WARMAN, Sask. – At 9 a.m., Jason Wildeboar, finished with the first of
today’s three milkings, is trying to wrench a flat tire off a piece of
equipment.
There is always work to do, as he well knows. He grew up on a dairy
farm in Lacombe, Alta., and spent a few years working as an apprentice
agricultural mechanic, welder and salesman of dairy equipment before
deciding he wanted to farm.
“I’m here because of opportunity,” said Wildeboar, 25. “Quota and land
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prices are more expensive in Alberta.”
Two years ago, after a discussion over Christmas dinner, he and his dad
drove to this central Saskatchewan area to scout for farms. They ended
up buying the first one they had looked at. With his parents’ financial
help, Wildeboar relocated.
“At the time I was single so I jumped at the opportunity.”
Family money helped him erect a new dairy barn, milking parlour, bunker
silage and grain handling area and put in pivot irrigation on the
quarter of land. He milks 100-110 Holsteins three times a day to get
better production and to keep a close eye on the cows’ health.
Moving to this predominantly Mennonite farming community might have
been a culture shock, but Jason and his wife of 10 months, Tanya, found
friends among younger couples, a few of whom have also moved to the
area from Alberta or British Columbia. Like the Wildeboars, it was the
cheap land that attracted them.
To Tanya, who comes from a nonfarming background in Chilliwack, B.C.,
it is comforting to see a few familiar faces. It helps her bear the
winter, which she has found is the hardest adjustment to a Saskatchewan
farm.
She is up every morning with her husband and does odds and ends around
the farm, but her main contribution is an offÐfarm hairdressing job in
a nearby town.
The Wildeboars have two part-timers who help with the milking and
chores and allow them the occasional time to get away, such as their
January honeymoon in Hawaii.
Wildeboar spent several years in 4-H and when he came to Warman, he
decided to join the Saskatchewan Young Farmers’ Forum. While not as
active as he would like to be, he supports its goals of getting better
help from government for beginning farmers and intergenerational
transfer. Most of the young farmers he knows are borrowing their
parents’ equity to start, he said.
“The majority of this is still Dad’s,” he said of the new operation. “I
would work an 8 to 5 job the rest of my life without my family’s help.”
In fact he, his dad and brother run their two farms in sync, with Jason
shipping his dry cows and heifers to the Lacombe operation. His dad
drives out weekly to see how things are going.
Wildeboar’s cows spend all their time in the barn. With a high ceiling
and both doors open, a cooling breeze is blowing through onto the
sleepy cows this July morning.
This summer Jason is growing barley and corn under irrigation and it’s
looking “quite well,” he said. This will be the first year since he
started that he will not have to buy feed for the herd. Corn is an
unusual choice but Jason said he likes its high tonnage per acre, plus
the fact it will take more manure.
“It should be enough to get the cows through the winter.”
Although world trade talks may challenge the security of a supply
managed farm like dairy, Wildeboar said he figures there will always be
some sort of system in place.
“More farmers I talk to who are not supply management are jealous.”
Wildeboar said it is not that dairy quota ensures wealth, but that it
is consistent income – “something you can budget on.”
He also likes his industry’s promotion efforts and says it is necessary
to continue educating the urban public about where their food comes
from.
Jason dreams of buying more land and expanding. A milking herd double
its present size will probably be the minimum in the near future, he
said. He and Tanya also plan to have a family and he hopes to help his
children the same way his parents have.
“If they want to farm,” adds Tanya.
Although there is a house on the farm, Jason and Tanya have chosen to
rent it out while they live in a trailer by the barn. They won’t need
the extra space until they have children.
