I always enjoy reading a farming memoir, and Barn Gothic delivers a good read. Before reading this memoir, I knew Ryan decided not to take over his family's farm, so the farming stopped with his father. I had assumed that the subtitle "death of the family dairy farm" referred to their farm, but it also refers to what's happening to farms in general. Yes, we're reading stories every day about older farmers not having a successor, yet it was a shock to read that the United States lost half of its dairy herds between 2002 and 2019. That's forty thousand dairy farms of varying sizes. As Dennis describes, his father was one of many who doubled his herd size, in his case to 200 cows, and still couldn't make ends meet. Indeed, the only ones making money from farming seemed to be those taking the product and adding value in the processing and selling of the end product.
This memoir describes the tough days in farming very well, and there are many of them. It made me feel very lucky to be dairy farming in Ireland where although we've invested heavily in the farm by buying land, building a new parlour and sheds and slurry storage, we've been able to afford the repayments and perhaps more importantly, pay the contractors and merchants. Dennis describes his father's efforts in keeping old machinery operating and only being able to pay a bill when he needed that service again. The stress of that! His father also had to deal with his father's mental illness and farming next door to him - there's much more to that than meets the eye so do read the memoir.
While I would hope that Irish dairy farming is not in as dire a state, there were many similarities between Ireland and the US. For example, Dennis describes his mum earning money from teaching and having to prop up the farm with her wages, and how that must have infuriated her to see her colleagues spending their salaries on new bathrooms and holidays. I know there are many partners of farmers in Ireland doing the same, and yes, it would make my blood boil too. It's one thing for both parties to contribute to the cost of a mortgage and household bills, or for an off-farm salary to support a farm during a time of expansion, but quite another for it to become the norm.
Dennis tackles the subject of succession and his feelings about not taking over the farm. It's one that many adult children face and it often includes guilt. He describes his father driving him to the bus that would take him back to his university, and as his bus left the town, he saw his father's car parked on the outskirts of town, and his father sobbing, not just at his son leaving but knowing in his heart that he wouldn't be returning to farm. It made my eyes prickle with tears. I think parents often know, deep down, but may not admit it to themselves. We've always known that our son wouldn't farm but wondered about our daughter. While she enjoys it, her passions lie in other directions.
There are comedic moments in the memoir too. You may cringe at the 'cat episode' and much of the comedy is dark as Dennis writes frankly about his father's recovery after a serious accident and his communications with others, including the person who collected the milk, salespeople bringing bills and other farmers.
Could Barn Gothic be a warning to Irish dairy farmers as many get bigger, milking more cows, hiring more people, working longer hours, taking on more responsibility when it's the processors are the ones taking the value of the cream? Is it a warning against trying to run faster only to end up staying still? We see such discussions in facebook groups and in newspaper articles, there are some who are owning and leasing multiple farms and hiring tens of staff being criticised by those who see it as greed; there are farmers like Hannah Quinn Mulligan who are making a living from milking fourteen cows and selling organic produce in her farm shop, and there are farmers like us who are milking 100-200 cows often relying on 'free' family labour for extra help during busy times and may or may not have a single member of staff, and everything else in between.
This is much more than a story about a family dairy farm. It's also about the effects of agriculture becoming industrialised; family dynamics; the effects of suffering mental health; of miscommunication; and I would argue it's a lesson to all farmers who are getting on in life and believe they can still make the same type of decisions as they always have, Farming is changing so fast between red tape, climate change and the importance of making enough income to invest in the farm and to provide a decent living for a family.
Barn Gothic didn't seem to be available in most Irish bookshops as it's published by an American company, but you can get a copy from Kenny's bookshop.