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"We dairy farmers need to stick together, if we don't we will be going to each other's sale! - DALE BURRIER
Maryland Dairy Farmer Urges Unity
by
Fran Alt
One of the prettier views in Frederick County, Maryland, can be seen from the farmhouse where Dale Burrier grew up. When Dale's father Harold bought the farm over thirty years ago he had no idea he was buying a piece of Burrier history. According to Dale, other family members started looking into genealogy and discovered the farm originally belonged to one of three Burrier brothers who settled here more than one hundred years ago. Dale enjoys knowing the land is steeped in family history and would like to like to keep it that way.
But there are problems - urban encroachment and poor milk prices.
"Everything is pushing us away," Dale says. "We dairy farmers need to stick together, if we don't we will be going to each other's sale! Dairy farmers never asked for much, and now we can't even survive. The dairy farmer is at the bottom of everyone's list."
Dale farms with his parents, Harold and Judy, and his wife Sherry. He and Sherry have three sons Timothy 18, Dale Jr. 15, and six-year-old Joshua. He says the farm can no longer support the family, so everyone else works outside the farm, including Timothy. Dale and Dale Jr. do most of the farming, with the rest of the family helping during the evening and weekends.
The Burriers have Holsteins - 130 milking head, two bulls, 14 heifers and have just added two Jerseys. Besides raising heifers, they also buy cows.
Dale says today's farmer needs to be a versatile. "You have to know everything. Fixing your own equipment saves a lot of money. If a tractor needs a clutch, you have to be able to do it yourself to help make ends meet."
Working in their spare time, the Burriers built their own double six milking parlor. The project took four years.
"The most we ever milk is 150," Dale said, "but if prices get better we would stay where we are now (130). I would rather have less money and more time with my family. There's too much work. I'd like to get where I can take weekends off.
"I get up at 4:00 a.m., do the barnyard and feed-up. Then, I scrape-up and if I have field work I'll do that. The busy work comes with planting corn and stuff. We put some rye grass out and we'll probably pasture that. We put corn out for silage, alfalfa - small grains. We put out oats this spring. And then there's twice a day milking."
Typical of farmers in his area Dale does not use bst. He thinks it wears cows down. "It's not good for your herd. Cows live longer without it. With bst you have to keep their body weight up and cows burn out; they don't last. We do TR mixing . . . mixing hay and corn silage and all your additives. The animals graze April to fall."
Dale feels the dairy farmers' lot can improve with unity. "Together," he says, "we can change the change the future. We need to have control over our milk. I push ARMPPA, it's our only hope. Why should we be so different from other industries? When you buy a pair of shoes they have a price tag. You pay it or you don' t buy them. That's the way farming should be. We never know what we will get for our milks until six weeks later. They pay us what they want!
"We have to pay the hauling. What other businesses do that? If someone wants our milk they should pay for the hauling. Farmers should know how much money they are getting for their milk before it leaves the farm."
Dale admires the way Amish dairy farmers 'stick together,' and says dairy farmers throughout the United States should unite. Without unity he feels the future of the family farm is in jeopardy.
"The family operated farms have better herds, better quality milk. Our cows are happier and healthier . . . farming families take care of our herds."