Thriving organic farm shuns grain

WADDINGTON — Robert J. Zufall doesn’t work as hard as many dairy farmers but still makes more than twice per hundredweight of milk than most of them.

The extra leisure time his organic fresh-pasture feed method has earned his family has convinced his two oldest children, Daniel J., 22, and Levi S., 20, to stay on the farm.

“I’d never do this conventionally. I think the organic really appeals,” Levi Zufall said. “I think of doing it the other way, and it just looks like so much work.”

His father’s method is different from that of other organic dairy farmers in the region because he feeds his milkers no grain, therefore saving on the cost of organic feed. He also doesn’t grow corn. Instead, he moves his herd of 65 milkers daily into fresh pasture, keeping them penned with an electrified polywire. The cows are so used to the wire that Mr. Zufall often doesn’t turn on the electricity.

“It’s so simple. I try to advocate for it. I see so many people struggling,” Mr. Zufall said. “When I fed even a small amount of grain, I could never find it made me any difference anyway. We try to graze them about seven months.”

On average, each of his cows makes 30 to 35 pounds of milk a day. Feeding organic grain might cost him around $2.50 per cow per day.

“I’d need 10 pounds more of production to justify that,” he said. “It doesn’t work for me.”

A high-end producer might have 70 to 80 pounds of milk per cow per day, but that often means milking three times a day and figuring out complicated grain ratios.

The cows seem to live longer without the grain supplement, Mr. Zufall’s wife, Linda M. said, as one of their animals is about 15 years old. On a more conventional farm, 6 years old would be an old cow.

Since the animals are outside for more than half the year, there’s less manure to handle. The cows are cleaner and have fewer foot problems, she said.

The herd makes a circuit of most of Mr. Zufall’s 540 acres, taking about 30 days to get back to the beginning. The family clips off what the cows don’t eat in any given area so weeds don’t take over and everything grows at about the same rate.

Used to the daily move, the cows are easy to convince.

“We don’t chase them,” Mr. Zufall said. “They follow me because they know they’re going someplace better.”

The family moved to their farm on Campbell Road in the town of Waddington eight years ago from Pennsylvania, where the weather was becoming increasingly dryer, and where they raised heifers and boarded dry cows. They weren’t organic in Pennsylvania, but grazed animals there.

Mr. Zufall became convinced organic was the way to go to avoid the highs and lows of fluctuating milk prices. Although there is an oversupply of organic milk — making it difficult for new producers to sign up now — the base price remains more than $20 per hundredweight. Conventional farmers are receiving $11 to $12 per hundredweight.

“You don’t realize how nice that is,” Mr. Zufall said. “It’s easier to budget.”

There are more than 40 organic dairy farms in St. Lawrence County.

“One in six dairy farms in the county is organic, which I think is saying something. Most people don’t realize that,” Mr. Zufall said. “Five, eight years ago, it was kind of odd. Now it seems to be the ‘in’ thing.”