BEAUSEJOUR, Man. – Ellen Gorter and Steven Boerchers have a lot of faith in the future of farming.
“I’m passionate about this industry. I believe in it,” Gorter said as the couple’s 11-month-old daughter played and cooed happily in their kitchen.
“We have to be committed to this because the banks won’t let us forget about our commitments to them.”
The young couple – Boerchers is 31 and Gorter is 23 – have waded deep into the financial and personal commitment that many young farmers face.
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They bought their 540 acre, 100 cow dairy farm from a retiring farmer in August 2009 and Gorter gave birth to Everleigh less than a year later.
Taking on a new farm and parenting was a lot at one time.
“I was scared,” said Boerchers with a grin, admitting he was more concerned about his abilities to be a good father than a good dairy herd manager. “You have to worry because you want to do well.”
Boerchers, like Gorter, grew up with dairy cattle. He worked with his father’s herd near Dauphin, Man., and developed expertise with dairy cow genetics and embryos.
Gorter comes from a farm south of Winnipeg and wanted to have a life on a dairy farm.
With their families’ farms so far apart and their parents not retiring, they knew they had to find somewhere they could farm together.
Boerchers made the geographical sacrifice by agreeing to move to the Winnipeg area.
“I wasn’t going to Dauphin because I didn’t see the potential (for dairy farming) there,” Gorter said.
Besides, the move made business sense.
Boerchers was tired of the long drives
to Winnipeg to market his herd’s embryos, and cross-Canada trips were harder when they were beginning three hours from Winnipeg.
He was also losing embryo sales opportunities with foreign buyers who would fly to Winnipeg for a day to visit dairy herds but wouldn’t have time to drive to Dauphin.
“We were always on the outside looking in,” he said.
The couple hoped to buy a farm near Gorter’s parents’ farm, but nothing suitable or affordable was available.
Steinbach is Manitoba’s dairy hub, but land prices were high and they couldn’t afford anything there.
However, the Beausejour farm came on the market at the right time, and with financial backing from both families, the couple was able to afford to buy land, facilities and dairy quota.
They like being hands-on managers of their cattle and milking operations, but when the baby came, they reluctantly had to accept that they needed to trust others to do some of the work.
“We were doing everything by ourselves until two days before the baby came,” said Boerchers, laughing at the memory.
“I came home from the hospital while (Ellen) was in labour, showed her brother how things worked here, then rushed back to the hospital.”
They have learned to relax their control and allow hired help to do the evening milking, although they still do the morning milking.
“We’re so lucky. We have good help,” she said.
Gorter doesn’t limit her enthusiasm to the farm. She recently took part in the Agriculture In The City event in Winnipeg, working at the Manitoba Milk Board display and showing urban residents how modern milking is done.
“I love telling people what we do,” she said. “I’m proud of this.”
