At a time when many 20-somethings, saddled by student debt, have a hard time imagining ever taking out a home mortgage, 22-year-old Brooke Dimmick and her husband, Bobby, 25, are taking out not one, but two big loans — and embarking on a different kind of dream.
The Dimmicks, who were married last June and are expecting their first child in August, are taking over Bobby Dimmick’s parents’ dairy farm in Randolph Center. Earlier this month, they finalized the purchase of the herd of 65 milking cows, eight dry cows and several dozen heifers, and made a separate purchase of equipment. The total sale runs to hundreds of thousands of dollars. They will also rent the barns and land.
For Brooke Dimmick, who attended high school in South Royalton and at Randolph Tech before graduating from a two-year dairy management program at Vermont Technical College, several lifelong dreams are coming true.
“I grew up on a farm in Tunbridge, so I’ve always had a wicked thing for cows, and I’ve never really wanted to try doing anything else,” says Dimmick, whose mother operates Russell Gore Farm. “I always knew that I wanted to live on a farm and raise children on a farm and keep the whole tradition thing going.”
The Dimmicks bonded over their dairy farming dreams on their first date — the “hook and sinker of our relationship,” Dimmick says — and were engaged six months later. They’re attempting to buck the trend of family farms closing up shop when the next generation isn’t interested in taking over.
“Growing up on a farm you see all the hard work your parents put into it,” Dimmick says, “and you see the neighbor farm go under just because their kids didn’t want to partake in it at all, and it’s kind of painful to watch a farm going from a thriving facility … to just cobwebs and spiders.”
She thinks that trend is being reversed, as she sees more of her peers on the same path as her and Bobby. The couple is also bucking trends by marrying younger and expecting children earlier in life than many of their counterparts. Questions about their decision started when they were engaged, Dimmick says, as people asked, “Are you sure you’re ready to be married?”
“Yeah, I’m ready to be married,” Dimmick recalls thinking. “I’ve spent 20 years on this life, I kind of know where I’m going and what I want to do.
“I feel like a lot of people who get married in their 20s get a lot of grief from society, saying you should go explore the world and live your life and figure out who you are. But if you already know who you are, there’s no point in wasting all that time.”
The couple plans to have at least two children and, within the first year of running the farm, increase the number of milking cows to 100. They’ll grow from there, with hopes to install robotic milkers down the road.
“It’s pretty awesome,” Dimmick says. “It’s a lot different milking somebody else’s cows than to milk your own cows. … Now we have all that power to run our herd the way we see fit.”
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Name: Brooke Dimmick
Age: 22
Hometown: Tunbridge
Current town: Randolph Center
Where were you five years ago? In high school. “I was … starting my interest in forestry and that whole world, still planning on dairy farming when I got done with school and just kind of partying and being a rowdy teen with all my friends.”
Where do you see yourself in five years? “Hopefully I’ll be putting a down payment down with my husband on some nice shiny robotic milkers and teaching my children the traditions of hard work and responsibility.”
What does the Upper Valley offer 20-somethings? Ease of access to farming resources in the state, including agencies that have offices in the Burlington area and White River Junction.
What is lacking for 20-somethings in the Upper Valley? Ease of access to health care resources. Dimmick is on Medicaid and her husband is still on his family’s plan until he turns 26 later this year. “(Having someone) letting you know what kind of health insurance is out there would be helpful.”
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This story is part of the Roaring 20s series, profiling people ages 20-29 in the Upper Valley.