Martin and Sarah Yoder met at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin, back in 2008. Martin was a hoof trimmer from Ohio; Sarah was farming with her parents near Abbotsford, British Columbia.

She’s bright, cheerful, welcoming – and very passionate about life and her dairy business. Raised on a farm with a beef feedlot in the Cobourg, Ontario, area, along with a sister and two brothers, Cynthia Crowley wasn’t planning a career in the dairy business.

The Baas family, parents Wiebe and Akke with sons Jan and Bert, emigrated from Holland in 1996. They settled northwest of Edmonton, near Barrhead, Alberta, purchasing a quarter-section of land (160 acres) with an existing dairy operation.

The Portena family emigrated from Holland in 1988 and set up a dairy business in the Monkton, Ontario, area.

There is family history on the farm that Stanley Fraser purchased in 1927. Originally a mixed farm, as most were in those days, the business has seen a number of changes over the years.

He’ll soon be 87, but Bruce Witmer hasn’t taken to a rocking chair yet and shows no signs of doing so in the foreseeable future.

Patrick Bos’ family has owned the farm he operates in Ponoka, Alberta, for 47 years. It was a dairy farm until Patrick was 5 years old and the cows were sold. They were replaced by beef cattle and grain crops.

Whatcom Acres Farm is a family-run operation near Abbotsford, British Columbia. Harvey and Brigitte Gietema are the owners, but most of their six children are involved in some capacity.

It wasn’t an easy start for Amanda O’Connell and her soon-to-be husband, Jason. (They married in 2008.) The young couple was talking about starting farming and had considered dairy sheep or beef cattle as options, but the family dairy farm drew them back to cows.

Brian and Amber Craswell had a decision to make, a huge decision. Dairy farmers for many years, their 62-cow tiestall facility had outlived its usefulness. They had no room to expand, and the facility was labour-intensive.