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| I am watching some of the videos Andy Hourigan puts out on Youtube and really enjoy them. It is called FarmingFixingFabricating on Youtube. Andy does a great job exemplifying a large modern dairy that is very much family run. He has 5 of his kids working on the farm together with his brothers families. Many times today, a large dairy is called a factory farm without people realizing that most of the time they are family run and do a large amount of their business locally.
Anybody from New York State know the Hourigan Family? |
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SC MN | I watch him also, but you will notice that he rarely films in the barns and especially the parlor and never shows the employees except in the shop. I'm sure that they have "migrant labor" working there. He said they have 1700 head they milk. Never seen him milk.
Edited by DougK 1/8/2022 19:18
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scmn | Andy has said he doesn`t want PETA to use any cattle pictures and then use them in a negative way. Makes sense to me. |
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Eastern Ontario, Canada | its also because he doesn't milk. he manages the feeding and all the equipment on the farm. it takes all of his time. and like said above, doesn't want the negative feedback from the animal rights and his brother and others that manage the cow herd don't want the camera around. |
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| I agree, If I was still dairying, I wouldn't be taking any pictures of the animals etc. Too many "critics" on the web these days. |
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Nw Iowa | I think I seen on one of videos that he starts feeding about 4:30-5. I can’t remember how many loads each morning but was staggering. If I remember right easily over 10 loads per feeding. They have 2 mixer wagons and run both each morning. These people work and are pretty self sufficient. Raise their own feed, haul just about all manure and fix everything but major OH. I think we put in hrs but not year around like Andy and crew. My hat is off to him and family |
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| Not watch any of his videos, but I also agree with not filming any of the cattle, then animal activists use the videos against your farming operation. |
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Ft. Ripley MN | If you go back far enough he states the company they ship milk to doesn’t want him filming the milking parlor and associated area. I’m sure like stated below it has to do with animal rights activists. He does show the cows some when he does feeding.
He also says his two brothers handle the milking side of things while he feeds the cattle. They have plenty of employees but it’s mostly done by family whether it’s his kids or his nieces and nephews.
His work ethic is definitely impressive along with seemingly being easy going! Plenty of ingenuity as well! |
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just a tish NE of central ND | TOM/MN - 1/8/2022 18:23
Andy has said he doesn`t want PETA to use any cattle pictures and then use them in a negative way. Makes sense to me.
.
.EXACTLY!
.. People will twist stuff and make life miserable for those who make food for a living. No sense giving them fuel to use against us. |
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Morris, IL | Andy has said was the coop they sell milk too or however it is setup to not show them I thought. Even if that isn’t true I don’t blame him.
I agree he is my favorite on YouTube by far. Doesn’t get as much credit as should he puts out good stuff. The guy is working two full time jobs plus YouTube.
Edited by NEILFarmer 1/8/2022 20:46
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SCMN | Andy is one of the few YouTube “farmers” i can stand to watch. I actually learn a trick or two watching him. Hard workers. Don’t know anything about them or the farm otherwise but I’m sure you don’t get the big without making some enemies. |
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| baler brian - 1/8/2022 18:05
Many times today, a large dairy is called a factory farm without people realizing that most of the time they are family run and do a large amount of their business locally.
I agree, watch and see the $$$$ pumped back into the local economy.
A youtuber that actually works and the guy can fly a drone and drive a SP forage harvester at the same time, you don't see that every day. |
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| I’ve got one of his former employees working for me, been with me 3 years and probably the best kid I’ve hired. Every time he goes home he stops by his parents for a bit and heads strait to the dairy and works for Andy dang near ever day he’s supposed to be home on “vacation”. Has never had anything but good to say about him. I think he’s even in one of his videos wearing our shirts and hat! Lol! |
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South cental Ohio | Andy was one of the first u-tubers that I watched and could actually believe what was going on. He's definitely not afraid to get dirty and he does whatever it takes to get something fixed or the job finished. I don't know him but he is about the only u-tuber that I sorta believe. The rest of them always candy-coat things or the complete opposite, exaggerate things just to try and make their show entertaining. |
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Puckerville Dead center N.Y. | I knew Andy's dad Mike a little bit when they were expanding originally which would be about 25 years ago. We were also expanding and built our own parlor and Mike came by a couple times to see our progress. They are about 20 miles from us. Good family good farm. There are a handful of fairly large dairies (for this area) out his way. That includes one of Andy's uncle's who would be Mike's brother that get along just fine. They work back and fourth some. Andy's group covers a lot of ground. Some is quite a distance from the farm. I think I heard they were chopping corn 18 miles from the farm. If any of you have done any corn chopping you might be able to understand the undertaking of such a task.
They are always doing something and seem to have lots of energy. They are a good example of a true working family farm. They don't do all the work themselves but are not sitting around "managing" either. |
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West Central Indiana | I think it’s more like 2:30-3:00 start and be done by 8:00. I think I have a good work ethic but when I watch Andy Hourigan I feel like a lazy slacker. |
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Nw Iowa | Wow,I know 1 video that did cover more of early feeding , I suppose it makes sense, cows fed before milking. A lot of guys would call that a day. |
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SE Michigan | Not sure if this is the same one (?) Sures sounds like a nice little "boost"
https://www.syracuse.com/news/2013/11/elbridge_farm_gets_21_million_... |
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CNY | The farm in that article is NOT Andy’s. That would be John Hourigan, a relation several miles away. For many years John bought up farms just outside Syracuse then sold the development rights (keeping it farmland forever). Not sure if Andy’s farm has done that, but I know John did a bunch. I don’t know Andy personally, but seems like a good dude. There are many 1000+ cow dairies in this area, and I can’t think of one that the family that owns it isn’t personally involved in daily. |
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| I’m not sure when Andy sleeps. Feeding cows at 2am and shelling corn 10 o’clock @ night and all the other stuff in between. Not to mention editing all the hours of video so we all can sit back and watch him work. You can tell Andy is one of the few youtubers that just enjoys showing everyone what he’s doing, not doing it for fame. I’m sure he’s too busy to read agtalk but keep up the good work hourigan family |
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Bloomfield, KY. | I ran into Andy @ the NFMS in 2020. I just happened to look at the guy standing next to me at a booth and thought he looked familiar. I asked him if he was the guy from New York that did videos, and he said he was. We talked for a few minutes and he was just as nice as he seems in the videos. My wife said he was more handsome in person!
Jack McClaskey |
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Morris, IL | 2.1 million for 1300 acres that can't be sold for development $$ is pennies on the dollar. That's about 1600 an acre where development land could be sold 10K on up an acre more then farm ground some gets sold by the foot. More like robbing future self to pay for todays self. |
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Hourigan Dairy Farms New York State
