Leatherstocking Cattle Exchange
by Robert Yoder of New York
Here, in Central New York, from the Finger Lakes to the west, to the Hudson on the east, the Catskills south, and the Adirondacks north is the land known as Leather Stocking Country. Named for the Leatherstocking Tales, five novels of his frontier hero, Natty Bumppo, written by James Fenimore Cooper. Cooper grew up in Cooperstown, NY, and lived from 1789-1851. Many of the settings of his novels are through this area. This was the land of the original five Iroquois Indian tribes, the Mohawks on the east and Seneca to the west, through the French and Indian War and American Revolution, an area of warfare and violence. The Battle of Oriskany, twenty miles North and East of our home, fought in August 1777 is considered by many historians to have been important enough to alter the course of the American Revolution.
Slowly, peace came to the land, but not quietly. Dug through for canals – the original Erie Canal is ten miles north of us. Graded, tied and railed for trains, then the ultimate land eater, the original interstate highways. Small, water powered industry from the many streams in small towns moved to the cities, now powered by the ever gushing streams of oil. Industry grew fast, then faded, and is still fading slowly. Towns and villages, within easy horse and buggy distance from surrounding farms are still here. Formerly bustling downtowns are now empty, except for the occasional antique store. Everybody rushes through the villages to patronize Walmart and the ubiquitous, homogenized fast food enclaves.
The land is still here. Mostly. Sometime there must have been a frenzy of land clearing. Sometimes, deep in the woods, runs a remnant of stone fence, probably cleared, then grown into woods again. Many hillsides should have stayed woods. On the other side of our hill is a steep field rented by a grain farmer. Two years ago, he sowed everything into oats. Slashing spring rains cut gullies, still visible from the distance today. General farming was for many years the mainstay of farming in this area. Small fields, rotated with small grains, corn and hay. Pastures were always a big part of this. Hops growing started in the mid 1800’s, creating a strong economic base for many farms. Insect pests and Prohibition put an end to that. The first Registered Holstein cows in America were imported to a farm a mile North of here. Milk was marketed directly from the farm to close by towns. Some milk was transported by train, stopping at many stations. Quite a difference from today, when the only thing small towns might get from a train is a whistle. Even back in canal days, butter and cream, along with salted beef and preserved pork, were shipped long distances without refrigeration. Cheesemaking became an important part of dairying, with some of the first commercial cheese houses not far from here. Cheese is still one of the best ways to preserve milk.
From many vantage points on a hill are visible farmsteads, silos, and barns. Many are still in use. Our neighbors, the Parsons, with three generations living on and working their farm, are a good example. They keep around 120 Holstein cows and raise all of their forage and high moisture corn for their herd. Some of their best land is kept for rotated pasture, supplying most of summertime protein. Sadly, many barns are now empty of livestock, occasionally with ends cut open to store boats and motorhomes. Wooden silos, twisted in among themselves, still standing. Old combines and other farm equipment, surrounded and pierced by sumac and blackberries. Many of these farms, still viable in the 50’s and 60’s had from fifteen to twenty five cows. Small, affordable equipment, and neighbors working together kept the farm going. Their small tractors look tiny to us today. Amazing sometimes is how these small herds were able to put the farmers’ children through college. Slowly, the cost of production crept higher. Herd sizes increased and blue silos sprouted throughout the land. There must have been some very persuasive salesmen selling these. I wonder how many are still in use, very few in this neighborhood. Joel Salatin, author and farmer from Virginia, calls them bankruptcy tubes.
Another point, seldom remarked on, is how many more children were on these farms, all part of the joy and economy of the farm. As the parents aged, often one or more of the children wanted to continue farming. Now, with just a couple of children, they leave the farm, leaving old parents to try to keep things going. Buildings are no longer repaired and equipment wears out. Finally the cows leave the farm, and the land is sold, often to a neighbor who is expanding his operation, in an attempt to stay ahead of the cost of production.
Over the past thirty years, New York State has lost over seventy percent of dairy farms, while increasing milk production by thirty percent. Every so often while traveling through the state you’ll see long buildings, housing thousands of dairy cows. Some of these farms are clean and well managed. Others announce their presence by smell before they are in sight. These mega farms have a lot of purchasing power and are able to bypass their local suppliers for products they need. Think of how much positive effect on local economies thirty one hundred-cow, or sixty fifty-cow dairies have.
