healthy, robust first-calf heifer, the progeny of a bull noted for siring high milk-producing heifers. Edna is expected to make a significant contribution to the farm's rolling herd average of 27,000 pounds.
“That's what makes farming so interesting for me,” Ronald said.
“Nothing's static, everything is always changing in regards to the animals, the weather, crops. Each day you wake up to a brand-new scenario and have to be ready to deal with it. It's not always pretty or easy, but that's farm life.”
Glancing at his wristwatch, he heads into the barn to begin the evening milking with Frank. I ask him if he's looking forward to the day he can retire. He stops, turns back and says with a laugh, “Retirement? That word doesn't exist for me. No sir! I enjoy farming too much. I imagine the day I'm not farming anymore, that will be the day I'm no longer walking this good earth.”
http://www.theithacajournal.com/apps/pbcs.dll/article?AID=/20080105/COLUMNISTS36/801050308/1002/NEWS01
Saturday, January 5, 2008
Upbeat start to Farmers Week; Dairy sector bouyed by high prices, new products
It isn't just record high world prices for milk or the rapid recovery in late 2007 of U.S. markets for Canadian dairy breeding stock that has Dairy Farmers of Ontario chairman Bruce Saunders smiling these days.
It turns out that milk is also ideal for introducing key dietary supplements to nutrition-conscious consumers, notably beneficial bacteria and Omega 3 fats. Saunders, who farms near Chatsworth and represents Grey and Bruce counties on the Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) board, delivered an upbeat outlook for dairy farming in Elmwood on Friday during the opening day of this year's Farmers Week.
"It's a good year," Saunders said in an interview later. "For dairy, this is a good year and I fully expect 2008 will be a good year as well."
Friday's dairy day included a high profile panel on dairy food additives, including one of the inventors of the Omega 3 egg, Guelph University nutritionist Dr. Bruce Holub.
Over the past 23 years, Holub and his Guelph colleagues have demonstrated the nutritional benefits of feeding fishmeal to livestock, most notably chickens who produce eggs that carry fish-derived, Omega 3 fats.
Fish-derived Omega 3 is crucial to optimum brain and eye function but North Americans just don't get enough because they don't eat enough fish, Holub said. His research demonstrates the feeding of fish-based feeds to livestock can supply the Omega 3s missing from the North American diet.
The Canadian Cattlemen's Association recently announced research into Omega 3 beef and there are hog feeding experiments worldwide.
"Ten years ago when I first started work on Omega 3 eggs, there wasn't a single Omega 3 egg. Two years ago, it was five per cent of the market. A recent figure is 12 per cent of all eggs sold," Holub said.
"You name any animal category, Omega 3 is going to be a player for many decades to come," he said.
The market is huge and growing for new foods and food additives, research director John Michaelides of the Guelph Food Technology Centre told about 150 farmers at Friday's meeting.
U.S. sales of Omega 3 enhanced products increased from $100 million in 2002 to about $2 billion in 2006, he said. By 2011, Michaelides expects sales of Omega 3 foods to ring in at about $7 million.
That provides an important opportunity for dairy farmers, Saunders said, referring specifically to plans to develop and promote organic and Omega 3 enhanced milk.
"The message coming out now as to what dairy will do for you, the human being . . . we should all be drinking gallons and gallons of milk," Saunders said.
The new opportunities come on top of generally strong world milk prices.
Drought in Australian drought has eliminated that country's dairy exports and European and U.S. stockpiles of butter and skim milk powder have essentially disappeared, Saunders said.
"Will they stay at record highs?" Saunders asked of prices for milk. "No. Farmers will produce more. Supply will catch demand, but most people are saying not for 18 months."
Meanwhile DFO, which manages fluid milk in the province, has announced a 3.9 per cent increase in milk production quota and a price increase to farmers of 3.49 per cent effective Feb. 1. The nationally administered industrial milk price is up about one per cent.
2007 also brought the return of trade in breeding stock and livestock sales revenue lost to Ontario dairy farmers when the U.S. border closed in May 2003 after a case of mad cow disease was found in a cow in Alberta .
