June 2, 2017
CapitalPress.com
9
Dairyman makes sure industry’s voice is heard in Salem
By GAIL OBERST
For the Capital Press
TILLAMOOK, Ore. —
Across the pasture from the
Tillamook Cheese factory is
Chad Allen’s Victor Dairy, a
500-head operation co-owned
by his father, George Victor
Allen.
“Dad always had a love for
dairying,” said Chad. In 1977,
George and his father, Ben,
established the Allen Dairy
in Tillamook with 100 cows.
Chad was younger than 2
when his family moved from
San Luis Obispo to Oregon.
George also partners with
Chad’s younger brother, Ca-
sey, in their C&C Dairy oper-
ation, with 300 head, located
across Highway 101 from
Victor Dairy.
The two brothers made
the friendly split in 2008. An
older brother works for CHS
Farm Co-op in Tillamook, and
a sister lives in Bakersfield.
Chad, 42, said he always
knew he was destined to be a
dairyman, but his foray into
politics is an indication that he
able to influence those beyond
his own pastures.
Last year, as the Oregon
Dairy Farmers Association
president, Chad helped lead
the charge on Senate Bill
Gail Oberst/For the Capital Press
Chad Allen is active in the industry and politics in addition to tend-
ing his 400 cows at Victor Dairy in Tillamook, Ore.
1517, a pilot project in Til-
lamook County that would
bring wetland developers and
impacted landowners — es-
pecially dairies — together
to collaborate on projects.
It passed and is now taking
shape as a coalition of people
who represent wildlife, dairy,
conservation and environ-
mental interests.
Allen also testified be-
fore Oregon’s House Special
Committee on Small Business
Growth, suggesting ways to
improve milk and environ-
mental quality by assisting
Oregon’s 240 dairies with
new technology that might
not be affordable to smaller
dairies.
“This committee could
play a significant role in help-
ing to identify existing fund-
ing sources or appropriating
new dollars in the upcoming
legislative session to shore up
this very small population of
dairies who contributed more
than $650 million to the state’s
economy in 2014,” Chad said
in testimony in 2016.
More recently, Allen
publicly criticized Ore-
gon House Bill 785, which
would require dairy farmers
to make public any use of
antibiotics.
As they do for most dairy
farmers, Oregon’s strict
standards for confined an-
imal feeding operations —
known as CAFOs — keep
him busy. Chad’s animals
graze for most of the year,
but are kept inside during the
rainy season to keep waste
runoff out of the Wilson Riv-
er, which borders his proper-
ty. But Chad has also worked
to increase manure storage
facilities and tax credits for
other dairies in Tillamook,
where the waste is digested
and turned into methane.
In addition to the ODFA
and legislative issues, Chad
has been active in the Tilla-
mook Bay Flood District, the
Tillamook County Planning
Commission and the Oregon
Farm Bureau. George is a past
president of the Tillamook
County Creamery Association
board.
Allen’s work to promote
farming interests has earned
him kudos from the Farm Bu-
reau.
“Chad Allen represents the
best of his rural community
on the Oregon Coast,” said
Farm Bureau President Bar-
ry Bushue. “Chad strives for
collaboration when tackling
complex regulatory issues,
reaches out to state agencies,
conservation groups and local
farmers so all stakeholders
can have a voice.”
Chad Allen earned his
bachelor’s degree in animal
science from Oregon State
University, but he jokes that,
considering his public activi-
ties, he might have been bet-
ter served getting a political
science or communications
degree.
After college, he married
a Tillamook woman, Adri-
enne, who was working at an
office store where he bought
his office supplies. Adrienne,
too, came from a dairy fam-
ily.
“I made a lot of excuses
to buy paper,” he said. “I had
enough paper for a year, and
then I asked her out.”
The couple now has five
children. The oldest girl is
11. Four boys followed; the
youngest is 7 months.
Victor Dairy’s milk can be
found in Tillamook County
Creamery Association prod-
ucts.
T
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U
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