2004 and 2005, a group of Amish dairy farmers from Ohio started exploring farmland in neighboring states, for possibly relocating to start a farm community. Hoards Dairyman magazine, in the 1980’s and 1990’s would publish statistics on the top dairy counties in the U.S. At that time they published both cow numbers and number of farms of the top 25 counties. From these statistics, Madison County, NY stood out as a small farm area.
The first two families moved from Ohio to Madison County in the Spring of 2006, with Canastota and Morrisville addresses. By the end of the year, two more families had moved into the area. By late 2008 the community had grown to 7 families. All of these either were, or wanted to be, farmers. Most of us had experience with rotational grazing. Central NY is a land of hills and valleys, with enough rainfall and moderate temperatures to keep cool season grasses growing all summer. Very seldom do we have dry times and extended heat, with brown pastures in July and August as many areas of the south do. Generally we have good grazing for 6 months, often several weeks more. As I am writing this on December 11, we have rain this morning and the snow we have had for a week is mostly gone. The pastures are all still green. Often in Spring, when the snow finally melts, the grass is green, instead of brown and dormant.
We now have over forty families in the Madison County towns – in Ohio these were townships – of Smithfield, Fenner, Lincoln, and one farm in Eaton.
The community has twenty dairy farms, 24 families making their living with dairy. Four young families are either in partnerships or work for their parents. Of these 20 farms, 18 are all grass, feeding no grain to their cows. One farm is organic and feeds some grain. The all-grass farms are also organic. One farm is conventional, with grazing their main feed. One of the all-grass farms has Holstein cows, with a lot of old time genetics, disproving the assumption that Holsteins cannot also be good grazers. Several have purebred Jerseys, two are developing Ayrshire Herds from their crossbreds, while the rest of the farms have crossbreds, with a mix of Holstein, Jersey, Brown Swiss, or Shorthorn genetics.
The fieldwork – clipping pastures, mowing, raking, and baling hay and hauling manure is done with horses or mules. Breeds of horses are either crossbreds, Percherons, Belgians, or Mules, also some Suffolks. The boys of the community have many discussions – or are they arguments? – on which breeds of horses or cows are best. One benefit with so many dairy farmers close together, it is actually possible to get help with chores if it’s necessary to leave the farm. Five of the farms have all-new buildings, including houses and barns. Some have either new houses or new barns. Many houses or barns required extensive remodeling. Almost all building or remodeling is from unpaid labor within the community. The boys grow up learning these skills from their fathers or neighbors.
All families here do at least some farming. Three have apiaries, three farms have all grass beef, many do maple syrup. One family builds minibarns, along with a large maple syrup operation. One family is setting up to produce ice cream and other dairy products in an inspected facility on their farm. They also sell organic pastured eggs and grassfed beef from their own herd. Local Roots Farm direct markets honey, maple syrup, pastured eggs, beef, chicken, greenhouses and outside grown salad greens and tomatoes, selling in their own tiny store, in farmers markets, along with supplying some restaurants. Troyer’s Country Store has bulk foods, also selling many locally grown foods. They have an inspected kitchen, producing baked goods, also an extensive deli selling prepared sandwiches along with meat and cheeses. We have several farriers, one of whom trains horses, also fitting horses for auctions. Dewy Meadows Farm, a commercial organic nursery grows mostly apple trees. They also have a tomato greenhouse.
Mast Farm Supply, one of the dairy farms, sells fencing supplies, along with many other items. Sunset Supply, another on-farm store sells boots, harness, gloves, some tools, hats, and bagged feed. As children grew up some farms added other ventures. One grows greenhouse tomatoes and some other produce, along with pastured chicken and turkeys. Several grow greenhouse potted flowers and started plants. Another has built and installed milking parlors. Several are doing some logging, and one has a sawmill on the farm doing custom sawing.
Friday, November 15, dawned mild with a little breeze. The sun came up through thin clouds, a very nice day for Central New York in November. Trucks with trailers, vans, and buggies converged on the Alex Weaver farm. Today is Auction Day! The first – hopefully annual – Leatherstocking Cattle Exchange.
Several months before, advertisements had started appearing in various publications about “The Leatherstocking Cattle Exchange presents its inaugural public auction dedicated to the nurturing and advancement of grass based dairy cow genetics. Further information – an opening seminar by Ron Holter starts at 9:30 am, sale of animals to begin by 11:30 am. Some further information – all females are certified organic plus trust. Most animals tested for a2a2 status. Most breeds represented. Dairy bulls consigned by the Foremost breeders in grassfed dairy. Most bulls aAa analyzed. Food available onsite.”
