Still soaring after two thirds of the year

Registry stats and numbers for Jersey Canada to the end of August have just been "crunched" and we like what we see!

Here's an exciting sampler:

• Registrations are UP 4.9% over 2008 year-to-date
   
• Electronic submission of registrations accounted for over 60% of registration activity in August. This is the third month in 2009 that electronic submissions have exceeded 60%. All since April. We are now at 56% for the year. Could hit a record 60% by year's end!
  
  
• Transfers are down 9% from last year. August however, was a very good month for transfer activity.
  
  
• Membership totals remain 10% ahead of the very high total in 2008. We are already 5.9% ahead of all of 2008 and 2008 was the best year since 1968! We are now at our highest membership total since 1967, 42 years ago! We creep ever closer to the exciting total of of 1,000 members!

More growth is on the way as we registered an even dozen of 12 new herd names in August. This boosted us to a total of 93 for the year to date. Looks like we'll easily surpass 100 new herd names regsitered for the fourth consecutive year in a row!

Looking at long term growth we have now registered a stunning 779 new herd names since January 2004! Looks like we'll also exceed 800 before the end of 2009!

Embryos sales and transfers continue to be a bright light! 2009 has already seen a record number of embryos transferred for any year in the history of the association! We are already 115% ahead of all of 2008 with four months to go!

Much of the current rising success that the Jersey breed in Canada is experiencing can be attributed to our National Extension Program. This program was established in 2006.

Since then the following accomplisments have been made reached via the program and the hard and smart work of National Extension Agent Jean-Marc Pellerin:

In 2009 to date:

• 253 herd visits 
• 10% of all transfers processed this year 
• Just under 3% of all registrations 
• 42% of all new herd prefix registrations 
• 32 new memberships
  

From 2006 to August 2009 the following levels of activtiy have been achieved:

• Just under 1,400 herd visits 
• 205 new members 
• Over 275 new herd prefixes (45% of all new herd prefixes registered in this time period 
• Over 800 registrations 
• Over 930 transfers
  

Isn't this awesome?

We use this as a springboard for further growth and progress!  Let's see what the final quarter of this rockin' Jersey year brings!

Youthful exuberance

News streams into this office from so many sources. We love that! Recently Angela Masters, Editor of the Atlantic Holstein News and a Nova Scotia resident sent us some photos and a story about adventures that her two young sons have had with Jerseys.

Angela and her husband Brian are the justifiably proud parents of Riley and Linden. Now, Angela has a Jersey heritage in that she showed Jersey calves from the Twin Maples herd of the late Preston Murray and Belle Murray during her 4-H days.

Riley and Linden are thrilled to own their own brown cow Eloc Emblem Kookies, a July 2008 daughter of young sire Hollylane Jade's Emblem. At the tender age of 13 months, Kookies has already made two visits to the famed grounds of the "State Fair" at Middle Musquodoboit, Nova Scotia that we've been writing about lately.

She made a good start in 2008 with two leadsmen as you'll see shortly. This year older brother Riley took control and guided the heifer to a first in class placing and the Honourable Mention Junior Champion placing in the protein breeds show.

There is very little if anything that is more inspiring than to see young people expressing an interest in the breed. We have so many new and young faces showing up at Jersey events today. It is a whole new world! Enjoy the photos of Riley and his bro Linden supplied by their mother Angela!

 

Mother Angela says it is a case of older brother Riley saying "you push, I'll pull" to brother Linden when they unveiled Kookies in a wet ring in 2008.  Yup, looks like a clear case of "push me, pull me" for Kookies to us! 

  

"Eyes on the Judge"

"That's my girl"....Riley & Kookie growing up fast!

It's a small world after all!

As you can imagine a great deal of our interaction with Jersey owners and industry partners and suppliers relates to people who live in Canada. However, many days we have the privilege of working with and assisting folks who are from other countries, "foreign lands", if you will. Here is a sampler of international people who we've communicated with on Jersey topics during the early part of this week-and it is only Wednesday morning!

