Contributed photoFARM FAMILY AWARD — Tom and Beth Quint of Hodgon have been selected as the 2010 New England Green Pasture’s Program Outstanding Dairy Farm of the Year. The family received the award Sept. 17 at the Big E. Pictured from left are back row, Judy Blaisdell, Maine Department of Agriculture; Pat Quint, Roger Quint, Tom Quint, Barret Quint; middle, Beth Quint and Cherie Quint; and front, Jessie and Seth Quint.
By Joseph Cyr
Staff Writer
HODGDON — If it’s one thing Tom and Beth Quint know, it’s dairy farming. As owners and operators of Bar-Bet-Tom Farm in Hodgon for nearly 25 years, the Quints have a rich history of providing millions of pounds of milk each year and were recently recognized for their efforts.
Tom and Beth Quint have been chosen as the 2010 New England Green Pasture’s Program Outstanding Dairy Farm of the Year. The Quint family received their award Sept. 17, at the Big E festival. The New England Green Pasture’s Program Outstanding Dairy Farm of the Year celebrated its 60th anniversary this year. The Quints have been added to a prestigious list of other Maine dairy farmers who have received this award in the past.
“We were honored,” said Tom Quint on a rainy Friday morning while working at his Hodgdon farm.
The Quints took over the dairy farm started by Tom’s father and mother in 1975 with the purchase of cows and machinery and bought the farm in 1984. In the beginning, the stanchion barn housed 25 milking cows. In 1987, the first portion of the current freestall barn was built where cows were housed and fed with cows milked in the stanchion barn until 1994. The Quints currently milk 120 cows twice a day. The farm operates with 4.5 fulltime workers producing over 2.5 million pounds of milk each year.
The Quints support several organizations including the Hodgdon Baptist Church and Hodgdon Volunteer Fire Department.
“It was honor to attend the ceremony and meet the Quint family,” said Judy Blaisdell of the Maine Department of Agriculture. “This farming family from Aroostook County certainly deserved the 2010 Outstanding Dairy Farm of the Year for Maine. Tom did an outstanding job on his presentation to the crowd during the ceremony and all the family was extremely proud.”
According to Tom Quint, the family farm has seen many changes in the past 35 years.
“Improvements to the farm since that time were the construction of concrete bunker silos for feed storage, the construction of a double 6 parallel milking parlor in 1996 and manure storage in 1999 that was expanded in 2004,” he said. “The freestall barn was increased in size to handle an additional 112 cows providing housing for bred heifers and dry cows along with the milk cows.”
Along with those improvements, the Quints run a beef operation as well as the dairy operation, backgrounding 125 animals per year for the Pineland Natural Meats program. Housing for this part of the operation was accomplished with the construction of a three sided shed and feedlot in 2004.
“We are proud of their machinery and keep it in top condition in the farm shop constructed in 2006,” he said. “Heat for the house and farm is supplied by an outside wood furnace.”
Tom added he is always looking for different ways to improve efficiency. This year, he planted 98 acres of no till seeding for barley, corn and alfalfa. Combined with his conventionally farmed land of 140 acres silage corn, 50 acres of grain corn, 30 acres of barley and 200 acres of alfalfa forms the base of his feeding program. His cropping program supplies all of his feed needs except the protein supplement and minerals/vitamins that he purchases from a local feed company. He started growing grain corn in 2007 and has a 12,000 bushel grain tank and curing system for this part of the feed operation alongside two 1,200 bushel barley bins.
Tom cited the following quotes from the Bible as a source of his inspiration: “Whatsoever ye do, do it heartily as to the Lord and not to man,” — Colossians 3:23; and “Walk worthy of the vocation wherewith ye are called,” Ephesians 4:1.