Baraboo, WI – The Wisconsin Holstein Association invites all members and area dairy farmers to the 2015 Spring Barn Meetings, to be held March 17, 18 and 19. Mayerlane Holsteins of Bloomer, Wis., Joe Paltzer of Seymour, Wis., and Fischerdale Holsteins of Verona, Wis. will open their barn doors to interested Holstein breeders.
The focus of this year’s barn meetings is classification, and Holstein Association USA classifier Cy Letter will talk about how cows arrive at their final score. Letter has been involved in classifying some of the stars of the breed but readily acknowledges the most important part of the program is getting all cows scored and linearized correctly so breeders can use the Sire Summary with confidence when mating cows.
Family is a huge part of the day-to-day operation at Mayerlane Holsteins in Bloomer, Wis., where the first meeting will be held on Tuesday, March 17. Don and Liz have been involved with Holsteins their whole lives. In 1990 they decided that it was time to farm on their own, after working for some well-known breeders. When they purchased the farm in Bloomer it was six acres, a barn, a house and five outbuildings. All of the buildings have since been updated or removed. With being on only six acres, all of the feed is purchased and some breeding aged heifers and dry cows are housed at different pastures during the summer.
Don and Liz have three children Erica, Dustin and Samantha. All three of the kids have been involved with showing, 4-H/FFA and chores at the farm. Erica is married to Travis Ullom who works at his parents’ farm in Menomonie; they have two children Hannah (15) and Fritzy (13). Both Hannah and Fritzy do much of the showing for Mayerlane along with playing sports. Dustin, who is a jailer, is marrying Megan in September. He has a son Wyatt (8), who is in 4-H and cannot wait to show a calf this summer, and Megan’s son Josh (12). Samantha married Andrew Berlin and they also have two girls Elsie (2) and Millie (1). The girls love to be out with all of the animals. All of the family helps at the farm in some way. Samantha and Erica are involved with the day to day operations of the farm with Don and Liz, along with some high-school student employees and a college student on the weekends.
The Mayers milk 60 cows in a 49 tie-stall barn three times a day. During the summer the cows go out three times a day and as the days get colder in winter they are happy to get out once a day. When the cows go out they have access to a bunk with haylage and corn silage, a pasture and a converted freestall barn. The cows are fed high moisture corn, protein, mineral, dry hay and haylage in the barn. All of the stalls are bedded with shavings and some straw in the winter. The Mayers have a current rolling herd average of 24,382 4.13 1008 3.23 787.
In a typical month, there are 10-12 animals that get flushed at the farm. The embryos that are the results of these flushes are sold locally and world-wide. There are a handful of these embryos that are put in at the farm or at Travis’ family’s farm. Another product of selling embryos around the world is having trainees wanting to come to Mayerlane. Since moving to the farm, the Mayers have hosted trainees from England, Japan, Germany, the Netherlands and Finland. There are many cow families that are represented at Mayerlane, including Prudence, Lead Mae, Roxy, Ultimate Pala, Rosa, Chief Adeen, Star Lily, Desire and Destiny. Mayerlane classifies three times a year.
Currently in the herd are 27 Excellent cows. Of those 27, there are 16 that are EX-92 and higher. There are many two year olds that are scored VG-88 and VG-89. One of the young cows that is particularly exciting at Mayerlane is Mayerlane Catamount or, as she is more commonly known, Cat. Cat is due back in June and has pregnancies by Doorman and Sid. Cat has been flushed to Sid, Doorman and Armani. She is the VG-89 first score Atwood daughter of Lylehaven Damion Lynx EX-94 and 2nd dam is Starbuck Lil EX-94. There are two younger sisters to Cat that have calved in this winter sired by Atwood and also a summer yearling Clark and Goldwyn sisters due in October. The future looks promising.
Devil is another young cow that the Mayers are looking forward to developing. Milksource D Devils-Red-ET is a VG-88 Destry from the iconic Destiny EX-94 and 2nd dam is Desire EX-96. Devil is due back in September and has daughters by Acme and Sympatico. She also has pregnancies by Addiction P and McGucci. Mayers showed her fall calf, Acme Mayerlane Ditzy Devil-ET, this summer. She earned Junior Champion of the District 1 Show, 3rd at the Wisconsin Junior State Fair and 1st at the Mid-West Fall National. The other Acme, a spring yearling for 2015, Mayerlane Dare Devil will be selling at the Badger Invitational in April. This is the first daughter that will be selling at public auction from Devil.
There is a group of three sisters that call Mayerlane home. They include a Roy, Lowgrey-ML Patty Peppermint EX-93, and two Shottles, Ludwigs-DG Shottle Prisim-ET EX-91 and Ludwigs-DG Shottle Piper-ET EX-94. Peppermint currently has a milking Sid and Damion in the herd. Prisim has an EX-90 second calf Fever. The sisters’ dam is Finley Patty and their fourth dam is Ultimate Pala. The sisters have been flushed and have some calves coming from Damion, Goldsun, Atwood, Windbrook, McGucci and Corvette.
