BLUMENORT, Man. – For farm parents wondering if that toy tractor is really worth $79.95, it turns out that playing with farm toys does affect kids.
“When I was a kid that’s all I did was play with farm machinery. Set up farmyards and park everything and just play and play and play,” said Tim Wiens while looking out the kitchen window of his farmhouse near Blumenort, Man., 40 kilometres southeast of Winnipeg.
“That’s sort of how I want it now …. I have this vision for this whole farm complete. Every building redone, renovated … and looking sharp.”
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Wien’s boyhood plans for his dream farm are now coming in handy because he and his wife, Roxanne, are running a 30-cow dairy, producing a quota of 24 kilograms of butterfat each day.
In August 2006, Tim launched his dairy on a homestead that was his grandparents’ residence until the late 1990s. Twinwell Dairy, the same name as his grandparents’ farm, is located a kilometre from his parents’ 1,500 acre grain farm.
After graduating with a diploma in agriculture from the University of Manitoba, and time out to travel in Asia, Tim worked with his dad, Alvin, on the family farm.
But after some difficult years in the mid 2000s, Tim decided to diversify into milk production.
“Those were the years where we had a lot of wet weather … and it was really tough to pull off grain from the land. So I was constantly searching for alternatives and it led me to explore the dairy industry more,” said Tim, who continues to work with his dad on grain production.
The timing of Tim’s move into milk production was excellent. The Dairy Farmers of Manitoba launched a program in 2006 to encourage young farmers to join the industry. The program required Tim to purchase 12 kilograms of quota and the Dairy Farmers would provide the other 12 kg.
There was one catch – Tim needed a functioning dairy barn.
The Wiens family had operated a dairy on Tim’s grandparents’ property for nearly 40 years, but the barn had been abandoned since 1999 when his grandparents left the farm and the quota was sold.
At the kitchen table, Tim flipped through before and after photos of the barn, explaining the renovations done over the winter, spring and summer of 2006.
“There was a lot of work to do …. It had sat dormant and collected cobwebs,” said Tim. He began by pressure washing the 10 x 62 metre barn.
“Windows were rotting and there was absolutely no paint on the barn …. There was maybe one light (socket) that worked.”
One of the biggest challenges of upgrading the building was jack hammering the concrete around the animals’ stalls to establish more modern housing.
Aside from the physical work, there was also the financial stress.
“Money was tight and I had trouble going for coffee sometimes,” said Tim, who now laughs about those days. “I emptied whatever personal savings I had into it … and once that ran out, I started talking to my dad.”
Alvin was initially skeptical of the dairy idea, but was converted when he witnessed Tim’s commitment to renovating the barn.
“That made me feel a lot better … that he did put a lot of work into renovations,” said Alvin.
Once Tim got the barn into shape, there was still the matter of producing 24 kg of butterfat each day. Managing the cycle and timing of pregnancies in dairy farming was a large learning curve.
“I found it very difficult when I started. I didn’t have my AI (artificial insemination) technician ticket,” said Tim, noting that to maximize milk production, dairy cows should get pregnant 60 days after calving.
Once he got his AI ticket, and more experience getting cows on and off the 305-day lactation cycle, Tim had no trouble filling his quota.
He somehow found time for wedding plans with Roxanne. They were married this spring and began their life together as a young farm couple. It was a bit of an adjustment for Roxanne, who wasn’t raised on a farm but lived in the nearby community of La Broquerie.
“I didn’t know everything it would entail, but I was open to the idea. In the beginning it was a little overwhelming,” said Roxanne. “I enjoy helping out and doing what I can.”
To learn more about their operation, Roxanne is planning to attend a seminar for women working on dairy farms at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin, this fall.
Along with more knowledge about dairy basics, Roxanne plans to use the skills from her business administration degree to contribute to the accounting side of their farm.
Looking farther down the road, the young couple wants to restore the look and feel of the farm that Tim remembers from his childhood.
“I want to create Twinwell again, because it once was a very nice, well maintained and prosperous farm. And that’s what I want to rebuild,” he said, looking out his window at the farm’s front yard.
“It’s a huge challenge. It’s a big undertaking … but it’s my mission.”
