Trautman Dairy Farm Shut Down

Filed Under: Organic Gardening, Susatainable Living on January 16, 2010

Wisconsin Dairy Farmer Has Great Vision for “Golden Age of Family Farming”

He was the young boy, standing on the side of his grandfathers’ fields, who would watch the tractor until it stopped to give him a ride. He also loved sitting atop the moving combine, in those days it was open air and dust and dirt flew up all around him. But he loved it.

His grandparents on both sides were farmers. But farming skipped a generation in his family. The 80’s were a tough time for farmers, and his mom and dad found other dreams.

Scott Trautman Horsing Around with His Cow

At age 8, Scott Trautman started his entrepreneurial and agricultural career – selling pumpkins grown in their modest garden, door-to-door to neighbors. He gained a love of the farm from an early age, spending time on his grandparents farm, and any chance to be with farmers and drive farm equipment he took.

Scott throughout childhood would tell family and friends, “I want to be a farmer” – and although they found it cute, they recognized the impossibility of starting a farm. He plugged on, working on a farm throughout high school, also raising his own small livestock and crop operation. Yet, the realities of life and the 80’s were such that school and a career in business/computers took him to the opposite end of the career world.

In 1994, he launched an internet business, which Scott said, “was the exact right time”. Companies that started earlier or later didn’t make it, but for Scott the timing was perfect and his company grew.

From Little Boy’s Dream To Grown Up Reality

Julie Trautman Milking Wanda

In 2001, Scott decided to purchase a farm. His growing business and his client needs held him captive, and he decided as long as he couldn’t get away from it, he would run his business from a “gilded cage,” which to him meant a farm.

He and his wife found 40 beautiful acres and a nice house, in May 2002 he moved his operations there.

The following year, he put the whole farm into pasture, attended a few farming conferences, and implemented an aggressive fertility program with the ideas he gleaned from conference speakers and reading Joel Salatin’s books.

His passion for farming was rekindled, his entrepreneurial instincts kicked in. He sensed in the organic farming movement the same energy and excitement of the early internet days. In 2004, he sold his internet company, so he would not have to take on a lot of debt to begin farming.

The New Business of Farming, and a New Marketing Model

Little Chicks on Trautman Farm

He started small. One chicken, one pig, a garden. Implementing the most productive ideas a little at a time.

By 2006, Scott had laid the foundation, and took a look at his farm’s capacity. With the limit of 40 acres, he decided to move toward dairy farming. He started with one cow. The farm grew to 4 cows, then 6, currently he has 20. Ultimately, he feels his acreage can support 30-40 dairy cows and affiliated livestock.

Scott believes in mixed use, diversified farms. From his business perspective, the huge monoculture farms leave farmers in poor negotiating position. They are beholden to one master, who buys their product and names the price, which is often not favorable to the farmer. Whereas, a farmer with multiple products and a diversified customer base has more control over his income and his future.

Until earlier this year, Scott’s milk was sold to the National Farmers Organization. But they abruptly canceled his contract, when a relief driver with a bad attitude reported his suspicions that Scott was selling his raw milk.

Shortly after his contract was canceled, an undercover agent from DATCP visited his wife with a pitiful story about a sick child. His wife, in spite of considerable pressure, did not sell the milk to the stranger.

The Brutal Reality of Consumer Protectionism

Farm Life is Fun, and Full of Responsibility

On October 16, 2009, a month after NFO canceled his contract, DATCP was back to his farm, with a summary special order, telling him to cease and desist all milk sales; the Trautman farm now had no market for its milk.

Now, tell this to any husband, and the father of three children, ages 6, 11, 9, “You are forbidden to farm, your only means of providing for your family.” Obviously, that man will protest, and Scott did.

Loudly.

I first learned of Scott from this YouTube Video of him pouring out his milk in what looked to be a town square. He is weeping, and saying, “There is nothing wrong with my milk. Nothing.” It brought tears to my eyes.

Uppity Farmers Can and Will be Punished

Now, the state regulators have taken away his meat license. He can’t sell the milk. Now, he can’t sell the meat. They are trying to ruin him (see this blog post, Scott Trautman We Will Break You by The Complete Patient blog) because he rose his voice in defense of his livelihood, his freedom to farm and his right to private direct sales.

Having a Hay Day

Currently, Scott is removing the cream from his milk and stockpiling butter, “a lifetime supply,” he sighs. With the skim milk, he is feeding his calves. A high end cheese maker is interested in buying his milk, a potential customer. Still, DATCP is throwing up roadblocks, telling him in order to sell his milk, he now must make expensive modifications to his previously state approved milking parlor.

Scott’s Unfailing Vision: From Gilded Cage to Golden Age

Even with all these tribulations, this resilient farmer says, “I believe a Golden Age of Farming is in store for Wisconsin Dairymen, if we can just get the bureaucracy out of our way.” He never wants to give up dairy farming, even under this duress. “It would be a tragedy, well beyond our farm, for us to give up dairy farming,” he explained.

Wisconsin is a proud dairy state, but its once 56,000 dairy farms have dwindled to 13,000. And, Scott is convinced, the current attitude of state regulators will result in the rest of the small dairy farms like his, failing. The regulators have a hit list of cow boarding programs they are determined to shut down. As they do, they may snuff out the only hope that these fine family farms have to survive.

How can Scott remain so hopeful? He believes that we are going through a paradigm shift. He compares the pioneering role of raw milk farmers to how it was for early adapters to the internet. People initially rejected the internet when it was new and expanding.

We Love our Cows!

“Many people said, oh, that is going to be nothing! A few people say that today, but they now seem ignorant. Organic food is another example, initially it was scoffed at, now it is hot. With raw milk, we are now at the peak of resistance, yet, I believe that within 5-10 years people will look back and say, ‘what was the big deal over raw milk?’”

“Every day of my life has been leading to this moment. I am prepared for the role I am playing now, I accept that being on the leading age will have pain associated with it. But I have done it before, and am more than willing to lead the charge again. The tide is really turning this year,” Scott enthused.

How You Can Help Save the Small Family Dairy Farm

A facebook page, the Wisconsin Alliance for Raw Milk (WARM) was launched byblogger David Michael, a concerned raw milk consumer and currently boasts 500 members. No matter where you live, Scott encourages you to Fan the page in solidarity with the family dairy farmers of Wisconsin. You can also follow and comment at Scott’s blog.

The Weston A. Price Foundation is planning an International Raw Milk Symposium this Spring in Wisconsin, to support Scott and other farmers like him. Legislation has also been introduced in the state legislature, to allow legal raw milk sales. Watch this blog for more details when they are available.

Visit Scott’s website: http://www.trautmanfarm.com/

Wisconsin Alliance for Raw Milk: http://www.facebook.com/group.php?gid=229022049416&ref=ts

To donate to the Farm-to-Consumer Legal Defense Fund who is working on Scott’s behalf, please visit their website:

http://ftcldf.org

See press release by WAPF on Wisconsin Raw Dairy “Outbreaks”