Page 16 RAIN June 1982 Milking It For All It's Worth A Scale of Two Farmers by Bruce and Ann Borquist A commercial dairy in an isolated area of Oregon's Tillamook County is not where you would expect to find a journalist who majored in Chinese history at Radcliffe and a psychiatrist with years of experience and sucessful practices in two major cities. But in late 1977 Viviane and Ted Tallman bought a defunct 160-acre dairy farm with "no clear idea of what we were going to do with it" other than the goal of living more rurally, simply, and "lightly." As Vivi says, "We came to the farm with the firm conviction that with enough elbow grease and problem solving skills we could master most any problem that came our way. It was Wendell Berry, Laura Ingalls Wilder, and Horatio Alger all in one." The one goal overshadowing all others has been to remain solvent. That has meant putting some "organic" goals on the back burner. Young cows bought in 1978 started producing milk the next year, and animal by animal the herd was built. Today, Ted and Vivi manage 90 Jersey cows, 50 milkers and 40 young ones, altogether producing about 500,000 pounds of milk annually for the Tillamook County Creamery Association, a very successful producer's co-op that makes cheese. Like other Tillamook County dairy farmers, half of their $80,000 annual milk income goes for feed, with the balance taken by labor, fixed costs, and supplies. Even though the Tillamook Creamery pays more for milk than almost any other in the country, Ted must practice psychiatry part-time in Portland to support the family. "It's marginal any way you look at it," they say, and the long-term goal is simply to break even, at least until the mortgage is paid off. For Ted, Vivi, and their family the years since 1977 have been ones of struggle, growth, and re-evaluation as they pursue the goal of making a new kind of life as commercial farmers with homesteader's values. Not many people will go "back to the land" and start dairies this year. Some will consider going commercial in order to support themselves, though, and here the Tail- mans' experiences can be valuable. They started out with the ideal of running a family dairy that was labor-intensive and environmentally sound, but as it expanded compromises had to be made. The one goal overshadowing all others has been to remain solvent, and that has meant putting some of their original "organic" goals on the back burner. It started with the new West German milking machines, then they had to spray for tansy ragwort when they didn't have time to dig it under. This year they had to dust their cows with an insecticide for lice and will probably have to spray against flies in the summer so milk production doesn't fall off. Each time the compromise has been painful, but seemingly necessary. In many ways, theirs is a problem of scale. Homesteaders can use labor-intensive alternative methods, while large commercial farms have the methods and products created for them by university and corporate research. Compromise has been necessary for the Tallmans because of the size of their operation and the physical effort it takes to maintain it. While in their limited free hme they do research alternatives — "when we have energy left" — those alternatives often mean still more work. When you "barely have time to go to the feed store to buy the recommended [chemical] powder," the financial and emotional risk involved in depending on an "organic" method that may or may not work as well is too great. It's a dilemma — a balancing act that is present in every decision. Some ideals won't be sacrificed. They still have the long range goal of operating a family farm that is gentle on the environment and so they will not use chemical fertilizers on their pastures. The real bottom line for them is their family. If they ever have to make a choice between the farm and the family, the family is more important. Each year the Tallmans learn more, and hard choices may come more easily with experience. They read the stock manuals and the journals when they can, but more and more they rely on conversations over the fence and in feed stores with other dairy farmers in the area. The wisdom accumulated through years of living and working in that one place is what they are gaining now, and they have learned there is no substitute for that. It has been, and probably will continue to be, an uphill struggle to keep the farm, but you sense a hopefulness in them now that 'living with the cows, the plants, and the windstorms" they will find their way to the "sustainable" farm of their dreams. □ □
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