Milky Way Farm is born
Young couple embraces life on the farm
After eight years of travelling out West and up north for work, Alex MacDonald is finally living the life he dreamed of, and he’s doing it with his wife-to-be at his side.
Alex MacDonald and Julia McInnis are the operators of Milky Way Farm in Campbellton. Their herd arrived last Friday. They are the young couple Smith and Marjorie Gunning spoke about in a Journal Pioneer story last week. That story was about a Travellers Rest couple making the tough decision to get out of dairy farming.
This is a story about a young couple just starting out, about love and marriage and life on the farm. They’re getting married next month.
Julia, 23, is still new to farming but she has come a long way in a short time, says Alex, 26.
When they first started dating, three and a half years ago, she was hesitant to step into the stable. She’s now the first step in the milking process, cleaning udders before Alex connects the milking equipment.
“Oh, yeah, I’ve come a long way,” she smiles.
So far, she’s caught only the evening milking, leaving Alex to the morning shift while she’s at work at Tim Hortons.
“The first time I washed a cow, I near squealed,” she recalls her experience on the MacDonald family’s Glendairy Holsteins Farm in Glengarry. “I thought she (the cow) was going to kick me, but she had just moved over a little bit so that I could get in closer, I guess. My goodness, I thought that was it.”
“I like everything. I like milking cows; I like doing the barn work,” says Alex, but, finishing high school in 2009, he knew Glendairy Holsteins wasn’t big enough to support another farmer.
So he moved away for work but with the thought that some day, he could help grow the Glendairy herd.
Two years ago, Alex was approached to see if he would be interested in buying the MacKendrick farm in Campbellton.
Alex and his brother Daniel, as well as their father and uncles had worked on the MacKendrick farm at different times, so everyone was familiar with the opportunity.
Alex was subsequently approved for the dairy industry’s New Entrant program, with funding taking effect in the summer of 2018. He would bide his time working out-of-province. However, in December 2016, he learned the 2017 New Entrant participant had decided not to proceed with the program, and if he wanted to, his entry could be fast-tracked a year.
He uttered an immediate, “Yes.”
In January, while Alex and Daniel were doing renovations to the barn in Campbellton, the brothers got thinking about who might have herd and quota for sale.
Daniel suggested they visit the Gunnings.
During a tour of the farm, Alex recalls Smith saying, “I remember milking cows when I had to stand on my tippy toes to reach the cow’s udder.” Having had a similar introduction to dairy farming, he understood the decision the Gunnings were wrestling with, and he didn’t want to pressure them.
By May, the sale was in the works and there was still much to do to get ready. Completing that preparation work was only made possible through the help of many family members.
Both Alex and Julia are appreciative of all the encouragement and help they’ve received. The MacKendricks, who still live on the farmstead, have visited the new herd.
“They’re the quietest cows I’ve ever seen,” remarked Elaine. She said her husband believes the young couple got a very good herd.
Her advice for her new neighbours: “You have to like farming. You have to be very dedicated to it. You have to be prepared to work 24-7.”
Alex participated in several milkings in Travellers Rest to become familiar with his new herd and helped with the final one Sept. 1.
He and Julia took charge at home that evening.
As the close to 40 cows arrived by truck, Daniel put them into their new stalls. He reported them laying down, chewing their cud within an hour.
“They settled in really well,” Alex acknowledged.