Tennessee Living

Everyone has felt the economic crunch over the past year, and farmers are no different. In particular, the dairy industry has suffered enormously. Prices of the 1970s have combined with the high production costs of today, and prices for milk vary wildly by the month. But Roy Major and his family have been in the business for generations, and although it has been a struggle, they are still milking on the family farm in Wilson County. Major, who operates the farm with his wife, Diane, and three sons, says they continue trying to make it work because “it’s not only what we do, it’s what we are.”

Q
How did you become a farmer?

A
I was raised on a Century Farm. My mom still owns it, and we run some cattle on it.  We’ve been in the dairy business for generations; my dad was a dairyman. I grew up in it, and after I got married in 1976, we rented 133 acres for three years before buying it. We’ve added on acres as we could, so we currently own 263 acres. I’ve been blessed to raise my family on the farm. I have three sons; two are full-time, and one is part-time on the farm. So I’ve been in the dairy business for almost 30 years and want to maintain a profitable farm so my grandson can carry on the tradition if he wants to.
We milk about 150-175 cows on our farm and also have replacement heifers and breeding bulls. We are strictly dairy – no beef or any other type of livestock. We grow 150 acres of corn for silage as well as have some hay and pasture land, but everything we grow goes back into our farm for the cows.

Q
2009 has been very tough on the dairy industry. How do you keep on farming?

A
There is not any business that can go back to prices it got 20 years ago, have current production costs and stay in business successfully. It is a nationwide crisis we are dealing with, and it has lasted much longer than anyone thought. What I fear is that in the next few months, more and more people will reach that limit where they can’t continue on or just don’t want to anymore. My fear is that when this finally is all over, we will have a lot less dairies in the Southeast, probably nationwide.

Q
With people today so far removed from farm life, how can you and your family show them you care for your animals?

A
I think we need to be more honest about the practices we use. The image people have of a dairy farm is a herd of cows in a lush green pasture, when in reality the cows are more confined than they once were because of space and the economic reality of what we do.  However, as it always has been, our primary concern is taking care of our animals. No one loses more than we do if we don’t care for them properly. And no matter what the milk prices are, we still take care of our animals the same exact way and do the best we can to produce a high-quality product.

Web Extra: Bonus Questions

Q
What has changed the most in the 30 years you’ve been farming?

A
The biggest thing, what I’ve seen in the last 25 years, has been the price situation. When I first started, the price of milk wouldn’t vary much, maybe 25-50 cents a hundredweight, but now it is not uncommon for it to change three times that in a month. That makes it very hard to make cash projections and run a profitable farming operation. Another thing is the astronomical input [production] costs, which have affected the whole agriculture industry. And the technology as well – one person can do so much more than he used to. It’s amazing.

Q
What is the biggest struggle or challenge you are dealing with?

A
Today the number one struggle is that my income is totally inadequate to meet my expenses. The hottest fire is that milk income is so low it’s not coming close to meeting the cash flow we need to survive. There are other issues that will have to be addressed as time goes on, among those being regulations put on by those who don’t understand my industry. People need to come to grips with animal rights groups wanting to closely regulate our industry. But what the people who are buying the food need to realize is that we can regulate ourselves out of business. And as we produce the safest and cheapest food in the world, the consequences could be far-reaching.

Q
You participate every year in the Ag Day on the Hill event at the Legislative Plaza in Nashville by bringing a dairy cow for the lawmakers to have a milking contest and to educate a little bit about the dairy industry. Do you think your message is being heard?

A
I hope it is sending a positive message out. Society has a big disconnect in agriculture – between milk and cows, and between soil and knowing that the food we eat all comes from it. Livestock is an important part of our diet and food, and most people aren’t aware of the production cycle that takes place on the farm. I hope we are sending a positive message out for both the lawmakers and the people walking by. It is a message that needs sending.

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Magazine:
Tennessee Home & Farm, Fall 2010 Edition Edition

Headline:
Meet Roy Major

Summary:
Family runs Lebanon dairy

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