Awards aside, dairy farmers at fair speak of bleak future
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Karrie Ayer, 6, of North Ferrisburgh, participates in the open dairy judging at the Vermont State Fair in Rutland on Saturday morning. Cassandra Hotaling / Rutland Herald |
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By PATRICK McARDLE STAFF WRITER - Published: September 13, 2009
Megan and Emily Giddings, sisters who came to the Vermont State Fair on Saturday to show dairy cows, said they loved dairy farming but neither plans to follow their father into business at Diglige Farms in Brandon.
The Giddings have sold their farm, but the young women still raise cows during the summer.
"I don't know if I would want to be a farmer because they're struggling so much. I don't want to feel the struggle," said Emily, 16, a student at Otter Valley Union High School.
Megan, 20, a college student, is studying nursing.
"I would do dairy farming if I could make a living from it. … In my generation, there (are) kids that have tried it, but none of my friends have been successful. They dropped out of school to do it or haven't gone to school to do it, then, a year or two later, they stop farming and the farm sells and then they go to school," she said.
Dairy farmers and their families at a Holstein judging event at the fair on Saturday spoke of how they continue to raise cows, some on rented farmland and in the face of mounting debt, but are pessimistic about the future of family dairy farms in Vermont.
Kathy Nelson, whose father Walter Perry of Ira was director of the fair in Rutland, said the Cornerest Farms in Granville, N.Y., has been in her husband's family for 200 years and four generations. They hope it will continue to be a family dairy farm.
"This is the worst year ever. I don't know. It's pretty rough. I'm hoping the price [of milk] will go up and we can continue," she said.
Her granddaughter, Lauren Nelson, 16, said she had thought about going into the family business.
"I would pursue it, but I'm being encouraged not to just because it's unsteady right now. … But then, some people also just like it so much they don't really care. They still want to pursue a career in the dairy industry," she said.
Joseph Kill, 19, of Bethel, said he enjoys dairy farming but knows it's not really profitable. His family rents the New Beginning Farm in Bethel where they raise about 70 head of cattle. He does not plan to farm.
Kill, a student studying physical therapy at Lyndon State University, said he thought there were more cows being shown in 2009 than there had been in past years but it wasn't enough to make him optimistic about the future of dairy farming in Vermont.
"I think there will be a push to make dairy survive in Vermont but with the price of animal, feed and milk, the way it is, I have to say it's not looking great for dairy anywhere really especially in Vermont if you're trying to save family farms," he said.
Martha Hayward, who owns Glen-Mar Farm in Castleton, with her husband, Glen, said they had borrowed "a huge amount of money to keep this place running" although they would have been debt-free in the spring if they hadn't.
But the Haywards wanted the farm to be available for the next generation of dairy farmers like Shawn Cook, 18, of Hubbarton.
Cook works at Glen-Mar where he helps raise the farm's 100 cows and the cows he owns. Cook said he is determined to make a career in dairy farming for as long as he can.
"I think (dairy farming) is here to stay. We'll find a way to pull through somehow," he said.
patrick.mcardle@rutlandherald.com
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