Friday, June 4, 2021
CapitalPress.com
3
MIRANDA DAIRY
Rising to the challenges
By BRENNA WIEGAND
For the Capital Press
COQUILLE, Ore. — In
20 years, Organic Valley pro-
ducers Mike and Lisa Miranda
increased their milking herd
from 22 to 200 and now dedi-
cate 450 acres to growing their
own feed.
The Miranda Dairy is also
a vibrant part of their commu-
nity in Coquille, Ore., near the
Southern Oregon coast. They
make a fl oat for the Christmas
parade and host the robust 4-H
club their daughter started.
“She loves letting kids have
that fair experience and we make
sure to have calves for them to
show,” Lisa said. “We organized
milk for the milk-drinking con-
test at the fair that has become
quite a big deal with around 140
kids participating.”
On a larger scale, Mike is a
13-year board member and cur-
rent president of the Oregon
Dairy Farmers Association, rep-
resenting Coos, Jackson, Jose-
phine and Klamath counties.
“Every area has diff erent
issues,” Mike Miranda said.
“Right now, our area is in a huge
drought and a lot of us grow
crops on land without any irri-
gation and the future is looking
bleak for some of them.
“I planted this year’s corn
early while we still had a little
moisture in the ground.”
Keeping an eye on the
USDA’s online Drought Mon-
itor provides an overall picture.
“It is a really neat tool, but
looking at the whole coun-
The Miranda Dairy family. Back row, left to right are
Matt Miranda (son), dairy owners Lisa and Mike Miran-
da and their son-in-law Levi Noel. Front row left to right
are daughter-in-law Hailie Miranda, grandchildren Ca-
den Hawkins, Kensey Noel, Zayne Miranda and daugh-
ter Maegen Noel. The Organic Valley producer milks
200 cows and grows most of its own feed.
try, it’s scary,” Lisa said. “The
Southwest is already in D-4 —
‘Exceptional Drought’ — telling
you fi re season will be bad.”
During his tenure with
ODFA Mike has been astounded
at the sheer volume of regula-
tions continually placed on the
dairy industry.
“There are a lot of bills that
get proposed without any sci-
ence to back them up; it makes
no sense,” Mike said. “A lot of
them would like to put us out of
business.
“For instance, the diesel bill
they were trying to put through,”
he said. “How’s that going to
work? We can’t operate without
it — the trucks can’t come pick
up our product; we can’t get our
product shipped to us. You can’t
support things like that.”
The board is a staunch sup-
porter of Oregon State Univer-
sity’s dairy and food technol-
ogy program, funding research
on forages, methane emissions,
wood chip bioreactors to remove
nitrates from tile drainage and
the eff ects of feeding spent hemp
biomass to dairy cows. They also
fought for and won exemptions
from the Corporate Activity Tax
for producers.
“As dairy producers we do
not have the luxury of passing
our costs on to the next person
like a trucking or feed company
can,” Mike said.
Life on a dairy is demand-
ing but the Mirandas feel for-
tunate to have so much family
involved in the operation.
“It’s not an industry a lot of
young people go into because
of the hours and the workload,”
Lisa said. “The average dairy
farmer is over 50. You really
have to like the job.”
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