KINBURN — You might say that it’s the best of times and the worst of times. The Cavanagh dairy barn expansion back in 2003 kept the family out of financial trouble. But if they were to do it again, 30-year-old Andy Cavanagh says he’d have made the barn even bigger and sold the hogs and beef. For that reason he thinks of it as his best management decision and also his worst one. Hindsight is 20/20.

Cavanagh was honoured last month as eastern Ontario’s winner of the Ontario Dairy Youth Award for 2009. The four Ontario award winners will receive a trip to World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin this fall. The award, for dairy farmers between ages 25 and 35, is funded through the Ontario Dairy Youth Trust Fund and the Ontario Holstein Branch.

The Cavanagh farm expanded from 32 to 60 stalls and is also heavily invested in beef and hogs. "If we hadn’t expanded the barn and bought more quota we would be in financial trouble right now," he said. "Hogs haven’t been profitable since the late 1990s, and beef, since BSE, is slowly coming back. The dairy replacement heifer (prices) haven’t come back yet but at least there’s a market."

But "You always have to be optimistic," he said. "You have to think next year will be better. But it hasn’t been good for so long. I don’t know if prices will come back.

"It’s a night and day difference," he said about running dairy compared to hogs and beef. "You’re guaranteed a price. In hogs and beef you don’t know the price one week ahead."

He farms with his father, Mel and brother, Dale, 28. They incorporated in December after buying out Mel’s brother Jim. They have 600 tillable acres and rent out 300 acres of pasture.

They not only milk 60 registered Holsteins in a tie stall, but have a 125 head cow and calf beef operation, plus 65 sows farrow to finish. They average 4.6% butterfat and 10,692 kg of milk. The main emphasis in their breeding program is on type. However, they do put some emphasis on milk components.

Since Cavanagh has been home, after graduating from the University of Guelph in 2000, they have built three Coveralls, renovated and expanded the barn, purchased quota, built a silo and purchased a harvester and a TMR mixer. All with the goals of improving cow comfort and efficiency. Cavanagh wants to increase the herd size, increase milk production, improve heifer raising facilities and increase dairy sales. He thinks that producers should be focusing on feet and legs and good mammary systems. He also sees the importance of health traits in creating longevity while producers push for an increase in milk production.

Cavanagh is a leader. He was a director of the Carleton-Russell Holstein Club and was president in 2008. He is a Carleton County milk director and president of the Carleton-Lanark Pork Producers.