Another family that has had a major impact on the herd is Lead Mae EX-94. Durham Mae was an EX-92 daughter of Lead Mae who had EX daughters in the herd by Finley, Outside and Mich. There are now EX granddaughters in the herd. They are currently working with members of the Debutante Rae family, including her highest scored living daughter, an EX-94 Stormatic.
The Mayer family is excited to be hosting a barn meeting and looks forward to visitors on March 17 at 11:00 a.m. Lunch will be provided. The farm is located at 10803 State Hwy 64, Bloomer.
The second barn meeting is set for Wednesday, March 18. The Paltzer farm of Seymour, Wis., is owned and operated by the Paltzer family, which includes Joe, his girlfriend Alane and son Brett. Joe’s family has farmed his entire life, but Joe has been managing the operation for the past ten years.
Joe is currently milking 50 cows in a tie-stall barn that also has four box stalls. The herd has a BAA of 110.7, with a rolling herd average at 25,000 pounds of milk. The Paltzers run 230 acres, with 150 owned and an additional 80 rented for additional hay and corn. Joe feeds a high forage diet, including corn silage and baylage, and he top dresses high moisture corn and protein.
Calves on the farm are raised in hutches and transitioned to a bedded pack barn once they are weaned. All older heifers are kept in freestalls and pastured during the summer months. Joe breeds for type and prefers to use high reliability sires. The Paltzers have done some IVF work, and have several calves by Goldwyn, Atwood, and Windbrook. Sires currently being used include Gold Chip, Sid, Baltimore and Absolute.
There are many descendants of prominent cow families in the herd, including offspring from BC Cami, Roxy, Alicia, Apple, Elegance, Debutante Rae, and Royal Rosa. High-scoring dams headlining the herd right now are Stone-Front Durham Carmen, EX-94, and Rabbit-Ranch Stmatic Rita, EX-94. Carmen has two milking Sanchez daughters in the herd, as well as a Goldsun yearling, two Goldwyn September calves and two Atwood December calves. Rita has two milking Dundee daughters and two Goldwyn September calves.
Visitors to the Paltzer herd will see an EX-91 Goldwyn from Budjon Redmarker Desire, as well as a VG-88 Fever two-year-old that is a granddaughter of Debutante Rae. The Paltzers briefly owned Stone-Rise Durham Lizzy, EX-95, and have four Goldwyn daughters and two Windbrook daughters on the ground from her.
There is also an EX-92 Rampage on the farm, Winterfield Trenda-Red, with 11 EX dams and the nearest five are all EX-92. Trenda has a Contender that was seventh in the winter heifer class at World Dairy Expo last year. This calf, Paltzer-JT Contender Tulsa-Red, was second at the WI Championship show, and Trenda was first aged cow. The pair was first dam and daughter as well. Joe has additional daughters from Trenda sired by Advent and Absolute.
The Paltzers are looking forward to hosting a Wisconsin Holstein Barn Meeting on March 18 at 11:00 a.m. The farm is located at N6234 County Rd C, Seymour. Lunch for the day will be held at the Osborn Town Hall at W3389 Cty Rd EE, Seymour, WI, less than two miles from the farm.
Finally, Fischerdale Holsteins, Verona, is owned and operated by Tom & Vicki Sarbacker and family. They will host a meeting on Thursday, March 19. Their kids have always played a big part in the success of the operation; Nick, Andy, Joe, Ben and Elizabeth grew up being involved in the farm, doing day to day chores, cattle showing, and marketing cattle. Currently, Nick farms with wife Jessica and children Madison and Melanie at Heritage Holsteins in Whitewater. Andy teaches middle school science and resides in New Glarus, with wife Kara, and children Noah, Matthew, Eden and Avery. Joe and Sarah, and children Payton, Braelyn, and Reagan farm at Fischerdale with Tom and Vicki. Ben is a Genetic Services Coordinator at Accelerated Genetics. He and his wife Jocelyn live in Edgerton. Elizabeth is a freshman at UW-Madison majoring in Dairy Science.
Since 1958, Fischerdale Holsteins has strived to build a herd of homebred cows that excel in the barn and show ring. Tom and Vicki continued that goal since 1983 when they moved on the current location south of Verona. In 2008, Joe and Sarah got married, both graduated from UW-Madison and Joe became a full-time employee at Fischerdale and Sarah started an event planning business, Cherry Blossom Events, in 2010.
Currently the farm consists of 165 acres of mostly tillable land around the Sugar River. They produce corn and alfalfa, which goes to feed the cows. The milking cows are fed a TMR and additional with dry hay. Dry cows and heifers are fed corn silage and dry hay. Calves are fed grain and microbials along with free choice hay.
