BREEDER OF THE YEAR- Green Acres Holstein Club- NIFERA HOLSTEINS

1st senior 2yr old – Vogue Mirand Sunny Side Up

2nd Junior 3yr old – Nifera Army Button

1st Mature cow – Nifera Activator Annika

In the GAHC barn cow competition we placed 2nd in the second lactation class with Nifera Army Dispute.

My family attends Nobleford CRC, where I’m currently serving as a Cadet counselor and Jen as a GEMS counselor. We were able to host a couple of school classes at the farm as well this past year to give kids a chance to learn about our industry. This past year Jen and myself also worked with a high school student from Nobleford with no dairy background to help her achieve her Green Certificate.

My wife Jen and I and our two kids Mason (13) and Makayla (11) are honored to be nominated for Breeder of the Year. Nifera Holsteins Ltd. started in 2010 in partnership with Kooy Dairy. In 2015, we purchased a farm South of Nobleford and in 2016 built a new dairy barn with 2 DeLaval VMS.

Some of the most influential cows up to this point are KOOY FINAL CUT 460 VG-87 6* who had 3 daughters contributing to her star brood points. All 3 daughters made over 100,000 kg of milk! Also KOOY FINAL CUT 493 EX-90 5*who has a lot of offspring in the herd. This year we did quite a bit of embryo work flushing Vogue Mirand Sunny Side Up VG-2yr and Jacobs Sidekick Blush VG-2yr 2x each along with a couple of older cows so we are looking forward to those calves hitting the ground in 2023!

This year we had 6 VG-2 YR olds, 4 of them homebred. And 2 new EX and 6 homebred star brood cows. 4 homebred cows achieved over 100,000 kg lifetime this year. Our current rolling herd average is 299-335-314 and herd classification since September classification is 7ME 2EX 59VG 31GP 1G.

For the 18th time since 2002 we received AB Milk’s Award of Excellence for Quality Milk Production. Another nice achievement this year was placing 8th in the province for Herd Management Score with a score of 891 and also we placed 1st as a herd of distinction in the 90-129 cows category from Holstein Canada recognizing farms with the highest average lifetime production of their active herds.

We were also excited to once again participate in the GAHC show this past year with these results:

Some of the most valuable services of Holstein Canada are obviously classification, but also I use their website quite a bit. This past year we also started genomic testing all of our calves with Holstein Canada especially because they now offer the A2A2 testing at no additional cost.

BREEDER OF THE YEAR- Green Acres Holstein Club- NIFERA HOLSTEINS

CLUB REPORTS- Green Acres Holstein Club

In 2022 things finally started to return to normal. Our year started with the local AGM on January 24 at Elk Creek Dairy. Elected to the board for a three year term again were Dirk van der kooij and myself Tim Hummel.

Our executive for 2022 remained the same:

President: Tim Hummel

Vice President: William Slomp

Treasurer: Dirk van der Kooij

Secretary: Justin Weiss

Alberta Holstein Association Board rep: Randy Slomp

Also on the board are Allan Oudshoorn, Clarence Slingerland and John Muller.

One of the highlights of 2022, was the assembling of 41 heifers from our club area for BC dairy farms that were affected by the major flooding once the highway opened. These heifers were distributed to 11 different farms in the Abbotsford area.

The following is a thank you from Richard Bosma whose farm was effected and helped with the coordination to distribute the cattle.

The Club once again hosted an awards night at the Coast Hotel on March 25,2022. There was an excellent turn out and the evening was enjoyed by all. If you have trophies at your farm please contact John Muller for pick up.

In February the provincial AGM was hosted by Central Club and held at the Best Western in Lacombe. At the AB AGM Andrew Wildeboer remained as President and Tim Hummel vice-president.

In April the Holstein Canada AGM was in Saskatoon host by the Saskatchewan branch those who attended were treated to a great event.

May saw the return of our local show at the Exhibition in Lethbridge. Thankyou to all the exhibitors for coming out to put on a good show.

The Barn Cow Competition was held in early September. This award recognized those cows in a breeder’s barn who have never been shown but these animals are an integral part to the success of any farm. There were four classes in this competition congratulations to Deerfield Colony, Decoy (van der Kooij) Holsteins and Diamondpark Dairy for winning their respective classes. Vanderkooij Dairy hosted a BBQ at the farm in conjunction with an open house to announce the winners. Thankyou to Diamond Nutrition, Dirk VDK JR. and Shurgain, Ben Reimer for sponsoring the food and Westgen for the beverages. Jan Vandebrake was the judge and went to approximately 17 farms over 2 days with about 75 cows entered.

The Green Acres Holstein Club is pleased to announce that Nifera Holsteins (Ard and Jenifer Vanderkooij) as our nominee for the Alberta Holstein Association Breeder of the Year award. They also have our clubs nomination for the Alberta Holstein Association President’s Cow award with Rietben Lis Royale. Good luck at the provincial level in February.