As more people arrive, we head for the shop. The shop, the first timber frame structure built in our community, was designed and built by Alex Weaver’s father, Nathan. Probably 40’x 60’ – I am not sure of the size – it is where church service is held when it is the Weaver’s turn to host. It is also a machinery shed, repair shop, and storage area, all built with local timber except for the metal roof. Truly a multi-purpose building, perfect for today’s event. Long tables and benches are set up through the middle, surrounded by tables of vendors.
It is time for the speaker. Nathan Weaver introduces Ron Holter, grazier and Jersey cattle breeder, from Jefferson, Maryland. Ron is a lithe, lean man, medium height, very expressive face and hands, with an innate humility. Probably few things are harder to listen to than an arrogant knowit- all. That is not Ron Holter. Ron started grazing cows in 1996, with Holsteins and Jerseys. In ’97 he took the herd to seasonal – all freshening in Spring. As time went on the Holsteins left, the Jerseys stayed. He started using New Zealand genetics on the herd, using a lot of Dukes Landy, a well-known N.Z. bull. He also used North Coast Genetics, from a group of breeders centered in Ohio. Dr. Reber, whose farm was 3 miles west of us in Ohio was a major influence on his thinking. The Rebers were known for their polled, wide-bodied cows. aAa (AKA Triple A) was important to them for breeding decisions. Perhaps I can write later on the subject of aAa. Ron is not fond of crossbreeding. Usually the first cross works well because of hybrid vigor, after that, not so much. He finds it difficult to develop an efficient, uniform herd from crossbreeding. Many serious breeders consider themselves not smart enough for crossbreeding. Ron stresses that you should know what you want to make the right decisions. He advises using old knowledge, such as Newman Turner’s book titled Herdsmanship and Reproduction and Animal Health by Gerald Fry. He adds, the wisdom of the past leads us to what a grass cow should be. After all, cow’s digestive system was made for grass, not grain. Us humans have benefitted greatly from God’s design of an animal that can convert grasses and forbs, which we cannot digest, to delicious milk and all its products. What God created works the best, us humans have done a lot to screw it up. Some further thoughts – Longevity is probably the most important trait. Modern genetics have developed a high producing cow that often only lasts a lactation or two, often not long enough to pay for raising her from a calf. Dull eyes are a beef trait, thick coarse bones put fat on their back instead of milk in the tank. Bulls should have masculine characteristics, wedge shaped, deep and wide fronts, tapering to back. Many modern bulls have too much feminine type. Remember, bulls provide 50% of the genes in your herd. Cows should be wedge shaped from back to front, the opposite of bulls. She should still have a deep, wide, chest and belly, 60% body, 40% legs, with strong udder attachment. The udder should not extend below the hock, unless she is an older cow. All of us dairymen love a cow that stays in good flesh and puts a decent amount of milk in the tank. A no-nonsense cow that has her head down and is grazing as soon as she is in grass, that has a calf every spring, with no complications, that is neither a bully nor too timid with her herdmates. Ron likes to do linebreeding to set the traits he wants in his cows. Newman Turner in the book Herdsmanship, started with ten heifers that were half-sisters, with a linebred bull. Ron finished his talk with some nuggets of wisdom, such as “Always be cautious around bulls.” A neighbor had a saying, “Never trust a bull farther than you can throw it by the tail” – which is, not at all. Also a saying he attributed to Nathan Weaver – “Keep good grass in front of the cow and a good bull behind her”. Nathan was right there, and said this did not originate with him. A question came in for Ron – “What is your milk production?” The answer – “First of all, milk production is not the most important trait. If everything is close to right, she will have adequate milk production.” His grassfed Jerseys produce an average of 6000 lbs with 5.6 butterfat – 336 lbs of fat. He cautioned when buying or evaluating cows you should always look at her production versus her herdmates, not another herd with different management.
Well done, Ron, much to digest. Thank you.
Now there was time to introduce the vendors before the auction started, with Nathan doing the introductions. Next up is Tom McGrath, owner of Family Farmstead, the newest of the three buyers of organic, grass-fed milk in our region. Tom is still a young man, measured, almost reticent in speech. His passion for what he does is, however, very visible. He is the cause for a lot of the grass-milk excitement in our community. Tom started farming as a Maple Hill producer. Maple Hill went through growing pains, and was sold to an investor group. Tom has for a long time been passionate about producing nutrient dense dairy products. So he, with his young family, started Family Farmstead.
