OSLER, Sask. – A gravel driveway that separates a large red barn from a family home also divides the roles of outstanding young farmers Art and Elaine Pruim.
The couple was presented with the award at this year’s Western Canada Farm Progress show in Regina.
Art manages the milking parlours, corrals, fields and staff on one side of the expansive lane while Elaine tends to home, a family of five children, a garden and farm bookkeeping on the other side.
John, Brad, James, Travis and Nicole range in age from eight to 14 and also play a role, hoeing weeds in the garden and folding clothes in preparation for a family holiday this day.
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Five full-time and two part-time staff help Plum Blossom Farms and Matvale Holsteins grow corn, alfalfa, barley and oats for feed and silage on 1,400 acres, six quarters of which are irrigated.
“Irrigation is an insurance policy,” said Art, who oversees the field and barn work and hires a neighbour for custom work.
He handles the manure himself.
“I call it fertilizer, not waste,” he said.
The Pruims get their fields tested every year so they can apply manure where it’s needed most.
The Osler farm also milks 400 cows three times a day and manages cattle genetics through embryo transplants and sexed semen, taking embryos from super ovulating top cows and placing them in lower end cows with the help of a veterinary service that specializes in this field.
Art said one cow produced 125 good embryos on seven different occasions during an 18-month period.
“We’re trying to advance the genetics faster,” he said from a farm kitchen lined with wallpaper and knick-knacks mirroring the Holsteins he raises.
He recently added 20 Jerseys to his Holstein herd for a new challenge.
“We try not just to fill the (milk) tank,” Art said. “We’re trying to genetically improve the herd.”
The farm will host veterinary students learning how to conduct ultrasounds on cattle.
Many of the male calves are sold for research. Others are raised and marketed.
The couple said it’s these innovations and use an aggressive business plan that likely won them the young farmer award.
“We’ve done in 11 what we thought we’d do in 25 to 30 years,” Art said.
They moved to the Osler farm from British Columbia in 1998 for “cheap dirt and cheap quota,” said Art, citing the price difference of $1,200 per acre to $30,000 per acre.
“That’s a big difference,” said Art, whose father in Abbotsford, B.C., and grandfather in Holland both run dairy farms.
“We were always instructed to spread our wings and look at all opportunities,” he said.
“We wanted to expand and deemed it wise to expand somewhere else.”
The supply-managed commodity gives the farm a good cash flow, but the Pruims said it’s not a get rich quick scheme.
“It’s a lifestyle; if it’s not in the blood, don’t do it,” Elaine said of the labour intensive business.”
“We at least know we’re getting a consistent paycheque. It’s not going to go up and down with the markets.”
Art said open markets for dairy in other parts of the world have not benefitted farmers – only retailers and processors.
“The one who wins is in the middle and is making all the money.”
He said consumers receive a good product at a good price and dairy farmers receive a fair return for their investment and work.
Osler has become “dairy central” because of its close proximity to Saskatchewan’s only milk processor, Saputo, in Saskatoon.
Labour issues
Saskatchewan is a big change from B.C., where spring really starts in March, but the Pruims’ biggest challenge has been farm labour.
“Milkers are hard to find and keep,” Elaine said.
The Pruims, who recently travelled to the Philippines to recruit, are hoping to bring in four workers through the federal Labour Market Opinion and Provincial Nominee Programs.
“It’s still in paperwork,” Art said.
The Pruims look for a good work ethic from their staff and their children.
They said Nicole and Travis like to feed the calves and Brad worked 30 hours in June. James also helps wherever needed while John, the oldest, works part-time off farm.
“My dad thinks it’s good to work at a different farm and the pay is good,” said John, sporting an Indiana Moo T-shirt from the Cows store.
Art thinks it’s good training for life.
“You have to do a good job when you do a job and work hard,” he said. “I vowed my kids would never be termed lazy.”
The chores also earn the children the opportunity to participate in numerous community sports.
Elaine splits her time between coaching her children’s teams, doing payroll and gardening, which is her passion.
Art is chair of the local church council and has served on the Saskatchewan Holstein Branch and Westgen boards.
He juggles jobs around the farm with the help of a cell phone that is never far from his hip but makes sure to set aside time each year for family holidays and lakeside getaways in the family’s trailer.
“The business will be there when I get back from holidays,” he said.
“You almost lose focus if you think you are the only one who has to be there.”
