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A24-Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 21,1987
Jersey Farm Strives For Excellence In Breeding Program
QUARRYVILLE - The Penn
sylvania Jersey Cattle Club will
hold its annual state meeting next
weekend at the Historic Stasburg
Inn, Lancaster County. While no
formal tours are planned as part of
the meeting, several breeders in
the county will welcome visitors to
their farms.
One of these farms is the Misty
Hollow Farm, Spring Valley Road,
QuarryviUe, home of the Robert
Ulrich Jr. family and Valley U
Jerseys.
Misty Hollow has been breeding
Jersey cows since it was
established in 1939 by Robert’s
father, Robert Sr. Since that time
it has been ran as a family farm.
The family recorded one of their
greatest breeding ac
- complishments last July. At that
time their home-bred cow, Valley
U Brass Betsy, topped the CPI list
in Pennsylvania and ranked as the
25th high cow in the nation.
Betsy, a 3 year old, produced a 2-
year-old record of 16,491 pounds of
milk and 772 pounds of fat with a
4.7 test in 324 days. Her CPI was
approximately 225. Her dam
produced a top record of 21,430
pounds of milk and 874 pounds of
fat in 306 days. Ulrich noted
representatives from a bull stud
expressed interest in a calf from
Betsy, but they are waiting to see
her performance in her current
lactation. Betsy freshened in
January with a Duncan heifer calf.
Two other cow families stand out
in Ulrich’s mind as making
significant contributions to his
herd Valley U Superb Babe and
Valley U Mercury Florence.
Babe classified Excellent and
produced over 900 pounds of fat. He
has sold one bull from Babe to a
stud service. Babe’s daughter,
Valley U Fascinator Luella,
produced over 900 pounds of fat
and. classified Excellent. Robert
has sold two bulls from Luella into
a stud services.
“The third generation was just
fresh a few days ago,” Ulrich
noted, expressing optimism for the
future of the family.
Florence produced six con
secutive records over 850 pounds of
fat in 305 day lactations. Last year
she completed her 305 day lac
tation with 985 pounds erf fat.
During her lifetime she has
produced an averaged 5.4 test per
lactation.
Despite her superior production
abilities, the Florence family of
fers no genetic value to the Misty
_.ity. pei
percent since Robert Ulrich began using hutches six years
ago.
Misty Hollow Farm On ‘Unofficial’ Tour
Hollow Farms because the Mer
cury bull was a limberleg carrier,
Ulrich explained. “But she pays
the bills,’’he said.
“We are getting to the point now
in our breeding program where we
can start to merchandise. A few
cows have CPIs that are high
enough and the pedigrees are deep
enough. If the cows do like I expect
that they will, I think we will be
able to start merchandising out of
some of them,” Ulrich explained.
He expects a proof on his first
bull, random sampled through
NOBA, next January.
Marketing replacement heifers
has helped Ulrich maintain his
cash flow, he explained. Two years
ago he sold 22 replacements.
Ulrich noted he keeps every
heifer bom on the farm. Those not
need for replacement within his
own herd are offered for sale. He
has entered two heifers in the state
sale to be held on Saturday, March
28, the second day of the Penn
sylvania Jersey Cattle Club’s
annual meeting.
Ulrich posted a 1986 rolling herd
average of 13,800 pounds of milk
and 678 pounds of fat on 100 cows.
He breeds 25 to 30 percent of his
animals to young sires and selects
the top three or four TPI bulls in
the breed for the rest of his herd. “I
thinks it’s any dairymen’s
responsibility to help prove the
young sires,” Ulrich said. He
selects the young sires on a ran
dom basis without regard to
bloodlines.
Top Brass is one sire Ulrich
holds in high regard. “I think he’s
going to have a tremendous impact
on the breed,” the Quarryville
Jersey breeder said. Ulrich noted
he is pleased with the Top Brass
daughters in his herd which have
been freshening. “Before Top
Brass the 2 year olds were not what
I wanted genetically.” He added,
“Hopefully, he’ll help push us over
the 700 pound plateau.”
Ulrich expressed frustration
with his herd average. “It seems
like we’ve been knocking against
700 for so long but just can’t seem
to make it. We seem to have hit a
plateau.”
Presently, Ulrich is working
with a local feed company to im
prove the herd's RHA. A total
mixed ration program is on the
drawing board, he commented.
He currently feeds ap
proximately 10 pounds of alfalfa
haylage, 18 pounds of corn silage,
nine pounds of baled alfalfa hay,
The 100-cow herd at Misty Hollow Farm is milked in a conventional stanchion barn.
Last year the herd averaged 13,800 pounds of milk and 678 pounds of fat.
high moisture com, and a 25
percent topdress.
He houses his milking herd in a
stanchion barn, which the
Quarryville dairymen noted was
designed for 58 head. A loafing
bam takes up the slack. Ulrich and
his father originally milked 58
cows during their partnership
which lasted from 1969 to 1974.
When Ulrich bought out the part
nership he “realized 58 cows were
not nearly sufficient to do the job.”
Future expansion depends on the
plans of his hired man, Jeff Keller,
and his 16-year-old son, Tim.
Ulrich credits notes Keller, who
has worked for him for the past
nine years, with playing a key role
in the herd’s progress. The op
portunity for him to buy in at any
time is there, Ulrich explained.
Keller maintains the farms
equipment and works with the
heifers. He presently owns 15
Jerseys, Ulrich added.
Ulrich has started his calves in
hutches for the past six years. In
that time he reduced the herd’s
calf mortality rate from 20 percent
to 2 percent. He recently added an
eight-pen calf kennel which he
notes is easier on the person
feeding. Previously, calves were
raised in the back part of the barn
where environmental conditions
were poor, he added.
Calves are kept on a milk diet for
three months. Ulrich has found the
extended period on milk provides
the calves with a better start and
helps them grow more rapidly.
At 4 months of age the calves are
moved to a three-sided open front
bam in pens of eight and grouped
by age. When the heifers reach 10
or 11 months, they are moved to a
nearby, open-housing type heifer
bam. After a pregnancy con
firmation and near calving time,
the heifers are moved back to the
main bam area.
He gears his breeding program
to freshen heifers in the fall to
meet base production demands.
The heifers range in age from 1
year 10 months up to 2 years and 3
months.
During high school Ulrich
became active in the management
of the herd by selecting herd
matings. Since that time the herd
has become 100 percent AI.
Through working with the sires
he has witnessed changes in the
Jersey breed which have secured
and increased his alliance to the
breed. “At one point I thought the
Jersey breed was not progressing
the way it should,” he said.
However, within the last 10 years
the breed has made real progress,
he noted.
“I don’t think 800 pounds of fat is
out of reach for the breed. In fact I
thim; it is very much within
reach, Ulrich said. pool than the Holsteins, he feels it
Misty Hollow Farms has raised has made just as much progress
Jerseys since the beginning and production wise.
Ulrich never considered changing Highland Magir Duncan’s Hniiar
the color of the cows on the farm, value at $236 is quite remarkable,
“That’ B w s at 1 was * H)rn am ! ra * se< * Ulrich commented. He noted only
with, he commented. He the Holstein’s Comin-On Holsteins
professes loyalty to the breed and Chief owns a higher dollar value
readily cites its advantages. among active AI sires.
‘T? 1 re *Jly high on the breed,” He classified the Jersey’s as the
Ulnch said. While the breed is “breed of the future” due to the
working with a smaller genetic . (TurntoPage A2s)
Jeff Keller checks on one of the heifers in the heifer barn of
Misty Hollow Farm.
% > located on Spring Valley Road,
Quarryvllle, In southern Lancaster County.