When Jon Slutsky鈥檚 dairy farm in Wellington, Colorado. is fully staffed, it鈥檚 a moment to celebrate. A full roster of employees at Slutsky鈥檚 La Luna Dairy is rare these days.
鈥淲e鈥檙e doing really well with our employee base,鈥� Slutsky said. 鈥淎 year ago, we couldn鈥檛 say that. We were short.鈥�
With the farm鈥檚 1,500 cows waiting to be milked, Slutsky and his wife Susan Moore felt panicked, worried they didn鈥檛 have enough hands on deck to milk about 200 cows per hour.
鈥淭hat鈥檚 what pays the bills for a place like this is milk sales,鈥� Slutsky said. 鈥淲e were short 5 milkers out of 11.鈥�
The couple moved to Colorado鈥檚 Front Range from California to start the dairy decades ago, when Slutsky and Moore themselves milked the animals in an antique shed. But over the years, as the business has grown, La Luna鈥檚 workforce has become increasingly homogenous, made up of young Latino men, often from Mexico or Central America, who get their start on the farm attaching milking machines to udders.
to milk cows and care for the herd. Many owners of the country鈥檚 largest dairies say that they鈥檙e unable to find employees. A comprehensive fix to the immigration system seems like a long shot in the new Congress, leaving some dairies struggling to keep up.
Finding workers to don coveralls, muck boots and endure the occasional splash of manure, or spritz of urine is not as simple as putting an ad in the newspaper. Unemployment in Colorado is hovering around four percent. An oil boom nearby has opened up well-paying jobs to laborers. Slutsky鈥檚 lost at least one manager to the oil fields. He鈥檚 tried hiring local folks, but they don鈥檛 last.
鈥淲e鈥檝e had people come and try this job and just disappear after an hour -- not like the smell or the work or it鈥檚 yucky,鈥� Slutsky said. 鈥淚t鈥檚 just not for everybody.鈥�
"They're doing the jobs that no one else wants. So, in my opinion, they're not taking jobs from anyone."
Noa Rom谩n-Mu帽iz, a dairy specialist with Colorado State University extension, says La Luna is not the exception, but very much the rule when it comes to labor issues. found 85 percent of Colorado鈥檚 dairy workers were Mexican-born, Spanish-speaking men. A combination of cultural and economic factors bring those men to this type of work, Rom谩n-Mu帽iz says.
鈥淚鈥檝e heard from pretty much any dairy producer I work with, Anglos [Caucasian workers] don鈥檛 last on the operation,鈥� she said. 鈥淪omeone from Mexico or Guatemala they see this as a good opportunity to help their families. To feed their families. It鈥檚 that simple.鈥�
A lack of workers means owners have to scramble to keep farm operations up and running. Because dairy farm work is specialized, it鈥檚 hard to find capable replacements who don鈥檛 need months of training, Rom谩n-Mu帽iz says.
鈥淭hey鈥檙e doing the jobs that no one else wants,鈥� Rom谩n-Mu帽iz said. 鈥淪o, in my opinion, they鈥檙e not taking jobs from anyone.鈥�
For undocumented workers, keeping a dairy job can be tough. Dairies have been and . A 2011 raid of a Fort Morgan, Colorado, dairy found . Dairy owners are legally obligated to fire workers if they find out their papers are forged. Many farmers claim ignorance if and when their workers are found out to be in the country illegally.
Dairy farmer Jon Slutsky says he鈥檚 had to let employees go after he found out they had produced forged documents.
鈥淲e do our part filling out our paperwork. We make sure they have the proper credentials. And if it turns out that they don鈥檛, we can鈥檛 do that,鈥� Slutsky said. 鈥淎nd they鈥檙e good people. But we can鈥檛 put our business in jeopardy for one person and we don鈥檛.鈥�
Chris Galen, a spokesman for the National Milk Producers Federation, says the dairy industry has different needs compared to farmers who run fruit orchards or grow vegetables, and it鈥檚 hard to get lawmakers to understand.
鈥淭hey鈥檝e said, 鈥業f you need to bring in workers, just use the seasonal visa program.鈥� And we鈥檝e said, 鈥楳ilk production is not seasonal. It鈥檚 perennial. It鈥檚 every single day, two or three times a day,鈥欌€� Galen said. 鈥淭hat鈥檚 why it鈥檚 been hard to get people to do that job, because it鈥檚 difficult.鈥�
What鈥檚 most frustrating for dairy farmers, Galen says, is how close they were to a partial solution. A negotiated by the so-called , which included Democratic Sens. Michael Bennet of Colorado and Dick Durbin of Illinois, created a visa program for low skill agricultural workers. The measure passed the Senate in 2013, but failed to pass the House. , but it isn鈥檛 for lawmakers right now.
鈥淚t鈥檚 going to be a challenge in this Congress because right now the focus is reacting to the White House executive action that took place late last year,鈥� Galen said.
Farm groups like the American Farm Bureau Federation and United Farm Workers say President Obama鈥檚 , they won鈥檛 do much to bring stability to the labor market for farm workers.
At Jon Slutsky鈥檚 dairy in Northern Colorado, a full staff means he鈥檚 able to keep up with the demands of Denver-based Leprino Foods, one of the world鈥檚 largest manufacturers of mozzarella cheese and the predominant buyer of Colorado milk. He鈥檚 quick to note, given the turnover in his industry, that next week he could be short again.
On a chilly winter morning, manager Humberto Gonzales tends to sick cows. Gonzales starts his day at 4 a.m. He wears dark blue coveralls and muck boots. Nearly everyone who works on the farm has stories of being kicked or bumped by the 1,200 pound animals.
鈥淪ometimes it can be difficult trying to work with the animals. But, that鈥檚 work,鈥� Gonzales said, through a translator. 鈥淚 take care of the sick cows and I鈥檓 in charge of the milking parlor. And I assist with cows giving birth. A little bit of everything.鈥�
It鈥檚 not glamorous work, overseeing milking parlor operations and carrying the smell of a dairy farm everywhere he goes, but it supports his wife and one year old child. The rest of his family still lives in Mexico. He grew up tending to animals in the Mexican state of Puebla.
鈥淸I came here] to look for a better life,鈥� Gonzales said. 鈥淭he United States has possibilities to find a better life.鈥�
Though with immigration reform mired in partisan politics, those possibilities can be hard to come by, especially for a limited pool of farm workers.
While lawmakers decide whether to give a comprehensive immigration reform bill another chance, the country鈥檚 dairies will be looking for more workers like Gonzales, willing to uproot to take a job milking cows.
