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W W W. M A I N E B I Z . B I Z 15 J U LY 1 3 , 2 0 2 0 A U G U S TA / WAT E R V I L L E / C E N T R A L M A I N E B aker Brook Farm Creamery in Windham started in 1998 with a few cows, but today it has more than 120 Holsteins, Ayrshires and Jerseys — a small dairy farm that found its niche serving Cumberland County commercial and institutional customers, including several Maine colleges, along with hos- pitals, restaurants and bakeries. "When they shut down, we lost it all," says the operation's co-owner, Stephen O'Brien. "It was like someone pulled the rug out from under us." It was March and the state had shut down nonessential businesses due to the pandemic. ree of Baker Brook's customers remained, includ- ing MaineGeneral in Augusta. But cows aren't well read on economic exigencies. ey were still putting out nearly 10,000 gallons of milk per month. Most of that milk was in limbo. O'Brien and his son Alan, who manages the farm, quickly worked out a plan to sell the milk at a discount to Westbrook-based Smiling Hill Farm, which regularly processes Baker Brook's milk anyway and could use the excess for its cheese-making opera- tion. To slow milk production, and also because they had to cut back on their monthly grain bill of $8,000 to $9,000, the O'Briens "dried off " some cows months earlier than they normally would. Drying off involves gradually decreasing the amount of energy-rich grain in a cow's diet that helps them produce milk. Production slowed to about 8,700 gallons per month. e farm was fortunate to have Smiling Hill take the excess milk, says O'Brien. Still, the farm had to lay off several employees and sustained about $80,000 in revenue losses from March through May due to lack of sales through its usual channels. "It was a struggle and still is a strug- gle," he says. "But we're resilient." Pre-pandemic optimism Before the pandemic, 2020 was shaping up to be a good year for dairy farmers in Maine and across the country, says Julie- Marie Bickford, executive director of the Maine Dairy Industry Association. Average prices were expected to rise to levels not seen in the previous five years. In 2014, the price paid to farmers per "hundredweight" (a measurement for raw milk that's the equivalent of 100 pounds or 11.6 gallons) was $24.28. e price sank to $17.14 in 2015 and subse- quently remained $15 to $18. Although the state has a stabilization program to help bridge the gap between production costs and revenue, it hasn't kept pace. But for 2020, the price was pro- jected to rise to $19.86, according to an Agri-Mark forecast. Why the expected uptick? "A strong economy and high inter- national demand was causing the milk price to increase in the first part of 2020," explains Ben Taylor, co-owner of Taylor Dairy Farm in St. Alban's and chair of Maine Dairy Promotion's board of directors. F O C U S C O N T I N U E D O N F O L L OW I N G PA G E » Baker Brook Farm Creamery co-owner Stephen O'Brien saw his institutional and restaurant markets slam shut with the pandemic. It was like someone pulled the rug out from under us. — Stephen O'Brien Baker Brook Farm Creamery DAIRY DURESS The pandemic soured the dairy industry's optimistic outlook for 2020 B y L a u R i e s C h R e i B e R P H O T O / T I M G R E E N WAY Dairy details Maine's dairy farms range from two to 1,700 cows and use both conventional and organic methods. Except for three not-for- profit educational farms, all are family-owned and -operated. Maine produced 617 million pounds (72 million gallons) of milk in 2019 Maine has almost 150 small processors of butter, ice cream and other value-added sidelines aimed at new markets and premium prices. In late June, Maine dairy farmers were awarded $6.66 million in federal direct payments through the CARES Act. S O U R C E : Maine Dairy Industry Association, U.S. Sen. Susan Collins I C O N S / V E C T E E Z Y. C O M

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