June 3, 2016
CapitalPress.com
19
On this farm, it’s all about working together
By MARGARETT WATERBURY
For the Capital Press
“Many hands make light
work.”
It’s a truism because it’s,
well, true. And there are few
businesses where it holds tru-
er than dairy farming.
The daily demands of a
dairy farm — managing herd
health, coordinating ship-
ments, planting pasture, mov-
ing fences, delivering calves,
running the milking parlor —
can be overwhelming.
That’s why Tim Kuen-
zi and Marinus Noordam
teamed up to run AJ Dairy,
a mid-sized dairy farm near
Mount Angel, Ore.
The business partners have
come to rely on one another
for managing all the jobs that
keep a dairy running.
“If there was only one of
us, when we’re making silage
the cows would be neglect-
ed,” said Kuenzi. “If there
was a calf to be pulled, there
would be a crop that wasn’t
taken care of.”
Kuenzi and Noordam
had previously worked as
herdsmen for the dairy’s for-
mer owner. When the owner
turned 70, he offered them
the opportunity to purchase
the herd. They leaped at the
chance.
Today, they’re milking
about 1,000 purebred Hol-
steins and double-cropping
annual ryegrass and corn for
silage on their main property
near Mount Angel.
In 2012, AJ Dairy was
starting to feel growing pains.
The herd was beginning to
outgrow its space in the Wil-
lamette Valley, and they were
growing dissatisfied with
their supplier of replacement
heifers. So they expanded,
purchasing an additional
parcel in Central Oregon to
bring breeding fully in-house
and expand their forage pro-
gram to include alfalfa and
triticale.
With the two locations,
they’re able to produce most
of their forage themselves,
giving them better control
over input pricing and the
health of their herd.
“In the last few years,
we’ve gained 10 pounds (of
milk) per animal for the im-
provements we made: more
space, genetic improvements,
good forage and better quality
feed,” Noordam explained.
AJ Dairy sells all of its
milk to Farmers Coopera-
tive Creamery, better known
by the initials FCC, most of
which ends up in the fluid
market.
As they’ve grown, finding
good labor has become a more
significant consideration.
“We’re OK on labor right
now, but I think it’s going
to get harder to find good,
skilled people,” Noordam
said. “Younger generations
are farther from the farm, and
non-farm kids don’t usually
think about a career in agri-
culture, or don’t come to the
farm to ask for a job in high
school.”
That growing disconnect
from farming has been a ma-
jor driver for consumer pref-
erences for third-party sus-
tainability and animal welfare
certifications, Noordam said.
“People who are far removed
want that assurance from their
retailer. For us it’s a little bit
more documentation, but it’s
not a big deal because we’re
in compliance anyway. But
we have to try to relate to
them and be able to tell our
story.”
“We have a lot to be thank-
ful for,” Kuenzi said. “There
have been some tough times,
but in general it’s been really
good. We both have the atti-
tude that challenges are there,
but we need to be thankful
and work hard and do a good
job. If you have a positive atti-
tude and a willingness to work
with people, a lot of challeng-
es disappear.”
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Courtesy of AJ Dairy
Holsteins pose for the camera at AJ Dairy. “If we don’t please our animals optimally, we won’t get
optimum production,” says Marinus Noordam, who partnered with Tim Kuenzi to run AJ Dairy.
800-882-6789
farmseller@capitalpress.com
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