Tom stood straight and tall in front of us and told us of his vision of why he started the business. NY state lost half of their dairies in the last 20 years. There are ever more health issues in the population. Things like diabetes and autism have not just increased, but multiplied. Local communities are dissolving. Thus Family Farmstead’s mission statement – Produce the most natural and nutritious dairy foods possible. Preserve and strengthen local family farms. Regenerate the land, our bodies, and local communities. Family Farmstead’s milk checks all the boxes. 100% grassfed organic, non homogenized, full fat, low temperature pasteurized, certified regenerative, and, most rare of all, all their milk is a2a2. We have been hearing of a2 milk for probably close to 20 years. Most AI companies publish the a2 status of their bulls with their genetic information. A small company in Ohio sells a2 milk, although not organic or grassfed. A company from New Zealand sells a2 milk in America, and has patented the term a2, forcing other companies to identify milk they sell as a2a2, which is actually what it is. Milk has fat and protein, with grassfed milk containing higher CLAs – conjugated linoleic acids – and omega 3’s, both healthy fats. Now that the myth of animal fats being the cause of heart disease has been debunked – by the way, where are the apologies from the scientific and medical establishment? They should be published in all major newspapers and magazines. Old W.D. Hoard was right when saying he trusts the cow more than the chemist. The protein content is where a2a2 is found. The two major proteins in milk are casein and whey. Casein accounts for about eighty percent of the protein in milk. There are also different types of casein, one of which is called beta-casein, which is about thirty percent of casein protein. a1 and a2 are two variants of beta-casein. All mammals, including humans, except some dairy cattle, have a2 milk. It is hypothesized that several thousand years ago cows were also all a2. The theory goes that some cows in Europe had a genetic mutation – possibly from stress of farming – that caused the cows to produce the new type of beta casein we call a1. Now most milk is a variant of a1, either a1a1 or a1a2. Old breeds in Asia – with humps – produce all a2 milk. Many Asian people cannot tolerate milk that contains a1. It is claimed that many of the common health problems stem from the a1 protein in modern milk. Scientific proof? Not much. But remember W.D. Hoard’s take on animal fats versus the scientists. The intuition of old peasants is often right. There is case after case that people felt much better, with better long term health with a2 milk. Enzymes break protein down into amino acids, which are absorbed into your bloodstream and used to build and repair things in your body such as skin or muscles. The a1 beta-casein protein breaks down into a peptide called BCM7, which is considered a risk factor for the nervous, endocrine and immune system. The list of chronic health issues related to BCM7 is extensive, such as digestive problems, autism, schizophrenia, type 1 diabetes and heart disease. A lot of this information comes from a blog written by Aaron Miller, pulled up and printed by Tom Rankins. Testing cows or bulls for a2 status is fairly simple. All that is needed is a hair sample sent to a lab that does this kind of testing. Costs have come down to under $20 dollars a sample. Jerseys and Guernseys have a higher prevalence of a2, with some herds sixty percent or more. Other breeds, with judicious breeding, can become a2 as well. Several farms from our community culled their non a2 cows and are shipping milk to Family Farmstead.
Non homogenized is another feature of Tom’s milk. Homogenization is a process of using intense pressure to break up fat globules in milk, making them smaller and preventing their rise to the top of containers of milk. This process can cause some health problems, such as when infants are weaned from breast milk.
Another box checked by Family Farmstead is Certified Regenerative, which focuses on restoring the health of the farm ecosystem. The goal is to produce nutritious and high-quality food, while also contributing to the overall well-being of the environment, ecosystem, and the farmer. This is an inspected certification, requiring ongoing improvement in these stated goals. Tom is supplying what is much needed in farming, young idealists with a vision and the will to put it into practice.
Next up – Noah Hershberger, farmer from Guilford, forty or so miles south of us. Noah is a good friend, a tall gentle man. I have never been anywhere where Noah was that he was not the tallest in the crowd. He is here to sell dairy semen from John O’Brian genetics.
Maple Hill is next in line. They were the first dairy marketers to offer all grass milk products. They started east of us, probably ten years or so ago. They grew rapidly, and at one time had about four of our community shipping milk to them. They went through some tough times and were sold to an investor group. They seem to have survived those times and are growing again, signing up farmers in Ohio and Pennsylvania. They have grown twenty-five percent the last three years, and are actively looking for farmers. They see $45 mailbox prices coming and remind us that an organic herd can transition to all grass in 90 days.
