g and a family devoted to dairying
class each morning lessened the
impact of arriving late at school
some days.
Although Abbe had begun testing
with just nine herds, in two years
her schedule had doubled. She
recently returned to the York
DHIA testing program, after other
employment for an interim. One of
the most beneficial angles of her
testing job, in Abbe’s opinion, is
that the milking hours she must
work allow her to spend many
daytime hours with her two-year
old daughter, Amanda.
When Patti’s extremely full
schedule occasionally backed up
during, extra-rushed weeks, it was
her youngest sister Edwina who
usually lent a hand in catching up
on herds Edwina, the third
Johnson daughter, graduated in
June, and by August the York
DHIA board had signed her one.
She now tests for a full 25-herd
schedule of participating
dairymen.
Younger brothers Chip, a senior
in vo-ag, and sophomore student,
Keel, haven’t committed them
selves to becoming testers, but
they definitely do plan to stay in
agriculture, possibly with the
family’s own dairy herd.
Along with Edwina, and fellow
FFA’er Jerry Taylor, Chip and
Keel comprise Red Lion Chapter’s
dairy judging team. In September,
at the Harrisburg All-American
judging contest, FFA division,
these four captured first place
honors.
They credit their 4-H and FFA
judging backgrounds’ for the
team’s success at the Harrisburg
competition. One individual
singled out as having influenced
their judging abilities is Paul King,
ooy
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noted dairy judge, uelta-area
Holstein breeder and 4-H coach
under whom they have studied.
Taylor’s brother, Allen, is a
previous FFA dairy judging team
competitor, and also spent time
working with the four. Jerry and
Allen are the sons of Peggy and
Donnell Taylor, also a dairy family
from Delta.
When Ed and “town girl” Doris
Johnson purchased the 150-acre
home farm in 1971, they had no
way of knowing their children
would remain so deeply devoted to
dairying. Ed has spent his entire
lifetime on this farm where his
father, Thomas, had maintained a
herd of about 14 head of registered
Ayrshires, plus one Holstein herd
member.
However, the younger Johnson
had always maintained an interest
in purebred Holsteins, and in the
early 1950’5, began gradually
switching to grade black and
whites.
“Our first registered Holstein
was an Ivanhoe from the Park
chester herd,” relates Johnson.
“And we bought a heifer calf from
a neighbor, Dave Walker.”
But his interest took a slightly
different twist about 1966, when
Johnson began looking into polled,
or naturally hornless, Holsteins,
which still comprise a fairly small
percentage of the breed.
Calves at Hickorymea were then
housed in small pens within a
larger building, a sort of inside
hutch arrangement, and tied with
dog-leash chains. After one
dehorning session, a calf somehow
managed to rub her tie chain over
the spot where the hom had been
removed, causing the wound to
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reopen, and she bled to deatn.
“That turned me on horns,” says
the polled promoter. “I’d never go
back to all horned animals.”
Polled lines were introduced to
the herd through purchased
animals, semen from polled bulls
and the select use of Hickorymea’s
own-bred polled sons. Breeding in
the polled lines, while maintaining
other desirable traits, is a lengthy
process, and the Johnson herd now
has about two-thirds registered
polled in the milking string.
Commerically available polled
sires are limited in number, so
Johnson does cross back to high
P.D. bulls to maintain milk, fat
and type levels. Heifers bom with
horns will be serviced to polled
bulls or semen from polled sires.
“Polled is a dominant trait,” he
adds, “and the first crossing gives
about a fifty percent success rate.
Occasionally, in later generations,
there will be a throwback and an
animal with horns is bom.”
Other than not having to deal
with the inconvenience of dehor
ning calves, with the potential of
stunting through dehoming side
effects, Johnson has never seen a
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difference between polled and
regular Holstein cattle. All are
equally aggressive at the feedbunk
and productive in the milk line.
While the Johnsons did not
necessarily have a “game plan” to
keep their children active in the
dairy industry, one interesting
family tradition has tied birthdays
to the family cattle.
As each child celebrated a
birthday, he or she was given the
bull calf born on or nearest that
day. The calf became the
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youngster’s to sell at auction, the
proceeds to go for whatever
special purpose the celebrant
intended. Since calf prices often
fluctuate with the status of the
agricultural economy, it was just
one small, and unique, way to
interest a youngster in the state of
the family business.
Although encouraged by their
vo-ag instructor to stay in ag
related jobs after graduation, the
Johnson children have only one
real reason for doing so. It’s Patti
who sums it up the best: “I just
like it.”
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