From Jersey Island - Suzanne Le Feuvre; Rob Perchard; Derrick Frigot

From the USA - Erick Metzger, Paula England, Sally Stine and Dan Bauer at the AJCA; Bill Maness in Tennessee; Melissa Hart in Michigan-Melissa is a very active farm press writer who works with Holstein International; Dairy Agenda Today and has her own neat blog at http://knolltopfarmwife.blogspot.com. She and her farming family have a Holstein herd and in the latter part of 2008 added two milking Jerseys to the mix! Everyone gets smart sooner or later! :)

From Wales in the UK: Ffiona Jones reported that her sons had become local TV stars while showing their daughters of Canadian sires Bridon Jamaica and Pine Haven Senior. They had had to contend with competition from a descendant of Canadian-born supercow Huronia Centurion Veronica, Ex-97%.

Wikus Van der Merwe from Jersey South Africa sent us a photo of a great young cow that he had seen and photographed in recent days.

Raewyne Collins from one of the New Zealand Jersey groups forwarded a question about the pedigree of a bull - who happened to be from the USA so we sent that on to the AJCA.

Richard Brown from New South Wales in Australia forwarded news about his new role with a local Jersey group. He also commented on the pioneering work that he and his family had done in bringing semen from Canadian Jersey bulls Brampton Sixth Generation and later Meadow Lawn Bright Spot to Aussie. This provoked reflection about the influential Brampton herd at Brampton, Ontario. And we also mused about the Meadow Lawn herd at Markham, Ontario where Bright Spot was born and Wendybrook Farm in Quebec's Eastern Townships where the bull was bred. Then we wandered (on an internal mind trip) over to Prince Edward Island where Edison Mutch had bred a number of the females in the direct line between Bright Spot in his River North herd.

Yes, much of our energy and time is directed to helping Canadian dairy folks with a focus on domestic breed growth. We also have the privilege of working with a bevy of enthusiastic and capable Jersey/dairy people all over the globe-and that is icing on the cake!

Yet Another Jersey Fan Confirmed!!

Big things were afoot at the famed "State Fair" in Middle Musquodoboit in Halifax County, Nova Scotia this year! During a dairy show which filled all available stalls on the grounds, Reggie Dillman of Musqie Valley Farms made a very special presentation. His father Poppa John Dillman received a brilliant-coloured "got jersey cows?" shirt to add to his wardrobe.  In an August 20th blog posting we quoted Poppa John when he said with a mixture of trepidation, surprise and "deep concern" that: "Those little brown things are taking over the world!!"  Seems John is having quite a job relating to the growth of his family's Jersey herd!

 Reggie Dillman presents his Dad John with a new high fashion garment in the "State Fair's" showring

John models his smart new shirt and receives congratulations from neighbour Helena Cole of Eloc and Colstein Farm.

Ambassadors unaware of their role...

I am just recently off the phone from a conversation with Adrian Haeni at Lone Pine Farms in Didsbury, Alberta. Adrian is "home alone" in his house as Vreni and their four sons are at the Western Canada Classic youth show. This year, Saskatchewan plays host to this popular dairy event for the younger set. Adrian noted that he is aware of at least 10 Jersey calves that will be part of the competitions. The brown calves he is aware of come from Manitoba, Saskatchewan and Alberta.

As we conversed about the WCC program, Adrian noted that some of our very best ambassadors for the Jersey breed are our Jersey youth. He further commented that they don't go out in public thinking of themselves as ambassadors. They simply attend events being the keen, enthusiastic, inquisitive young people they are looking to make friends, grow, learn and tell others what they are do at their home farms.

That got me thinking about some of the other Jersey folks we had heard about in recent weeks. The stories come from the "far East" to the "far West" and points in between. These Jersey supporters are bringing Jerseys out for multi-breed shows, delivering Jersey displays at agricultural fairs and shows, resurrecting Jersey shows or establishing first-time Jersey shows - in short, finding ways to make the breed and the world Jersey much more highly visible. In these cases the Jersey people know they are breed ambassadors. They give of their own time and energy to let their local world know about the breed!

