{"id":16540,"date":"2014-06-01T21:58:34","date_gmt":"2014-06-02T01:58:34","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.21cpw.com\/?p=16540"},"modified":"2014-06-01T22:05:19","modified_gmt":"2014-06-02T02:05:19","slug":"man-quits-postal-job-to-milk-cows","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.21cpw.com\/man-quits-postal-job-to-milk-cows\/","title":{"rendered":"Man quits postal job to milk cows"},"content":{"rendered":"
<\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<\/i><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>

\"\"<\/p>\n

MADISON TWP. \u2014 Jason Canjar is a rarity.<\/p>\n

Mr. Canjar, 39, quit his job last summer as a U.S. Postal Service mail handler to become a dairy farmer.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cEverybody thought I was nuts,\u201d Mr. Canjar said as he paused near a manure-storage tank on his 200-acre farm near the Elmhurst Reservoir. \u201cSome people said I wouldn\u2019t make it six months.\u201d<\/p>\n

More than nine months after he inherited the dairy farm operated for decades by George Yedinak, Mr. Canjar seems pleased with the career switch.<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

\u201cI\u2019m busy 16 to 20 hours a day,\u201d he said, as he entered a barn where he milks 48 Holsteins daily at 4 a.m. and 4 p.m. \u201cIt\u2019s not a job. It\u2019s a passion.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Canjar grew up in Madison Twp. and still lives there. He started picking rocks on the Yedinak farm at age 12.<\/p>\n

\u201cI just kept sticking around,\u201d he said. \u201cI always wanted to farm.\u201d<\/p>\n

Eventually, he helped with haying, credited Mr. Yedinak with teaching him mechanical skills and continued working part time on the farm into adulthood.<\/p>\n

Mr. Yedinak, 66, died suddenly in August.<\/p>\n

He willed the farm, which was established by his father in 1948, to Mr. Canjar.<\/p>\n

\u201cGeorge knew it would continue as a farm,\u201d Mr. Canjar said. \u201cI think that\u2019s why he left it to me.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"\"<\/p>\n

Mr. Canjar resigned from his postal job after 14 years and committed full time to his rural passion.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe day I quit was one of the happiest days of my life,\u201d he said. \u201cI love farming. It\u2019s just so peaceful.\u201d<\/p>\n

The existence may be peaceful, but dairy markets have a stormy history.<\/p>\n

Fluctuations in milk prices in recent years have driven thousands of dairy farmers out of business.<\/p>\n

Mr. Canjar knows the history and sets aside funds to weather the next downturn.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou can\u2019t count on the markets being there all the time,\u201d he said. \u201cI\u2019ll stay with it as long as the farm can maintain the bills.\u201d<\/p>\n

Mr. Canjar not only has to handle the bills, he needs to be nimble enough to meet the work demands and market uncertainty that make dairy farming so risky, said Will Keating, a dairy farmer near Mount Cobb.<\/p>\n

\u201cYou\u2019ve also got to be a mechanic, a horticulturist, a veterinarian and everything else to save every dollar you can,\u201d Mr. Keating said. \u201cJason has a good head on his shoulders. God bless him and good luck.\u201d<\/p>\n

via Man quits postal job to milk cows – News – The Times-Tribune<\/a>.<\/p>\n

<\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<\/i><\/a><\/span>\n<\/i><\/a><\/span><\/div><\/div><\/div>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

MADISON TWP. \u2014 Jason Canjar is a rarity. Mr. Canjar, 39, quit his job last summer as a U.S. Postal Service mail handler to become a dairy farmer. \u201cEverybody thought I was nuts,\u201d Mr. Canjar said as he paused near a manure-storage tank on his 200-acre farm near the Elmhurst Reservoir. \u201cSome people said I…<\/p>\n

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