Mark Canon of West Middlesex is a fourth-generation dairy farmer.

He typically wakes up around 5:30 a.m., gets dressed and goes outdoors. He, along with his brother-in-law and a field hand, spend the next half-hour chasing cows in from pasture and situating the barn.

By 6 a.m. he's milking cows -- unless an emergency arises "which is never out of the question," he said. Cows get ushered into a room by the dozen, hooked up to milking machines and washed while they milk, which helps stimulate production.

It's about 8 a.m. now and he's just finishing up with the milking. The next two hours are spent feeding cows, heifers and calfs. Canon can almost relax now because the morning duties are complete -- only there's more work to be done. There's field work to tend to, three batches of feed to mix and a plethora of items to fix.

"And there's always things that need to be fixed," Canon added laughing.

At 1 p.m. he can finally break for lunch to spend time with his wife and five children. By 4:30 p.m. he's back milking again.

There's another three batches of feed that need to get mixed because his cows eat an awful lot -- each will take in about 105 pounds of food everyday.

It's now 7 p.m. and Canon's finally finishing up his work day. Perhaps it's fair to say he's a hardworking man. He farms about 240 acres and says he relishes every minute. Farming is in the Canon family blood. Mark Canon's father, Bill is a retired dairy farmer who still spends time helping out around his son's farm. Mark Canon took up the family tradition after studying animal husbandry in college and graduating in 1983.

"I enjoy this. It's a variety. I do a bit of everything, so it's anything but boring. Sometimes milking gets to be routine, but that's not always bad either," he said.

Perhaps the hardest part about farming is depending on certain factors such as good weather and production sales. Case in point, milk prices are dropping this year and a drought has parched much of Pennsylvania's landscape, resulting in crop loss for farmers. But Canon said he isn't worried.

"(The drought) hasn't affected us so far. The low milk prices have, but you just have to tighten your belt a little," he said.

"It remains to be seen what the effect of dry weather will have on milk farmers," he said.

Canon has a head of 86 milking age cows, more than 70 younger ones, and "a bunch that are due to deliver pretty soon," he said.

He feeds his head a mix of corn silage, haylage, grain, cotton seed and other nutrients.

"Anything different upsets them and we don't like to upset them. They don't give as much milk when they're upset," he said.

He grows his own hay and corn for silage, which he said doesn't seem to have been affected by the drought.

"It looks good," he said. "We were late getting it in, but it looks good."

Between January and March he can usually tell if he's going to run out of corn. He said he is below the average yield for silage, but as for grain, it's too early to say.

He said if times get too tough, some farmers will be forced to sell off cows.

"I haven't had to sell off cows," he said, adding he has sold cows, but not because he was forced.

He said he's not worried because he's not the only farmer being affected.

"As long as we're all in the same boat I feel I can compete with the others," he said.

You can e-mail Herald Staff Writer Larissa Theodore at ltheodore@sharonherald.com