Biosecurity, Identification, Disclosure Issues
At Center Of National Holstein Attention
ANDY ANDREWS
Editor
WEST MIDDLESEX (Mercer
Co.) Holstein breeders face a
plethora of issues: the impor
tance of Holstein ancestry identi
fication, open disclosure, and
biosecurity.
Biosecurity reigns almost at
the top as one of the hottest is
sues today, according to James
N. “Bud” Leckie, National Hol
stein Association president.
Leckie spoke last week during
PHA local club membership goal winners, from left,
Paul Hartle, Centre/Clinton counties, and William DeHart,
Butler County.
2000 Progressive Genetic Herd Award winners, from left, Douglas Seipt, David
Brandt, Frank Conyngham, Lori Bonzo, Myron Bonzo, Keith Decker, Michael Weimer,
and Thomas Kelly.
Progressive Genetic Herd Award winners, from left, Paul Berdell, dairy manager for
H.E. Heindel and Sons,; Jay Houser; Robert Mong; Sheryl Horst; Marilyn Hershey; Ken
dra Meyers; and Barbara Lentz.
the 88th annual meeting of the
Pennsylvania Holstein Associa
tion (PHA) at the Radisson Hotel
in West Middlesex.
“It may come to pass that even
if the (dam’s) daughter is rated
Excellent, it won’t bring big
money as long as there isn’t some
assurance there’s no disease in
her,” Leckie said.
Leckie, who grew up in Mount
Vernon, Ga. and lives near the
Smokey Mountains of Tennessee,
said the business is fun to be into
“because there’s people involv
ed.” The people we meet, Leckie
noted, “is what makes the differ-
ence.”
Keeping up with the breed as
sociation, the issues faced by
breeders, the plunging stock
market, and all the technical as
pects of registration and genetic
documentation is headache
enough, according to the Hol
stein president. “I know live
stock,” he said. “You can get a
headache just trying to keep the
cattle alive.”
The national association re
mains on pretty sound footing,
Leckie noted, and plans are
under way to expand the field
representative staff to about 16.
Though the association, like ev
eryone else, is at the “mercy of
the markets,” he said, “I think to
me that registering cows is the
only way to go.
“If you don’t know where you
have been, how are you going to
know where you’re going to be?”
Leckie spoke about efforts to
use crossbreeding to improve
milking through “hybrid vigor.”
He views this as kind of a fad.
“We can have a bigger gene pool
in the Holstein breed if we do it
right,” said Leckie.
Biosecurity is still a big prob
lem, with Johne’s Disease be
coming a real worry. Looking at
the issue would be like watching
the problems with BSE, or “mad
cow” disease, overseas. Can you
image, Leckie said, what would
happen to steakhouses if we had
a BSE problem in the U.S.?
America has always been noto
rious, Leckie said, for “sitting on
its hands and waiting for some
thing, some disaster to happen.”
A big issue is cattle disclosure
a system to let stockyards know
where the cattle are coming
from. A system to track them
could be in place within the next
2000 All-Pennsylvania Award winners, front, from left,
Linda Kisner, Clayton Wood, Emily Cloninger, and Fred
Strouse. Back, from left, Gerald Kisner, Bradley Coffman,
Adam Sonnen, Thomas Boyer, John Foster 111, and Wayne
Cessna.
2000 Progressive Breeder Registry Award winners,
from left, David Brandt, Paul Hurtle, Vernon Yoder, Doug
las Fiely, Debra Fiely, Eleanor Kalinowski, and Diane Kali
nowski.
2000 Progressive Breeder Registry Award winners,
front, from left, Douglas Seipt, Jay Houser, Cindy Shaffer,
Phoebe Bitter, and David Bitter. Back, from left, Kenneth
Umble, Gary Lentz, Jeffrey Shaffer, and Alan Meyers.
Additional 2000 Progressive Breeder Registry Award
winners, from left, Duane Hershey, Ross Snider, Lori
Bonzo, Myron Bonzo, Debbie Decker, Keith Decker,
Charles Bean, and Thomas Kelly.
two years, and could be part of
the 2002 Farm BUI, if the associ
ations want it.
“We want protection for us,
for all of us,” he said. Calling for
solutions to these issues involves
grass-roots involvement. “If you
don’t get involved,” Leckie said,
“you don’t get much out of it.”
The convention included sev
eral awards presented at a break
fast awards program.
FoUowing are photos of vari
ous award winners.