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Photojournalistas.com |
| Sept/Oct, 2002 |
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"I really like the dairy industry but it’s going the way of the chickens (an industry that collapsed in New England in the 1970s)…I think in the long run the consumers are going to be the loser in it."
- Pat McNamara |
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The compact was only designed to help keep dairy farmers afloat in times of depressed milk prices. Some dairy farmers are looking for other ways to make their farms more profitable and more efficient, while making their income more predictable. Back in Concord, Scott Bartlett expressed concern about the future of dairy farms the size of theirs. One thing that he has considered is bottling and selling their own milk so that they would not be at the mercy of milk prices set by processors. Scott believes that the idea would work but worries that if it didn’t his father and mother would be left without a retirement because the farm would have to be mortgaged to get the loans to make it happen. Failure would mean the loss of the farm or staggering debt. But the idea may not be as risky as it appears. Another New Hampshire farm about the size of the Bartlett’s pursued that plan – and it paid off. Along a narrow twisting road that follows the path of the Connecticut River through Plainfield sits a dairy farm run Pat McNamara, his wife Mary and his brother Tom. This farm, with its 120 milkers, differs little in appearance from hundreds of others across the region. There is one exception. This farm processes and bottles it’s own milk. In an age of mass production and specialization the McNamaras took a huge risk and decided to invest in the equipment necessary to set up the operation and distribute the product throughout their targeted sales area. The McNamara’s desire to start a bottling operation was a result of wanting to stabilize their income after an unexpected event caused a substantial financial setback. When the nearby milk processor shut down they had to find another processor, but that would have a price. They had been paying 30 cents per hundredweight to ship milk to their old processor. The new processor in Massachusetts charged one dollar per hundredweight for the shipping. This overwhelming increase paired with instability in milk prices compelled them to search for ways to earn more for their efforts. Pat’s wife had grown up on a farm in Pennsylvania where they bottled their own milk and the McNamara’s started to seriously consider that option. Starting a bottling operation would not be easy. First the family would have to borrow $300,000 to build a structure to house and equip the plant. They would have to find the limited amount of bottling and processing equipment available for a farm their size, a hunt that led them across the Northeast United States. They would also have to find area businesses that would be interested in selling the milk on their shelves. Finally they would have to hire people to help with the processing and shipping of the milk. There was also the lack of knowledge about whether the public would accept the new brand. Pat McNamara feels that this particular part of the operation is where the greatest anxiety was. "We didn’t know how well it would sell, it’s kind of a catch 22…You kind of have to get it on the shelf before you can gauge how much you can sell in any one spot."  Once production began and the milk hit the shelves all did not go smooth. "It took a couple of years before things really started to take off. We started out milking sixty cows and the first year we could have done with thirty cows. But after two to three years we started growing a little bit and we’re up to about 120 (milkers)." Pat thinks there are several reasons their milk sells well in their area, which includes Hanover, Dartmouth College and Dartmouth-Hitchcock Medical Center. "It’s the nostalgia of the glass bottles. Glass leaves no aftertaste in the milk like plastic or cardboard does. It’s a clean tasting milk. We strive at putting a high quality product out. All we do is put an eleven day code on it, a lot of places put a fifteen or sixteen day code on it. At the end of nine or ten days it’s off the shelf and we dump it." The McNamaras also do not use BST or hormones in their cows, something that Pat says appeals to the very well educated population in the area, another plus for sales. There is even a way area resident’s can buy the milk if their favorite store doesn’t have it. They can stop by the farm to pick up a bottle and chat with the family while there. If none of the McNamaras are around it’s not a problem, customers can come in anytime to get their milk and pay on the honor system.Pat says that the family has paid off the loan that was needed to start the processing and bottling operation and now must decide where they want to go in the future with their products. "We’re pretty much at a saturation point now. We could take on more business, but we don’t really want to add on more cows so we’re at a pretty good point now if we can stay there. We’ve been at that point for about two years and we’ve roughly made about the same amount of milk. We’re happy with how much (milk) we’re making and how much profit we’re making. We could grow it but where would it get us? More headaches, more truck drivers, more trucks on the road…We would have to run the plant more days a week." Based on their success, McNamara is surprised that farmers in other areas of New Hampshire with affluent populations, like Portsmouth and Concord, have not tried to start similar operations. McNamara’s outlook for those that don’t try to do something to increase the value of their labor is not so optimistic. "I really like the dairy industry but it’s going the way of the chickens (an industry that collapsed in New England in the 1970s)…I think in the long run the consumers are going to be the loser in it." |
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