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Roller Coaster Year For Top Guernsey Cow
JOYCE BUPP
York Co. Correspondent
YORK (York Co.) Not
many students get called out of
class for a message about a cow.
But that was the case when
Terri Johnson was summoned to
York Central’s school office from
her eighth-grade classroom last
May to learn that her prized 4-H
show cow, Lily, was still alive.
While that message the first
the school’s secretary ever had to
deliver about a cow eased
14-year-old Terri’s concern, Lily
was far from being out of danger.
Rutter Brothers Enhancer’s
Lily is Terri’s 4-year-old Guern
sey, one of nearly two dozen ani
mals she owns. While Terri, and
her 11-year-old sister Kelly, are
very attached to all their animals,
Lily may be a little more special
than the rest.
Classified EX-93 and currently
number one in the Guernsey
breed’s Cow Performance Index
(CPI) measure of the genetic
value of animals, Lily is a prized
producer in the well-known Rut
ter Brothers dairy farm herd. She
was the Guernsey breed’s junior
division grand champion at last
year’s Farm Show, and has been
unbeaten in the junior division
show ring.
The Johnson’s have photos of
Terri in the bam when she was
just a baby. She got her first 4-H
animal December 1994, at age 7,
when she helped her mother de
liver a heifer calf from one of the
herd’s show cows, Rutter Broth
ers Pro Kings Leamay, VG-88.
Terri named the calf Lydia, in
honor of her then-best friend.
“That was the first time I
every really helped to pull a calf.
It was just Mom and I here and
there was no one else to help,”
says Terri of her hands-on assist
ance to the first calf she would
show as a 4-H cloverbud mem
ber. Rutter Brothers Perfectos
Lydia, scored VG-88, is listed 83
on the current CPI list. On her
second calving, April Fool’s Day
1997, Lydia delivered the heifer
calf Terri named Lily, her first
very own bred and owned ani
mal.
In May 2001, four years after
Lily’s birth, the prized cow lay
stretched out in the farm’s dry
cow pasture, unable to stand. Lily
had been dried off and turned
out for her pre-calving rest peri
od just one day earlier. During a
chilling rainstorm, which had
blown through overnight, Lily
had gone down.
Herd veterinarian Dan Pike
was already away on another
emergency, and unable to come
immediately. Terri’s mom, herd
manager Cindy Johnson, quickly
treated the downed Lily for milk
fever, while attempting to dry
and warm her with towels.
Once Dr. Pike arrived, he
began intravenous treatment of
Lily for shock and, eventually,
she stood. His intent was for Lily
to slowly return to the barn, a few
steps at a time. The big Guernsey
had her own ideas. She walked,
non-stop, the whole way to the
barn.
Lily was found to be battling a
Clostridial infection, a usually
deadly condition. A battery of
medicines was administered to
absorb the toxins her body was
producing and reduce her high
Terri, right, and Kelly Johnson will each have three head from their junior show
strings at the Farm Show, including Lily, Terri’s youth Guernsey champion from last
year.
fever. But, she was unable to get
up, even after three days of con
tinuous intravenous treatment.
“My mom decided that we
should try and float her,” says
Terri in a heart-tugging story
about the experience she recently
wrote for her 4-H dairy project
book. “Floating would let her
stand in warm water, while only
supporting 20 percent of her
body weight.”
Floating was recommended to
continue for 12 hours, and the
equipment was not ready until
two o’clock that afternoon. Thus,
at 2 a.m., the Johnson’s were out
with flashlights, draining the
float and holding their breaths
with anxious anticipation. Lily
walked out and headed to the
water bowl.
But later that day, the big cow
lay down to rest and was, again,
unable to stand. After two more
days, the float equipment was
hauled back for a second try.
It was six days before Lily fi
nally gained enough strength to
rise back up on her own after
resting. Meanwhile, she con
tracted coliform mastitis. The
A veteran of show preparations, Lily stands patiently while Terri trims her ears with
the clippers.
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often-devastating udder infection
fortunately responded to a treat
ment regime and cleared within
the week.
Sickness had cost Lily a good
deal of body weight, so she was
put in a separate pen and hand
grazed during an extended recov
ery period. Once she had gained
back both weight and strength,
she was turned back out with the
other dry cows. Any concerns
about Lily’s stamina vanished
when she promptly began bully
ing dry herdmates over feed and
territory.
