Organic dairy farming satisfying experience for Straits Brothers Farm

  • Jennifer Kneuss
  • May 20, 2010
  • 470
                        
Farming has changed in many ways over the years, yet some things remain constant. Spring means plowing and planting, summer and fall signals hay making, tending crops, and harvest. More and more advanced technologies have simply changed the manner in which those in agriculture do their work, with the ultimate goal of increasing yield while minimizing input costs and also, hopefully, minimizing the hard physical labor that accompanies farming. Steve Straits, of Holmes County, is a third generation farmer. His grandfather began farming in the late 1940’s to early 1950’s, and today, Straits continues to farm in the family operation, alongside of his father, Ralph, and brothers, Ed and Fred. His teenage son is beginning to help now as well. Until about a decade ago, the Straits family were raising their crops and running their dairy operation according to traditional methods, employing chemicals and pesticides in their daily farming operations. The family decided to begin raising their crops organically, and were certified organic in 2000. The organic certification involves a process of monitoring and inspections by a certifying agency, and after a farm has met rigid specifications and pays a yearly fee, it is granted the certified organic designation. Several years later, the Straits made the full change to organic dairying as well. “We’ve been selling our milk as certified organic for about four years now. There wasn’t as much of a market for it back then, but there is now,” stated Steve Straits. “ We’re glad we made the switch.” Straits said that he has seen definite changes as a result, both in soil quality and pest management. “The biggest thing is how much better our soil is now. We haven’t had sprays on for 10 years now. There is a lot more soil life. We try to keep increasing the humus levels of our soil, by integrating extra hay, manure, using cover crops so there is always something growing. When we plow for planting corn, we try and make sure there is a crop of hay growing there as green manure to plow under. One big pest in this area is the alfalfa weavil, so we do the first cutting early to prevent that. Up at the OARDC in Wooster, they have said that with the organically grown crops, the pests are not as much of a problem, because the higher sugar count of the plant makes it less appealing to pests. We haven’t had too much of a major problem with pests. When we store our grain, oats or spelts, we mix in a type of DE (diatomaceous earth), and that works. We definitely have fewer pest problems back when we farmed conventionally.” “We farm about 460 acres all together, and milk 55 Brown Swiss and Holstein cows twice a day. One thing different about organic milk vs. conventional milk, is about 75% of organic milk goes to the carton, for fluid milk. With conventional milk, only about 24% goes for fluid milk, and the other 75% is manufactured into cottage cheese, ice cream, yogurt, etc.” Straits explained that the farm is part of the Organic Valley co-op, and their organic milk can end up all over the country. “Very little of Organic Valley ends up in Ohio. It goes south, to Georgia, east to Philadelphia. It is transferred into a tanker and heads wherever. Much of the conventional milk is processed more locally. Once in awhile, some of our milk goes up to Smith Dairy in Orrville.” “We have not had the fluctuations in prices nearly as bad as the conventional guys,” stated the farmer. “The growth in organic dairy for the last six years has been growing between 20 – 30 %. Then we had this big financial crunch, and the market slowed way down, but it never actually stopped growing. It is still growing 1 to 5 %. They say the Eastern market is getting tight on organic milk, and they are trying to add on more farms now. Right now, it’s not growing really fast, but there are signs that it is going to pick up.” Straits is satisfied with the organic farming experience. “From where we are at, and what I see, I would say that growing organically has been a positive experience, from the health of the soil through the health of the animals.”


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