As we celebrate Maine Dairy Month this June, we're sharing perspectives from some of Maine's dairy farmers who make this important agricultural sector what it is, a cornerstone of farming across the state. With over 200 farms that tend herds of dairy cows, goats, sheep, and even water buffalo, Maine's dairy farms and creameries generate over $900 million/year in direct economic impact (that's almost 28% of Maine's entire agricultural sector!). Dairy farms steward vast acreages of farmland in Maine and are often described as “anchor farms” because they provide the necessary threshold of business for veterinarians, feed suppliers, and machine suppliers to serve farms of all types and sizes. In the stories we share this month, we hope to shed light on the challenges that Maine dairy farmers face -- and the passion and hard work they put into the milk and dairy products they produce for our communities.
In early June, we caught up with Tysen and Amanda Ober, second generation farmers at Widdershins, LLC in Dover-Foxcroft, a 30-acre "Forever Farm" that is part of MFT's Farm Network. Widdershins is a licensed raw dairy and creamery, producing raw cow and goat milk, and dairy products like yogurt, lassis, butter, cheese, and soap. As part of a diversified business, they also raise grass-fed beef and pastured pork, and they sell all of their farm products directly to consumers through their on-site farm store.
"There are a lot of people desiring raw dairy these days, amongst a healthy food movement. Our farm can only grow so big, and we can only compete at a small scale level. Ultimately though, we don't want to be ginormous. We value our customer base, and our care for our farm and animals sets us apart from the big outfits." - Tysen Ober
While the two got into farming in different ways, they share a love for livestock and the farming lifestyle as a whole. Tysen was raised on the farm (his mother Wendy Russell founded Widdershins, and Tysen and Amanda became the farm's owners earlier this year). "I've always loved cows, they're one of my favorite farm animals, besides hogs. We were small scale homesteaders before purchasing the farm from my mom, with one cow, a few goats and some poultry. I've drank every kind of milk available, from raw to shelf stable and I want to promote the health benefits of raw dairy," he says. Amanda's lifelong love of horses led her to explore the Agriculture side of her college campus. Visiting the horses, cows, and pigs regularly, she switched her major to Livestock Management. "Visiting Widdershins for the first time and interning with Wendy helped me fall in love with the farming lifestyle," says Amanda.
Their love for their animals makes the work rewarding -- and they love to share the reward with their community. "My favorite thing about dairy farming is working with the cows. There is something very cathartic and satisfying about the whole milking process, start to finish. The milk room always smells sweet, the mamas are always mewing for their babies," says Tysen, and seeing their cows mothering their young and roaming green pastures, the couple remark that "God's design for man was definitely farming." Amanda adds: "I also really enjoy having our store right here on our property. That way we can get to know our customers and they can see where their food comes from too!"
While the farm life can seem idyllic, there are certainly challenges at hand for the Obers. Cows eat - a lot! - and harvesting or buying in enough hay to feed their herd year-round isn't easy, especially when hay inventory is low and prices are sky-high, as they were this winter when last year's seemingly-endless rain led to a poor yield across the state. Tysen also points to the stress of milk inspection; in his view, raw dairy receives an unequal and higher level of scrutiny.
And as a small, family-operated farm, the challenges of competition, growth, costs, and family life are all intertwined: "There are a lot of people desiring raw dairy these days, amongst a healthy food movement. Our farm can only grow so big, and we can only compete at a small scale level. Ultimately though, we don't want to be ginormous. We value our customer base, and our care for our farm and animals sets us apart from the big outfits," says Tysen.
"For dairy farmers, I think it's probably the margins of cost versus sales," Amanda elaborates. "For our family specifically, my husband and I are running the farm with four small children. I find that we need hired help, but we can't afford to pay for an employee. Therefore, it's a challenging balancing act of work and family life."
Still, Tysen and Amanda's passion for farming and belief in producing healthy, local food for the community outweigh the challenges. In opposition to mass-scale farming that they see as pursuing the bottom line over human health, they see local food as a way to reclaim sovereignty over the food that we eat: "Farming is definitely not for the faint of heart. However, there was a time in our history where everyone had to do some sort of farming to survive. Try growing your own, or eat local and unprocessed food and you can unlock a little bit of freedom."
As Tysen and Amanda describe their mission, "We believe in honoring God's creation (both the land and the creatures!) through sustainable farming practices and providing our community with quality products." Short term, they hope to sustain themselves as full-time farmers without having to take off-farm jobs (previously, Tysen worked in law enforcement). Long term, "our goal is to turn Widdershins into a place for the community to gather and learn about how they can improve their lives, as well as get some real, healthy products that they might not be able to find in the grocery store aisles."
You can visit the Widdershins farm store from 8am-7pm daily. For more information, find them on Facebook here.
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