The Rural Voice, 1996-06, Page 32FARMGATES
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615 Huron Road, Stratford, Ontario
271-4793
28 THE RURAL VOICE
their trips through the U.S., don't see
as helping American dairy farmers.
Many U.S. farms are "badly run
down and wore right out", says
Patrick.Despite ever-increasing herd
sizes, farmers just don't have the
money to fix things up.
The trend to bigger herds is
accelerating in Ontario too as
Canada moves toward the
World Trade Organization tariff
cuts that will take away some of the
supply management control of the
Canadian market. Some of the larger
operators would just laugh at his
family for keeping older cattle like
Bessie, Patrick says. They're
interested only in short-term
production and aren't worried about
body types that will last through
several lactations. Still, says Patrick
"There will always be a market for a
good cow."
Hallahans flush some of their
older cows like Bessie for embryo
transfers to get extra genetic stock
from them. It's an expensive move,
however, Jim says, and they reserve
it for special occasions.
Part of the success of the Hallahan
herd comes from an unusual source.
While most breeders depend on
artificial insemination for the male
side of the genetics on their farm,
many of the prize winning cattle have
been from their own bull, Quccn's-
Manor Buckleader ET. Jim picked up
Buckleader as a calf in the U.S. in
1990. When .the bull came to a
serviceable age, he used him as a
clean up bull on some of the cows in
the herd with less impressive
genetics. But he was impressed with
the daughters Buckleader produced
and started using him on his top cows
as well.
But Buckleader is also an example
of one of the reasons why few dairy
farmers keep their own bull. He
caught Jim unawares one day and
mauled him badly. He spend five
days in hospital and it was six weeks
before he was back to full health.
Buckleader might have become
hamburger but the man he bought the
calf from, who retained a share of the
bull, told him not to ship him. It was
possible the bull might be a valuable
bull for an AI unit.
So Buckleader was shipped to the
U.S. for proving. The Hallahans have
promised, as their part of the deal, to