In conversation with Ben Loewith, Canada
Ben Loewith is a third-generation dairy farmer on the outskirts of Hamilton in southern Ontario, Canada. In addition to his multi-award winning 450-cow herd, he has recently developed the Summit Station Dairy to produce fresh dairy products for retail sale. M²-magazine spoke to Ben about his businesses and his plans for the future.
M²-magazine. Ben – when did you first get involved in farming?
Ben Loewith. I am now 49 years old. I graduated with a general arts degree from the University of Waterloo and spent three years working as a general manager for a student painting franchise company. I returned to the farm in 1999 at the age of 24, to work with my father, Carl and Uncle, Dave. My wife, Jennifer Howe and I have two children, Mads (20) and William (18). Through my farming activities, I have held positions with various farm organizations, including Progressive Dairy Operators; Hamilton/Wentworth area Milk Producers Committee; Brant/Wentworth area Holstein Committee; and as a Board member for Gay Lea Foods Co-operative.
M². Tell me about your farm and dairy.
Ben Loewith. We presently milk 450 cows, three times per day, and we crop 850 acres. We grow primarily corn (maize) silage, triticale, and alfalfa (lucerne) haylage. We house our cows in a 4-row free-stall barn, sand bedded, with a straw pack for the close-up dry cows, i.e. cows close to calving. Our milking parlour is a double-15 parallel parlour. The vast majority of our cropping is done through custom operators, (they come to our farm to carry out the tasks) and as such we own very little equipment for field work.
In October 2023, we opened our own on-farm milk processing facility with a store for retail sales, focussing on serving consumers in the Hamilton area. We produce fluid milk and flavoured milk in returnable glass bottles, cheese curds and we will be starting to manufacture yogourt (yoghurt) in the next few months. Our farm employs 5 full-time and 30 part- time employees, and the bottling facility employs 3 full-time and 16 part-time employees.
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