“So many young people want to be this movie star or want to be an astronaut, or something fantastic,” says the white-bearded man in the movie trailer for “Forgotten Farms,” a 2016 documentary about New England dairying. “Louis Escobar wanted to be a dairy farmer,” he continues, referring to himself. “I’ve lived my life’s dream.”

“I’ve had farmers I looked up to who’d say, ‘This is what I’ve been doing for 40 years and this is the way I’m going to keep doing it,’” Louis says. “I’m never going to have that mentality. If you do exactly what you did the previous year, you’re not making progress; you’re spiraling down. Even at my age, about to turn 79 years young,” he chuckles.

Louis is only a year younger than the family farm where he grew up doing the work he loves and watching the landscape change around it. The couple milks 90 Holsteins and manages 95 acres with their full-time farm manager and some hired help. This has become more challenging since Louis became paraplegic after a tractor accident a couple years ago. “Some people would be disgusted, disgruntled, depressed,” says his wife, Jane, “but Louis knows you have to move on. He still troubleshoots really well. He has a power wheelchair and he’s all over the place. He wore the first set of tires right out. He’s even used it to chase down cows.”