I would also like to extend invitation to everyone to attend the Alberta Holstein Association AGM hosted by the Country Roads Holstein Club, Friday, February 10 in Westlock.

Thank you to Justin and the rest of the Green Acres board for all the work done throughout the year. If you have any questions please do not hesitate to contact any one of the board members.

CLUB REPORTS- Country Roads Holstein Club

The Country Roads Holstein Club is glad to be able to be hosting events once again in 2022.

This year we had the honour of supporting two youth shows. We sponsored the Alberta Youth Dairy Show and the junior show at the Alberta Dairy Congress.

After not hosting a Christmas Party for 3 years, our club was able to once again host this past year. We were lucky to have 60 people attend the event and presented our annual production, classification and forage awards. This was a great opportunity for everyone to catch up and recognize the accomplishments of our members. Congratulations to our club Breeder of the Year, de Wildt Dairy and our President’s Club Cow Skycrest Defiant Last Call EX-94-3E owned by Skycrest Holsteins.

We would also like to recognize the recipients of the following awards:

Most Improved RHA BCA- Unique Valleystream Genetics

Highest Total RHA BCA- de Wildt Dairy

Lowest SCC- Baas Dairy

Alfalfa Silage Sample- Unique Valleystream Genetics

Barley Silage Sample- Unique Valleystream Genetics

Corn Silage Sample- Baas Dairy

We are excited to be hosting the Alberta Holstein Association AGM on February 10th at the Westlock Inn & Conference Centre and are looking forward to catching up with everyone.

As another year comes to a close, we look back at the year past in delight at all we’ve been able to do. Our year was filled with in person events that were great successes.

We started our year in Stettler at Marsfield where we held our AGM in the barn office. This was followed by a tour of the barns where we took in all the renovations Gert and Sonya were making to the facilities. It was here that Marsfield Denzel Kimmey was named our Presidents Club Cow and Gert and Sonya Schrijver were named our Breeder of the Year.

Two weeks later we had the privilege of hosting the Alberta Holstein Association AGM. Meetings and Banquets were held at the Lacombe Memorial Center. Ambitious hockey enthusiasts came out early in the morning to play hockey at AllynnBrooke Holsteins on their zamboni groomed outdoor rink. Following the days meetings, a bus took the players out to clive to compete for the championship.

Our Mid-summer Classic was held in conjunction with the 4-H acheivement day. The day started with a pancake, sausage, and egg breakfast. Judge Dale Beinert determined his placings and concluded with our first class of Alumni Showmanship. A highlight here was Futurity winner Mazylake Wilson Faith who won her class as a calf, yearling, and milking 2 yr old.

During the summer Brando Holsteins hosted our BBQ and Awards followed by a farm tour. Here we handed out many of the awards from 2021.

Finally in early December we hosted a Casino Night Awards Banquet like we had done many times before Covid. We were greatful that Donna Fenske and her children came to join us after the passing of Ken who has done so much for our club and industry. Here we finally caught up on awards and are back to where we should be. Mosnang Holsteins was awarded the Breeder of the Year Award.

We are already making plans for the year ahead and look forward to what this year will bring.

In early spring we held the yearly judging day at Lacross Holsteins with the Udderly Unique 4-H Dairy Club. Three Holstein enthusiasts from other countries came to compete against us and did exceptionally well.

It was great to have a normal year, without any Covid regulations. This year we were able to organize all our regular events again. The year started good with our club member Rockymountain Holsteins becoming Master Breeder.

It was a great time at the Alberta Holstein AGM in Lacombe. The hockey game that was organized for all members was a lot of fun, our Holstein club was well represented. Happy Cow Dairy represented our club as our Breeder of the Year and Innislake Dairy won our President’s club cow with Rockymountain Super Teatro.

We organized our annual bowling and golf event with good attendance. We also organized educational events together with East Olds Dairy Farmers study group. We organized a Field Trip at 2 colonies and an educational event hosted by Holstein Canada about the economics around functional conformation. I’m always proud of the Breakfast on the Dairy Farm event, our club organizes this with East of Olds Dairy Farmers Study Group. Our classification night was very well attended and we had a lot of sign ups for the Barn Cow Competition.

To finish the year we had our awards banquet in December. It was well attended and I would like to congratulate Happy Cow Dairy, the Verhoef family in becoming our clubs Breeder of the Year. I would also like to congratulate all other breeders that received awards for Production, Type and Management, as well as our Barn Cow winners. We have much to be proud of as a club.

I would like to thank our sponsors for your yearly support towards our club, all our members for their involvement within the club, and our clubs board of directors. I believe we have a very active board that shows great leadership in the dairy industry. Thank you!