Jeremy Yoder, grass farmer and Jersey breeder, is here from Morris, NY. Jeremy started farming in 2011. His father, a long time organic farmer with Holsteins, did not have any extra to sell to Jeremy when he started, so Jeremy started with Jerseys. Now, he would not go back to Holsteins. A lot of his cows stem back to Butter Valley, the high testing Phil Miller herd. He also used polled genetics from Dr. Reber’s herd, and some from Denmark. He is well known for his high component herd bulls and semen. He is concerned about the modern frail low butterfat cows. Another visionary young farmer.
Ann Phillips, Organic Valley’s eastern NY representative. Ann, here with her husband Jim, wears two hats – one as OV’s representative, the other as grass dairy farmers, in the Cortland-Marathon area. Most of us know OV’s history, starting with 8 farmers in Wisconsin, now grown to almost 2000 farmers, with over a billion dollars in sales. They also market produce, eggs and beef, and are one of the main marketers of organic milk. They have also been marketing grass milk for over 10 years. OV is a cooperative, rather than a private company as all of the other organic milk marketing firms are. We were members of their co-op from 2006 until our daughter and son-in-law took over our herd in 2019. Those were truly the best of our 34 years of milking cows. They are also actively looking for more members, both organic and grassfed. Ann has been doing a super job. Wife Rachel and I have had many good discussions with her about farming and life in general, while sitting around our kitchen table.
Jacob Beachy from Coshocton County, Ohio, grazier and breeder of old line Holsteins, was here to sell semen and talk of his passion for the right kind of cow. He grew up on a dairy farm and his father had this interest early on. Jacob read a poem to us, a long one, gently satirizing modern dairy genetics. Yes, you read correctly. Poetry. In a farm meeting. My thoughts go back to the many farm meetings I attended as a young farmer. Usually hosted and managed by county extension and purveyors of various farm inputs. Sometimes it seemed like the extension agents were also the salesmen. These meetings were usually excruciatingly boring. Pesticides, herbicides, mastitis treatments, pour-on dewormers and insect control. And the ultimate, a feed additive to make my heifers grow bigger and faster. Biggest and faster is always better, right? Until I found out this miracle drug in the feed would kill my horses if ingested. The unspoken assumption was that I or my cows – or maybe I and my cows – would fall off the cliff if we would not use their miracle products. Well, we fell off the cliff – and found grass – and sometimes – poetry.
Michael McCaffney and William Isle of Triple A, Weeks Animal Analysis are here with information on what they do. William does the speaking in front of us. In his mid-seventies, still lean of build, getting a little stooped, but with stillbright, alert eyes, reading glasses perched forward on his nose. William did the analyzing of my herd in Ohio, twenty years ago, while Mike did our cows here in NY. They don’t sell a product out of a box or bag, they sell knowledge – knowledge that has been a big help to a lot of dairy farmers. By looking at a cow, heifer or bull’s traits they assign numbers, usually three. Bulls are assigned numbers for the traits they have to offer, with the first number their most dominant trait. Cows are assigned numbers on the traits they need, the first number what they need the most. Most AI companies publish the triple A numbers of the bulls they offer, thus the farmer can make very informed decisions on breeding for a balanced cow. William, Mike, and another analyst, Greg Palen, who I met at a grazing conference in Indiana, have that same gentle, deep knowledge of cows.
Also, here is a representative for Sea 90, a sea salt with many trace minerals that is used by almost all grazers.
Finishing out the vendor presentations was David Beachy of Ohio with his Nutri Glo minerals, which many of us use for our horses and some use for cattle.
Exiting the shop, about lunchtime, the smell of grilled food seals the deal to have lunch. Mervin and Hannah Troyer are the cooks and providers. I choose a cheeseburger from grassfed beef, surely locally provided, topped with a thick slice of tomato, no doubt supplied by John Roy’s greenhouse, and French fries. Not the mashed and reconstituted modern French fry, but the real thing, cut from the potato itself and fried in animal fat.
We head for the barn where the auction will be. Quite a barn, timber framed with an elaborate post-and-beam truss system, about 45’ x 100’. Alex built this in the last months, all with local lumber, still smelling new and fresh. An auction ring is formed with steel gates, along with entry and exit alleys leading to the older barn, built new by Alex’s father Nathan in 2006. This is where the cows, heifers, and bulls are kept that will be sold.
Hay bales in rows in a semi-circle around the auction ring provide seating. Also some hay wagons with hay bales to form bleachers are against the wall. I find a seat and eat my delicious meal and drink a hot cup of coffee. Many more people come in, families with children, also with food in hand.
