At the Illinois Holstein Association annual meeting in Sycamore, Illinois, this particular group was not large, less that 70 folks present, but if you want to talk about survivors and innovators go to any dairy meeting and you will find them. I honestly feel the individuals who are still engaged in the purebred industry of any species hold such a tremendous value to the overall food system and their value is almost completely overlooked.
We have moved the genetic systems so quickly to a spot where the proven animals can quickly influence thousands of offspring with artificial inseminations and even embryo transfer that folks who continue to maintain outcross genetics within each breed offer a tremendous insurance policy to the future of animal breeding. I might mention that most frequently they are not rewarded financially for what they are doing but continue to do it because they are passionate about the process.
The day after the meeting I had the opportunity to visit a couple of the neighborhood dairies. First, the Lenkaitis dairy owned by a young farm family of Andy and Sarah. At the meeting on Friday evening they were recognized by the Illinois Holstein Association as the outstanding junior breeders in the state. They have two children under the age of 5 and two robotic milkers that help get the job done 24/7. The massive labor requirement of a dairy does not leave when you hire robots to milk the cows but it certainly does create more freedom than previously had been experienced. All in all, the accomplishments of this farm family in a quickly urbanizing area only 45 miles from downtown Chicago are extremely impressive.
The other dairy I had the opportunity to visit happened somewhat by accident. My best friend all through school, William Mills, is a pastor in a church in Sycamore, Illinois, so I was fortunate to go to lunch with him while I was in the area. He mentioned to me that he had a family in his church that milked a few cows. It turned out to be Emily and Clair Plapp, two sisters under the age of 30 that are milking 21 Jersey cows and selling raw milk to consumers in the area.
Strangely enough, Illinois is one of the states that allows raw milk sales on farm, although with a whole list of restrictions. I cannot come to grips with the government stepping in between a willing seller and a willing buyer of any farm products. Why on earth can’t I sell anything I produce to someone who is willing to buy it? You can give the public health speech all you want but I am not buying it. I have seen in so many states, with Kansas being the best example, that the dairy industry itself is the largest lobbyist for a ban on raw milk sales.
Furthermore, I am not promoting that the dairy industry move away from pasteurization, I am very simply saying that if a farm has milk that a consumer wants to buy directly, there should be no law or regulation preventing such a thing from happening. Honestly though, it is very easy to make the argument that human disease challenges that come from raw milk consumption happened back in the days when animals and milking systems did not have the same hygiene standards that we have today. Most importantly, what farm family would willingly sell a product to their customer knowing they would have a health challenge as a result?
In closing, I have once again had the opportunity to experience a tremendous amount of diversity in the farming community and believe that we should all strive to do even more. The bottom line is the only way we survive is to find our niche and our ability to shorten the supply chain from farm to fork. There is not one recipe to get that done, but without question it needs to be our top priority.
Editor’s note: The views expressed here are the author’s own and do not represent the views of High Plains Journal. Trent Loos is a sixth generation United States farmer, host of the daily radio show, Loos Tales, and founder of Faces of Agriculture, a non-profit organization putting the human element back into the production of food. Get more information at www.LoosTales.com, or email Trent at [email protected].