The Sarbackers milk 65 Registered Holsteins in a tie-stall barn twice a day. The dry cows and heifers are housed in loose housing, which is transition for show calves in the summer months. The herd boasts a rolling herd average of 25,754 milk, 3.54%F, and 3.18%P and a BAA of 109.6%. Over the years the Sarbackers have bred 98 EX cows, had three All-American Nominees, three Junior All-American winners, Grand Champion of World Dairy Expo’s Junior Show 1991, 11 Junior All-American nominations, nine animals place in the top ten at WDE open show, three All-Wisconsin winners, three WI Junior State Fair Grand Champions, and three WI Junior State Fair Junior Champions.
The Sarbackers pride themselves on building deep cow families of homebred cattle by sticking to their breeding goals of high type, longevity, and milk production from great udders. Tom and Joe are very selective on purchasing bulls that fit what kind of cows they want to have in the barn.
They are currently using, Atwood, Brokaw, Airlift, Goldsun, Golden Dreams, Armani, Aftershock, Brazzle and Bankroll.
The Fischerdale Horton Evie family has 31 cows (9 EX, 11 VG, 6 GP, & 5 NC) in the herd today, none more important than Fischerdale Champ Explicit EX-94 3E, a ninth generation cow to carry the Fischerdale prefix. Born in February 2005, she doesn’t have an extensive show career, but her offspring speak loudly for her ability as a brood cow. Explicit is out of an EX-90 Encore and her full sister, Fischerdale Champion Escalade, was Junior Champion at the WI Junior State Fair in 2008. Escalade was HM Junior All-American Fall Yearling that year. Explicit currently has 13 daughters on the farm by Encounter, Talent, September Storm, Fever, Goldsun, Absolute, and Atwood, with nine IVF female Atwoods due September 2015.
Her oldest daughter, Fischerdale Encounter Excite, EX-92 2E, was 1st summer yearling at WI Junior State Fair, 3rd at WI Championship Show and 9th WDE open show in 2008. Another daughter, Fischerdale Talent Epitome, EX-91, was Reserve Junior Champion of the Junior show at District 6 and 2nd at WI Junior State Fair 2009. Explicit’s third daughter is Fischerdale Sept Storm Excuse EX-91, who was Junior Champion at WI Junior State Fair, nominated Junior All-American, and member of the nominated All-American Junior Best Three in 2010. Another Explicit daughter, Fischerdale Fever Estero VG-86 (1st calf ), was nominated Junior All-American Fall Calf and Junior Champion at District 6 in 2012. Explicit’s notable granddaughters in the herd: Fischerdale Windbrook Etta VG-85 (Windbrook x Fischerdale Encounter Excite) was Reserve Junior All-American winter calf in 2012; Fischerdale Sept Storm Eccentric VG-88 (Sept Storm x Fischerdale Encounter Excite) was nominated Junior All-American and member of the nominated All-American Junior Best Three in 2009; and Fischerdale Goldsun Exactly VG-86 2Y (Goldsun x Fischerdale Sept Storm Excuse). Explicit is the fourth dam of Fischerdale Evangeline, who was 1st summer yearling at the WI Junior State Fair and Junior Champion of the District 6 show this past summer. The Sarbackers are excited about the future of this family and the impact that it will continue to have at Fischerdale.
Another prominent cow family at Fischerdale comes from Fischerdale Champion Rookie VG-86, a sixth generation to carry the Fischerdale prefix. Fischerdale Damion Reality EX-93 (dam is and EX-91 Blitz) and Fischerdale Damion Rambo (dam is a GP-83 Promote) are granddaughters of Rookie, and they have really put this family on the map. Reality was the anchor of the Fischerdale show string for the past five years. She was 3rd at the WDE open show and nominated All-American summer yearling in 2010. Reality calved in great, going on to win All-Wisconsin, Grand Champion of the WI Junior State Fair and Junior All-American honors in 2011. In 2012, she was Resrve All-Wisconsin, Junior All-Wisconsin and again nominated Junior All-American. Unfortunately, Reality recently was lost due to injury, but her legacy will live on in her VG-86 Goldwyn two year old, daughters and granddaughters by Brokaw, Goldsun, and Dempsey. Reality has a Bradnick sister and an Atwood sister to be born in June. Rambo, scored VG-86 at 2-00 this fall, was nominated Junior All-American fall calf in 2013, and was twice Reserve Junior Champion at the District 6 Show in 2013 and 2014.
The Sarbackers are excited to be hosting a barn meeting and look forward to your visit to Fischerdale on March 19 at 11:00 a.m. The farm is located at 1487 Range Trail, Verona.
All barn meetings are open to any interested Holstein breeder. Complete directions to the farms are available on the WHA website at www.wisholsteins.com. Any other breeders wanting to host similar barn meetings should call the Wisconsin Holstein Association at 1-800-223-4269 and we’ll work with you to set one up for your local breeders.