Clockwise from opposite page: Carla, Garrett and Randy Poelstra work the family’s dairy farm, milking about 80 cows twice a day, 365 days a year. Randy uses the tractor to take feed to the cows. Garrett bottle-feeds a two-day-old calf by hand. Dairy cows feed after the morning milking. Randy walks past the orchard behind the farmhouse. A calf peeks out of its PolyDome hut. Garrett carries bottles of milk to feed calves living in PolyDomes.
SUMMER 2008
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– plastic huts shaped like an igloo – for their first two months. Meantime, Randy mixes ground corn, hay and supplements and feeds the cows. As Garrett heads to his full-time job, Randy continues with chores around the farm and works on remodeling the house. He takes a midday break or perhaps takes care of business in town, which sometimes includes Co-op board meetings. After eating an early dinner, the whole milking process starts over at 4:30 p.m. About three hours later, the day is done – that is, unless something unexpected happens. The milk truck arrives every other day to extract milk from the bulk tank. Coming from Dairygold’s plant in Spokane, it first goes to Boundary County, where there are two dairies, then to Poelstras’ and on to Elk, Wash. Poelstras’ milk – about 68,000 pounds, or 1,200 gallons – fills half the truck. Although regulations don’t allow selling raw milk, Randy drinks it and enjoys the full-bodied taste. “I have a neighbor who comes and begs for a glass of milk,” he said. Having raw milk to drink may just be one thing that keeps this dairy farmer going. While it’s tough work, and he rarely gets any time off, Randy said, “Ultimately, I like what I do.” “It’s all he knows,” Carla added.
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Both Carla and Garrett have second jobs, working for Oden Water, as parttime secretary and full-time water master, respectively. Cornie, now suffering ill health, lives in the next house down, a newer manufactured home, while Randy and Carla live in the farmhouse built in 1960, replacing the original house. Garrett lives in their former home at the corner down by Selle Road. Meantime, Randy is trying to save the historic barn built on cedar blocks in 1910; it used to house teams of horses used in logging camps. He and his son are jacking it up and building a concrete block foundation underneath, but they find little time to work on the project. They plan to remodel the milking parlor, too, into a double, six herringbone design that will allow Randy to milk alone. Garrett hasn’t decided whether he
will continue to milk cows when his parents retire. He loves farming but doesn’t especially enjoy milking cows. Mom says she makes him milk anyway because it “builds character.” Garrett thinks he might turn the farm into a heifer breeding operation someday. Dairy farming can be dangerous work. They’ve all been kicked, especially when they’re breaking heifers to be milked for the first time. “It can get hairy sometimes,” Randy said. “Some will tear the whole stall down when you touch them,” Carla added. Randy describes a trick known as the “Texas strangle,” holding the tail up over the head. Some heifers might take two months and “a few cuss words” to train. That’s where crossbreeding with shorthorns might help. The method is getting popular in the United States, as purebreds are starting to have problems, Randy explains. Each day starts at 4:30 a.m. with breakfast. Randy says they learned years ago to eat before they do the milking “because you never know what’s going to happen.” Starting at 5:30 a.m., he and Carla milk about 80 cows, and then clean the milking parlor and all its equipment. Randy fills plastic bottles with fresh milk so when Garrett arrives at about 8:30 a.m., he can go feed the young heifers, who live in PolyDomes
PHOTOS BY ELISSA GLASSMAN/COURTESY NLI AND BILLIE JEAN PLASTER
Farming Arts
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