GRAND FORKS, B.C. – It wasn’t a need to diversify, but a desire to farm that led Vickie and Rick Llewellyn to set up an organic dairy operation in the Granby River Valley, deep in British Columbia’s southern interior.
The Llewellyns knew that with only 5.5 acres owned in the town of Grand Forks and another 30 rented acres in the immediate vicinity, they would have to find creative ways to milk all the revenue they could from their farm.
A love of Jersey cattle and small land requirements made dairy an easy choice.
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Still, dairy farms can be financially challenging if they aren’t big enough to support expensive equipment and buildings. The couple, which had worked with livestock before, wanted to be able to give their cattle individual attention. This hands-on treatment would also limit the number of cattle they would milk. They currently milk 43 Jersey cows.
Vickie learned how to make cheese, dry curd cottage cheese and yogurt through the University of Wisconsin’s distance learning cheese making technology program.
“Someone had to make the cheese and someone had to raise the cattle and do the milking. I was the one who ended up making the cheese,” she said.
“It is a lot like cooking. I’ve always enjoyed gourmet cooking and it isn’t a great leap to make cheese. Even so, a lot of cheese ended up being fed to the chickens the first couple of years.”
Transforming the farm into an organic operation was another way to increase revenue.
“We really didn’t have to change much about the way we operated,” Vickie said.
“Rick had to stop using (commercial) fertilizers. That was about it.”
Organic certification takes three years. During that time they had to use organic feed and their land had to go through a “transition phase.” They couldn’t market their cheese as organic, yet had all the challenges and expenses of an organic farm.
Obtaining milk quota was one hurdle. The Llewellyns received quota under a “new products” milk quota program that required them to obtain additional quota over time. This was needed to replace the original allocation as the dairy commission clawed back the new product quota.
The couple built a milking parlor that holds 12 animals and milks three at a time. The milk is cooled and piped across the yard to the cheese plant.
Building a cheese plant brought more federal regulations. The milk barn had to be built away from the processing facility, and twin sets of septic systems had to be designed.
Organic feed is expensive because it has to be shipped from the Prairies to an organic mill in B.C.’s lower mainland, and then back to Grand Forks. Hay is bought from local organic producers.
The farm processes 60 kilograms of milk a day into 18 varieties of unpasturized milk cheese, some with organic herbs and other unique ingredients, as well as yogurt. The dairy distributes its produce through organic wholesalers and other food businesses.
The unpasturized cheeses must be aged for a minimum of 60 days at eight C to ensure they are safe.
Surplus bull calves are raised to market weight and slaughtered locally. The beef is labeled organic and sold at the tiny cheese counter at the front of their processing plant.
They employ a part-time cheese maker, a part-time milker and a full-time hired man.
In 1999 the couple’s dedication to the ethical treatment of their animals paid off. They were awarded the B.C. Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals’ farmers of the year award.
“We’ve only had one sick animal in the last nine months, so it not only saves money on treatment but it also means we think our cattle are happier,” she said.
“We like to think that makes them more productive, but maybe it just means Rick and I are happier.”