Saunders said the volume of trade has picked up quickly because of lucrative milk prices. Between 1,000 and 1,200 diary heifers a week are exported to the U.S.
"The result is that cattle prices are high and we're seeing that in some of the exports that are happening," Saunders said.
Farmers Week, a series of seminars organized by area farmers, continue today and Sunday with sessions on sheep, goats and horses with talks on ecological farming, beef and crops on Monday and Tuesday.
http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=843675&auth=JIM+ALGIE
It turns out that milk is also ideal for introducing key dietary supplements to nutrition-conscious consumers, notably beneficial bacteria and Omega 3 fats. Saunders, who farms near Chatsworth and represents Grey and Bruce counties on the Dairy Farmers of Ontario (DFO) board, delivered an upbeat outlook for dairy farming in Elmwood on Friday during the opening day of this year's Farmers Week.
"It's a good year," Saunders said in an interview later. "For dairy, this is a good year and I fully expect 2008 will be a good year as well."
Friday's dairy day included a high profile panel on dairy food additives, including one of the inventors of the Omega 3 egg, Guelph University nutritionist Dr. Bruce Holub.
Over the past 23 years, Holub and his Guelph colleagues have demonstrated the nutritional benefits of feeding fishmeal to livestock, most notably chickens who produce eggs that carry fish-derived, Omega 3 fats.
Fish-derived Omega 3 is crucial to optimum brain and eye function but North Americans just don't get enough because they don't eat enough fish, Holub said. His research demonstrates the feeding of fish-based feeds to livestock can supply the Omega 3s missing from the North American diet.
The Canadian Cattlemen's Association recently announced research into Omega 3 beef and there are hog feeding experiments worldwide.
"Ten years ago when I first started work on Omega 3 eggs, there wasn't a single Omega 3 egg. Two years ago, it was five per cent of the market. A recent figure is 12 per cent of all eggs sold," Holub said.
"You name any animal category, Omega 3 is going to be a player for many decades to come," he said.
The market is huge and growing for new foods and food additives, research director John Michaelides of the Guelph Food Technology Centre told about 150 farmers at Friday's meeting.
U.S. sales of Omega 3 enhanced products increased from $100 million in 2002 to about $2 billion in 2006, he said. By 2011, Michaelides expects sales of Omega 3 foods to ring in at about $7 million.
That provides an important opportunity for dairy farmers, Saunders said, referring specifically to plans to develop and promote organic and Omega 3 enhanced milk.
"The message coming out now as to what dairy will do for you, the human being . . . we should all be drinking gallons and gallons of milk," Saunders said.
The new opportunities come on top of generally strong world milk prices.
Drought in Australian drought has eliminated that country's dairy exports and European and U.S. stockpiles of butter and skim milk powder have essentially disappeared, Saunders said.
"Will they stay at record highs?" Saunders asked of prices for milk. "No. Farmers will produce more. Supply will catch demand, but most people are saying not for 18 months."
Meanwhile DFO, which manages fluid milk in the province, has announced a 3.9 per cent increase in milk production quota and a price increase to farmers of 3.49 per cent effective Feb. 1. The nationally administered industrial milk price is up about one per cent.
2007 also brought the return of trade in breeding stock and livestock sales revenue lost to Ontario dairy farmers when the U.S. border closed in May 2003 after a case of mad cow disease was found in a cow in Alberta .
Saunders said the volume of trade has picked up quickly because of lucrative milk prices. Between 1,000 and 1,200 diary heifers a week are exported to the U.S.
"The result is that cattle prices are high and we're seeing that in some of the exports that are happening," Saunders said.
Farmers Week, a series of seminars organized by area farmers, continue today and Sunday with sessions on sheep, goats and horses with talks on ecological farming, beef and crops on Monday and Tuesday.
http://www.owensoundsuntimes.com/ArticleDisplay.aspx?e=843675&auth=JIM+ALGIE
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