ARGYLE >> Adam Liddle is looking forward to the National Holstein Convention’s fun, family-oriented activities and because it’s a chance to improve his business.
His Liddle-Holme Farm, on Tripp Road in Argyle, is one of five dairies convention-goers will tour during the week-long gathering, based in Saratoga Springs, from June 27 to July 1.
Highlights include a full slate of youth and adult activities including Dairy Jeopardy and speech contests, and talks by industry experts on cutting-edge topics such as “A Futuristic Look at Animal Genetics.”
“I’ve always felt you learn the most about farming from other farmers,” Liddle said. “You watch what they’re doing or ask some questions.”
He and his wife, Nicole, purchased their 40-acre site in 2002, after renting a farm for three years in nearby Hartford.
With only 58 milk cows, they put a high priority on quality over quantity, and supplement their milk checks by selling heifer calves that come from strong breeding lines.
“We’ve really concentrated on developing cow families and genetics,” Liddle said. “We sell 25 to 30 animals, calves and cows, per year.”
He’s especially anxious to put one calf, born in March, in the convention’s animal auction ring at Saratoga Springs City Center.
“She’s a supermodel,” he said.
Liddle should know because he’s judged cattle at the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin.
He and his wife get considerable help from their sons, Brock and Anthony, who also have a separate trade keeping dairy cows looking trim and well-groomed for clients ranging from New England to Toronto. The Liddles’ daughter, Hailee, who is still in high school, is a big part of the farm’s well-run operation, too.
Eventually, if their children join the business, the Liddles might have to consider expanding their herd to generate the extra income required to support more partners. But for now, they’re at just the right size, able to minimize expenses such as labor because they have no need for outside help.
Some large Saratoga and Washington county farms are world leaders in the field of dairy breeding.
“This is a hotbed for genetics,” Liddle said. “Some of greatest bulls in the breed today come from farms like Dave Wood’s Eildon Tweed Farm in Charlton, Kings Ransom, Welcome Stock and Clear Echo farms in Northumberland, and Ideal Dairy in Kingsbury. Some of the greatest animals in the whole country are right near Saratoga. It’s neat for everybody.”
Every two weeks, cows from these and other farms in New York and New England are brought to Liddle-Holme Farm in Argyle where their eggs are extracted and taken to Maryland to be fertilized by a firm called Trans Ova Genetics. Embryos are then shipped back to respective farms, in incubators, and inserted in cows to develop.
Liddle-Holme Farm’s quiet, remote location is ideal for such work.
It’s also diversified the Liddles’ revenue stream and shows how industry advancements benefit big and small farms alike.
“The dairy industry is a friendly business,” Liddle said. “Farmers are all together. They help each other get better. It’s like anything else. If you have good neighbors it’s going to bring you up. I think farmers as a whole like to help you out if they can.”
By: Paul Post
Source: The Saratogian
