She survives her first year as a farmer

NORWOOD — Looks like Laurie Martin will survive her first year as a dairy farmer.

When she married Norwood’s Phil Strawbridge last April she traded her desk job helping people with disabilities to become, what she calls a milking maid. She gets up at 6 a.m. –"that’s late for farmers," she confessed — to milk the cows and get pooped on twice a week. She has a lot to learn. She once tried to milk a bull and describes the feed as "soy something and grain."

Her new life with Phil began with flair. She owned her own home in Bobcaygen and was single and 35. Her friends had gotten married and she wanted what they had, babies too. Fearing this was her last shot at love, she called a professional matchmaker, Misty River Introductions. They set her up with a dairy farmer. But a farmer’s wife? she pondered. Physical work? Did she really want that? And cows? "They’re big, stinky and scary."

Too late. She fell in love. She and Phil got married April 28, 2007 and Laurie agreed she’d try working in the barn for six months. "I hope I don’t screw this up," she told herself. She giggles a lot when she thinks of all her mis-steps in the barn. Her grandparents had a dairy farm but she admits "I have a lot to learn."

Almost one year later – pregnant and due on April 10 — she remarked cheerfully: "Surprisingly, it’s (farming) not bad. But it’s hard work. It’s hard to get used to."

A small price to pay when you’re in love with your husband, in love with the farm and in love with the cows. "Apparently I fall in love with all the crotchety old cows," she said. "They’re my favourite. I say I really like that cow and they say, ‘she’s going now (to slaughter).’ So, now I don’t tell because I think that might save them or something."

Strawbridge Farms has four partners: Laurie’s husband Phil, 38, his brother D.J., 54, and their parents. Phil’s 81-year-old father, Doug, still helps out with the milking.

They get a lot of laughs with the new girl. She once yelled and slapped a bull to get him up for milking. When he stood up and she saw how big he was, she panicked. "I ran for it. I totally freaked out."

She learned a good lesson from her husband’s family: "If the cow is exceptionally big, it’s probably a bull."

She accidentally spooked a cow. The cow’s legs slipped over the flooring and into the pit of the milking parlour. "She didn’t fall all the way — half of her body. Everyone came running to catch her. I remember my brother-in-law saying: "This has never happened before."

Two months after getting married her husband Phil shocked her by getting a bank loan for $600,000 and buying a nearby farm where they now milk 85-head and plan to build their family home. "Laurie and her family thought that was a phenomenal amount of money," Phil said.

He is delighted with his catch. Her new-found love for farming is a bonus. As a milker, "she’s the best," he says. "She doesn’t have experience so she milks the way we taught her."

Said Laurie: " I never thought I’d go milking everyday, that’ I’d be so interested and want to learn more. It’s amazing."