Roberts Briggs says he couldn’t be more proud of the half-century he devoted to dairy farming.
The 76-year-old Afton resident has watched the industry go through change after change – some good, some bad – first as a son, then as a husband, and again as a father. Briggs is retired now. He recently sold the cows and his kids have started families of their own. With fond memories and no regrets, life on the family dairy farm for him has come full circle.
“It’s been a great way to live,” he said. “I’m happy and proud to have been a dairy farmer. It’s a great life.”
This Saturday Briggs, who doubles as the Afton town supervisor, will help honor the many others who are, and have been, honored to be local dairy producers. He’s kicking-off the 7th Annual Dairy Day celebrations Saturday at the county fairgrounds as Grand Marshall of the Main Street parade.
“It’s great for the farmers and great for the people of Chenango County,” Briggs said, speaking of Dairy Day. “It gives city people and outlying people an idea of what it takes to run the business and work the farm.”
Admission is free. The day’s events include a 5-K run at 9:30 a.m., sheep shearing and herding demonstrations, “kiddie” tractor pulls, famous cow and local farm history booths, antique milking machines demonstrations, oxen pull demonstrations, “farmer for a day” activities, petting zoos, a celebrity goat milking contest, milk mustache photos, ice cream raffles, farming award and a free stockpile of locally produced milk, cheese and yogurt.
“It’s a good day to come eat,” said one of Dairy Day’s organizers, Janet Pfromm, with a laugh.
Pfromm, an educator at Cornell Cooperative Extension, said showing people – of all ages – the wide-world of American agriculture, and its relationship our lives, is the key feature of Dairy Day.
“We have one of the safest and cheapest food sources,” she said. “We need to protect that and encourage consumption of local products.”
Pfromm pointed to recent health scares created by chinese food imports as prime examples of what can happen if the country relies to heavily on foreign food supplies. Like putting a name to a face, she said teaching the direct connection between farms and food is the only way local sources will survive.
“People are becoming further removed from agriculture,” she said. “On Dairy Day we celebrate our farmers to teach people where their food comes from.”
Farms in Chenango County are fading, though. Briggs can remember when there were 26 in Afton; now there are five. But the long-time dairyman is optimistic that the farm experience that has been so positive in his life is still a possibility for future generations looking to raise their families and live a good life.
“I believe there will always be a place for family farms,” Briggs said.
The Dairy Day Parade begins at 11 a.m. in the P&C parking lot on East Main Street in downtown Norwich. Events will run all day after at the fairgrounds. Floats for the parade and runners for the 5-K race are welcome to enter anytime prior to the respective events. There will be a $10 dollar registration fee for the race.
For more information contact Pfromm at 334-5841 ext. 12.