Myers Family Breeds Top Holsteins
BY JULIE GOCHENOUR
Virginia Correspondent
HARRISONBURG - When
Walkup Valiant Lou Ella brought
$185,000 at a Pennsylvania sale in
November, no one from Walkup
Holsteins or nearby Harrisonburg
was too surprised. Dan Myers and
his daughter, Teresa, have a
reputation for breeding cattle that
do well for other people. What’s
more, they also breed Holsteins
that do well for themselves and
carry on the Myers family
tradition of fine registered
Holstein cattle.
It’s a tradition that goes back to
1922 when Dan’s father, Victor
Myers, brought the first registered
Holsteins to the family dairy as a 4-
H project. Five years later, Dan’s
father and grandfather requested
and received the Walk-up prefix
from the American Holstein
Association. The Walkup herd was
100 percent registered before he
ever came along, Dan Explains,
and it has been gaining recognition
ever since.
That recognition includes no less
than three All-American
nominations, one for each of the
last three generations. “Around
1937, my dad showed a reserve
honorable mention All-American
and since that time we’ve been
able to have two others
nominated,” the dairyman says.
“The first one that I bred myself
was in 1971 and the second one was
the Astronaut daughter, Walkup
Astronaut Lou Ann, that Teresa
bred and carries our prefix.”
Myers keeps between 75 to 80
cows in the Walkup milking herd
and the herd average as of
November was 18,154 pounds at 3.7
percent and 670 pounds of fat.
Walkup Holsteins, located near Harrisonburg, in Virginia's Shenandoah Valley,
maintains a rolling herd average over 18,000 milk with a BAA of 103.4 on 75 cows.
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“This is a 100 percent registered
herd with a few exceptions of cows
we use for recipients and have
cancelled their classification. The
B.A.A. average is 103.4 with six
Excellents and I don’t know how
many Very Goods,” the dairyman
continues. “There’s also ap
proximately 70 to 75 heifers from
calves to bred heifers on the farm
at all times.”
The bright star of the herd is
undoubtedly Walkup Astronaut
Lou Ann, 3E 94, who is still going
strong as an 11 year old. While
being nominated and shown for
All-American, Lou Ann had two
consecutive records over a 1,000
pounds of fat, and from 24,000 to
28,000 pounds of milk on both
records. “Her most important
contribution, however, is not what
she did but what her offspring are
doing,’ ’ Myers notes. •
“As registered breeders we
strive for cattle that will produce
and reproduce; there is by far the
best cow that’s stayed on this
place. Her daughter, Lou Ella,
may be great, but at this point
we’re not able to value her tran
smitting like we can Lou Ann’s.
Lou Ann has transmitted ex
ceptional type and production,
consistently.” The proof, he ex
plains, is a growing number of
outstanding daughters such as Lou
Ella —not just one.
As a breeder, Myers realizes
that cows like Lou Ann do not come
along every year, or even every 10
years. “If we look through the
statistics of the Holstein
Association and those of people
who merchandise and develop
cattle, such cows come along one
or twice in a state every 10 or 15
years. We’re just blessed that she
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came here,” Myers says modestly.
“I believe that to develop good
cattle it takes a lot of effort, a lot of
concentration and work and 1
believe that close to 50 percent of
it’s luck,” he declares. And while
he can’t do much about the luck,
Dan admits to putting the
maximum amount of effort,
concentration and work into his
breeding program.
“I strive for the combination of
milk and total type,” Myers
reveals. “I do not breed for all milk
or cow index’ I do not breed for all
type,” he emphasizes. “I believe
we have to select our breeding for
more than one trait and cannot
forget the others.”
“This means breeding com
plicated. It’s certainly easier to
say a bull with 1200 PD is better
than a bull with 100 PD, but that’s
not necessarily true. We’re looking
for bulls that will be consistent in
what they provide for us, be it type
or milk. Each breeding is a special
mating for us,” Myers adds,
acknowledging that he spends
hours pouring over sire sum
maries.
It takes a lot of dedication to
make such a program work,
especially if it occasionally flies in
the face of accepted beliefs. “We
are trying to use bulls that are in
excess of 500 pounds of milk and a
point and a half on type,” the
breeder says. “There are a few
exceptions, but they’re rare.
That’s what we put in our semen
tank basically on type.
“We have lost cow indexes
because my philosophy is the
improvement of the cow instead of
maintaining an artificial number
in cow index,” he reports. “The
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be used in mating but in no way is
it the desired end in the registered
Holstein business. As a dairy
farmer I believe that we need to be
able to work with those cows.
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Myers notes that inspite of her outstanding records, "Her
most important contribution, however, is not what she did
but what her offspring are doing."
“From my experience and the
experience of others, the quality of
the cow many times suffers to the
point that the successes are not
worth those you loose,” he con
tinues. “We are trying to breed
that total cow. The cow that has
type, that can produce and
reproduce. What else is there? If
you have those, the people will be
climbing the walls and walking in
your drive and begging for your
cattle because that’s what the
industry is about,” Myers main
tains.
The dairyman may not be
beating off potential customers
with a stick, but he sells as much
as 50 percent of his heifer crop a
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year and could market still more.
“In a specific year we might sell as
much as 50 percent of his heifer
crop a year and could market still
more. “In a specific year we might
sell as much as 50 percent of our
heifer crop but it’s going to have to
be less than that on an average. I
like to be a little critical on the
cows we keep and I am very hard
on young cattle. If a cow can make
the first three or four lactations
here, I know she’ll go as long as
she’ll go. If not, she’s gone.”
He practices what he preaches.
“We are culling the highest in
dexed cow in the herd as a three
year old and she’s going to have a
‘Big Mac attack’,” Myers said. “I
would not let her leave the farm as
a breed cow because she does not
have the body conformation, or the
udder quality, or the type, that I
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