Whether or not you think of yourself as a breed ambassador or even realize that you are, you are.  This association appreciates all those who display professionalism and a positive attitude about dairying and animal husbandry and enthusiasm about the Jersey breed. Who knows what seeds your example and attitudes may sow?

The Surge Begins!!

Record numbers of young Jersey sires have been sampled within Canada in recent years. Eventually this kind of sampling activity yields fruit. And boy oh boy, did the fruits of young sire sampling ever become evident with the August 2009 proof run!!


There are four new faces on the top 20 list for Lifetime Profit Index (LPI) in our breed! Three are bulls proven first in Canada: On Time, Dice and Valedictorian, all from Semex. The other new sire is Iatola who received his first proof in Canada for ABS Global. This is 20% of the top 20 list!

A close review of the proofs on these four bulls defines their abilities to stimulate genetic advancement. Average proofs for the four are:

+632 milk (this is at the 64th percentile)

+54 milk (87th percentile)

+34 protein (75th percentile)

+.34% fat and +.16% protein

Lifetime Profit Index: +1514 (94th percentile!!!)

Conformation: +6 (80th percentile)
Mammary system: +8 (90th percentile)
Feet and legs: +5 (74th percentile)
Dairy Strength: +1 (52nd percentile)
Rump: +3 (64th percentile)
Somatic Cell Score: 2.81 (69th percentile)

These bulls are from an early crop in the surge in young sire sampling. In later years even more young sires were sampled. We now also have the introduction of the tool of genomic testing. This tool will allow us to focus on those young sires who'll have the best chance of being useful proven sires.

Think what kinds of new breed leaders we'd find with more young sires sampled! Sowing seeds reaps a harvest! For the Jersey breed to remain competitive new genetic resources need to be identified on a regular basis. We are now into a whole new era of both sampling expanded numbers of young sires and seeing many new sires revealed with first proofs during proof release days! That has to be good for Jersey progress! Bravo to all those selecting and sampling young Jersey sires! These results are your reward!!

The Jersey Cheese Revolution

The Jersey cow has been known as "The Cheesemakers' cow". Lately the art and practice of making cheese from Jersey milk has been enjoying renewed attention and recognition. We salute those determined and capable souls who have been making high quality Jersey cheeses for years and even decades. Steps have been taken to make their efforts and successes even more high profile.

The World Jersey Cattle Bureau hosted the first World Jersey Cheese Awards on Jersey in May of 2008. The Royal Jersey Agricultural and Horticultural Society took the lead in delivering this exciting first-time event. Encouraged by the success of this event the first North American Regional Jersey Cheese Awards program was presented in Syracuse, New York in July of 2009. We congratulate and thank the American Jersey Cattle Association for their leadership and finesse in staging the awards. This event also enjoyed a strong successful maiden voyage. In June of 2010 the second World Jersey Cheese Awards will take place, again in Jersey, home of the breed. Other regions under the WJCB umbrella are planning their own regional Jersey cheese awards programs.

These new events amplify and build upon the great work that is being done on Jersey farms and in processing plants/dairies around the globe!

Here in Canada we appreciate the long term work that Jersey cheese producers based in British Columbia have done in refining their craft and building markets. We are aware of some small scale Jersey cheese production in Nova Scotia. Jerseys have also migrated into the herd of an established cheese production company in that province.

Our National Extension Agent Jean-Marc Pellerin has been discovering and reporting upon a growing number of Jersey cheese-making businesses in Quebec. This past weekend Jersey Canada Director Isabelle Roy reported on a plant using Jersey milk in the Bois-Franc region of Quebec. Jean-Marc told us about two 2009 start-up Jersey cheese companies in recent days.

The effort of establishing a cheese production facility and the accompanying marketing and distribution arm is not for everyone. There are however, those who flourish with such challenges. The results of their hard work provides a powerful statement about the added value of Jersey milk in cheese processing! There is ample wind in the sails of the breed with regard to Jersey cheese. This is one more way to highlight the versatility of Jersey milk ane the Jersey breed!