The melodious cry of the auctioneer, Orus Mast of Ohio, fills the air. Reuben Mast, brother to Orus, father-in-law of Alex does the clerking. Auctioneer Keith Beachy, also from Ohio, reads pedigrees and takes his turn at selling. Reuben managed and Orus called the bids for our farm retirement auction in January 2019. We were well pleased with results and costs, and would recommend them highly. Reuben is also a grass dairy farmer here in our community. They start the sale by selling fencing materials – step in posts, fence reels and polywire, all in everyday use with this crowd.
Excitement builds as cow-selling time approaches, the cumulation of all the preparation and planning. After all, this is the first all-grass dairy auction for Canastota, and perhaps anywhere, that is not a normal farm dispersal. Nathan and Alex, along with more all-grass dairy farmers, have long felt the need for an auction like this. Thus far, grass-fed cows have been lumped into the general organic or conventional auction stream. Many of the dairy farmers here are seasonal and often have perfectly good cows and heifers to sell that did not fit their narrow freshening window. Also, with the low stress life that a grass-fed cow has, there is much more longevity. This makes it easy to keep extra stock in summertime to sell in the fall. Some of the young dairymen here prefer to keep enough cows to utilize all of their land, instead of investing in machinery for haymaking, thus buying all of their hay. Bought in hay also brings in nutrients, and is a good way to boost the fertility of our land. They have taken to heart the advice to not invest in anything that rusts, rots or depreciates. It is amazing how little equipment it takes to operate a well-run grass-based dairy. Another reason for an auction like this is to stimulate each other into producing better cows. It has long been Nathan Weaver’s goal to breed a perfect – maybe I should say a better – grass-fed cow.
Nathan makes a short prelude to the auction, thanking all for coming. He mentions looking over the cattle and seeing room for improvement. Then he turns it over to the auctioneer. The moment of truth is at hand. We all have a pamphlet of animals, numbered and identified. The auction does not start at #1, but from somewhere in the middle. No consigner wants to be first, but someone needs to. So I, getting older and duller, did not write down or remember which cow this was. No matter, the bidding was fast and intense. Always at an auction the speed at which bids come in shows the tenor of the sale. Slow this was not, ringmen’s voices came in fast. Prices were, to this old man, jaw droppingly high. Very few cows sold under 3000 dollars, many over 4000.
Auctions are also social events. People attended from Ohio, PA, Maryland, probably more. Neighbors were here such as Russ Kerrey and Doug Berry, who had owned our host farm that is now Alex’s, that Alex’s father Nathan bought in 2006. Friends were here from all over NY, making for some good conversations. It is always interesting to stand back and watch a crowd like this, the many dramas unfolding. Exultant bidders, disappointed runners up, smiles on the faces of consigners. The auction chants, refreshed as Orus and Keith spell each other, slipping out for another cup of coffee in this amazing November sunshine. Watching my little grandson in awe as he watches all of the auction unfold. Seeing how well the boys and young men work together to get animals into and out of the ring. The mothers and children, enjoying some time off from work. A month-old calf, bright eyed and slipping out under the gates comes through, delighting the children. A nervous cow, hoofing dirt out of the ring, gets everyone’s attention. Sedate old matronly cows, calmly surveying the crowd. Oh, how I pity the person who has no cows in his life. Time goes fast and soon the bulls come through. Some of them young, some not – one mature, regal Jersey bull from Jeremy Yoder, Morris, NY brings $4800. Surely the a2a2 test helped this one. Another, a 2 ½ year old ¾ Ayrshire, also a2, consigned by Nathan Weaver, brings $4500.
In a rush, all at once the auction is over. Let us look at some of the numbers. 108 total head sold, average $2985. 49 dairy cows average $3400. Top selling cow, from Rob and Pam Moore, Nichols NY, Friesian-Holstein, 3 year old a2a2 $5750. Heifers, mostly bred, average $2990, top $4200. 16 bulls, average $1640, top, Jersey a2a2 from Jeremy Yoder $4800. 20 cows headed to a farm in Lancaster PA, with another 11 to a different farm elsewhere in PA. Some of these cows were also bought by homesteaders for family use. Several cows stayed within our community. What an auction, truly an amazing event. Obviously the grassfed dairy animal market is strong, which means the milk market is strong, which means farming is good. But then, farming is always good, high prices or low. The buggies, trucks and vans wend their way home. Choretime.
Photos by Keith Beechy, Troy Bishop, Chris Ficken
Edited by Chris Ficken