“I felt such a great relief when
she started fighting with the
other cows. I thought my cow
was back to feeling normal,” says
Terri in her 4-H story.
Lily’s freshening date came
and went with no signs of her
udder bagging up. A vet check
found her uterus filled with fluid,
making detection of a normal
fetus difficult. On Aug. 1, while
the county’s 4-H dairy roundup
was under way, Lily was induced
into labor. Not only Terri and her
family, but many of her friends
showing at the roundup, anxious
ly waited for news.
“What a relief to see a set of
front feet, following by a moving
tongue, coming out of the birth
canal. The calf was finally here.
It weighed 100 pounds, which is
big for a Guernsey and best of all,
it was a girl,” writes Terri. “My
mom wanted to call it Lucky be
cause of all she went through, but
I decided to call her Luscious be
cause she is so special.”
Luscious has grown into a
hefty, spunky, five-month heifer,
which Terri and her sister, Kelly,
are already halter breaking along
with several other project calves.
Mother Lily bounced back from
near death to collect a string of
champion wins to add to her un
beaten junior show record.
Not only did she milk more
than 100 pounds on each of this
lactation’s first four DHIA tests,
she was selected the winning
4-year-old in both junior and
open classes at the Pa. All-Ameri
can Dairy Show at Harrisburg in
late September. Later in the
show, she was named the Total
Performance Winner of the
Guernsey breed show. That same
week, her 15-month-old son, Rut
ter Brothers Luxury’s Legend,
was released for service with Se
lect Sires.
Lily, initially dubbed an “ugly
calf’ by family members, is re
membered as being a gawky, not
a particularly strong-looking
heifer. In fact, she was left at the
barn during show season because
she was not good enough to in
clude on the show string.
“She started to blossom just
before she calved for the first
time,” said Cindy Johnson. Two
weeks after calving at 2 years and
3 months, Lily was scored 89.
Classification a year later raised
her to EX-92 and in October, she
earned another point for EX-93
designation. In November, she
was at the top of the Guernsey
breed CPI list, which scores equal
value for butterfat, protein, and
type performances.
Lily first walked into a show
arena as a junior 2-year-old in
the county’s 4-H roundup and
went on to be named unanimous
junior division, junior 2-year-old
All-American. She won at the
Louisville National Guernsey
breed show both as a junior 2-
and 3-year-old, and was reserve
champion of the junior show at
the 2000 Pennsylvania All-Amer
ican.
Meanwhile, Lily completed a
305-day, 2-02 record of 19,297
milk, 5.2 percent, 990 pounds
butterfat, 3.6 percent, 689 pounds
protein, then followed with 3-02
record of 25,365 milk, 5.1 per
cent, 1,302 butterfat, 3.2 percent,
811 pounds protein.
Embryo flushing of Lily has
yielded limited results; she is now
serviced with hopes for a Septem
ber calf. Terri, of course, enjoys
getting heifers out of Lily, while
national A.I. Arms are interested
in a bull calf.
Lily was recently featured on
the cover of the Guernsey breed
journal, peacefully grazing under
one of the Rutter farm’s massive
old trees, with one of the dairy
firm’s antique home-delivery
milk trucks parked in the back
ground. A tame, gentle cow, she
munched her way through the
two-hour photography session,
standing and eating where she
was posed.
“It was so impressive to read
Terri’s story,” says York exten
sion 4-H agent Linda Spahr, who
encouraged the young dairy
woman to expand her original
paragraph into a more extensive
account. It demonstrates all the
qualities we try to emphasize in
4-H: responsibility, leadership,
and teamwork. You can almost
watch Terri growing as a person
as you read her account.”
Lily’s brush with death and
dramatic rise to the top of the
breed has definitely had a lasting
effect on Terri Johnson, who
sums up her feelings in the final
paragraph of that 4-H story.
“I would like to express my
sincere thanks to all the people
who helped me overcome such a
traumatic experience. These in
clude my vet. Dr. Dan Pike, my
mom and dad, Cindy and Tom
Johnson, my sister Kelly, and my
grandparents, Leo and Marg
Rutter. Thanks for being there.
You have helped me realize that
I should never give up, no matter
how hopeless the situation
seems.”
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