NORTH GOWER — Dairy farmer Robert Beggs is back doing what he loves to do most. The 31 year-old started back into milking cows thanks to DFO’s New Entrants Program and feels it has been a great decision. Robert and his wife Jody, who works full-time off-farm, along with their three young children-2 girls and one boy are among the first dairy producers to start up with help from new dairy quota policy.

Back in 2005, frustrated by ever increasing quota prices and uncertain about the sustainability of that trend, the North Gower area dairy farmer didn’t see a future for himself as a smaller producer in the industry. He was milking 45 Jerseys but felt that it was time for him to leave the day-to-day milkings and pursue other ventures. He sold the cows and quota, built a 75 head fabric covered barn and began custom raising heifers and had up to 200 head. At the same time, he carried on several other avenues of off-farm employment and did some cash cropping.

Last summer, DFO began reducing the price of quota and also setting aside a portion of quota being offered to allow for new producers to enter the industry. There is an assistance program in place to help young farmers with the financial burden of quota but Robert started without such help. He needed only the confidence of a steady market and the opportunity to buy in. Robert had been pondering a return to milking for some time but found the price of quota was just too high to justify the risk.

When the new quota policy (with entrant program and price cap at $25,000), Beggs didn’t hesitate to make a return. "I think that 90% of guys who stop milking miss it afterward."

"I’m glad to have been able to get back into it. It’s a little more stressful but I’m really enjoying it. As the kids were getting older I really wanted them to be able to come out to the barn and be there with me. It’s one thing to be boarding other people’s cattle but something totally different to have my own cows in the barn to care for and milk every day."

Currently, he is milking 40 Jerseys as well as boarding 120 heifers in three barns. "It’s like having a second job," he says of the heifer raising, "but it helps to have that other revenue stream".

Robert owns 125 acres while renting 150 acres of cropland and 100 acres of pasture. On that land base, he plants about 50 acres to grain corn, 150 acres is in hay that is wrapped in tubes and the balance is in soybeans. He also buys in his corn silage from a neighbour.

When the time came to resume milk production, Robert made some changes to the tie-stall barn that helped make himself and his cows more comfortable. He put in new stalls and fitted them with pasture mats while also purchasing new milkers. Other than that, all of the equipment had been untouched since 2005 and was in good condition. Milk shipments began for the month of September.

"Probably the best decision I’ve made in farming was getting back into milking. Someone told me that you have to do what you enjoy. Well, this is it for me. I’m doing what I enjoy."

Robert has no intentions of leaving dairying again and hopes that one or more of his children will one day be able to carry on dairying. "The way things are, a person can make a good living milking 30 or 40 cows. You look at the rest of the global dairy industry and Canada is great place to milk cows."