the Youth of Distinction award at the 2016 Jersey Canada AGM. Steven is on the Jersey Canada Milk Marketing committee, as well as being a past board member and President of Jersey Canada and receiving the Honorary Life Member award in 2019. THE HERD & LAND
Jacob Lucs in conversation with Sean Smith, Clanman Jerseys Father and son Steven and Sean Smith are Clanman Jerseys Ltd., located in Clanwilliam, Manitoba. Steven’s wife Marie helps with the cows and bookkeeping as needed, along with two highschool students helping feed calves. They milk 56 cows with a DeLaval VMS robot in a three-year-old compost pack barn. Sean makes all the breeding decisions and increasingly more of the other management decisions as well. Cropping and pasture management are managed by both Steven and Sean. Sean is the 3rd generation to farm the land that has been in the Smith family for over 100 years. Steven’s parents Tom and Sheila Smith purchased their first Jerseys and started shipping cream in the 1960s. Steven came back to the farm soon after highschool and built a 44 cow tie-stall barn in 1980. Sean returned to the farm full time after university and a year of traveling. Sean sits on a Producer Advisory Council for the Assiniboine West Watershed District, is the President of Jersey West and received
The Clanman herd is 100% purebred Jerseys. Along with the 56 milking cows, there are around 80 calves, heifers and dry cows. According to Sean, feeding consists of “a PMR in the barn in the winter that is made up of grass/alfalfa/clover baleage, greenfeed baleage from our cover crop mixes that can have up to 14 different species in them, DDG (dried distillers grains), and a purchased supplement. The cows also get a purchased pellet in the robot. In the summer months the dairy herd is pastured, getting a new piece of pasture twice a day. In the barn they are given a partial mixed ration that is about ½ the dry matter as in the winter. Dairy pastures are grass/legume mixes and cover crop mixes. This year we are trying fall rye and a BMR grazing corn as well.” For the calves, “They are fed milk three times per day in addition to calf starter and hay until 3.5 months old. From 3.5 – 8 months calves are fed dry hay and grain. 8.5 month to confirmed pregnant heifers are fed dry hay and baleage out on pasture in the winter, as well as grain in the yard. Bred heifers and far off dry cows are fed bales on pasture as well. In the summer, heifers 8.5 months and up are on pasture getting a new piece of grass every 24 hours.” Forage production and pasturing is done on 560 acres. Hay stands include
grass, alfalfa, clover, birdsfoot trefoil and cicer milkvetch. Sean adds, “We also grow multi-species cover crops for forage that can include barley, oats, peas, turnips, ryegrass, clover, hairy vetch, kale, pearl millet as well as other crops. All the feed for the dairy herd is made into wrapped bales and the heifer feed is made both wrapped and dry.” BREEDING OBJECTIVES & TOOLS Sean feels their focus on pasturing gives them a unique advantage, producing cows that are healthy and have longevity, and one of their main herd objectives is to breed cows that do well on pasture systems. In developing their herd, although Sean enjoys showing cows, their distance from show genetic markets means they can’t focus solely on show type. This is both “a blessing and a curse. While I love good show cows, we do not have a strong enough market to focus solely on show type. This has forced us to use a variety of bulls that offer both conformation and production. Our goal is to breed for conformation without sacrificing production and I feel that we are achieving that goal with our herd. Our ideal cow has large capacity and width throughout. A cow that is level in her front end with a well attached udder that is youthful enough to last multiple lactations. Teat length and placement is something we put more emphasis on since switching to a robot.” Breeding decisions are made using varCLANMAN continued on page 50
Sean with Clanman Celebrity Status at the Westerner Dairy Showcase, 2018 Sean avec Clanman Celebrity Status lors du Westerner Dairy Showcase, 2018 26 JUNE / JUIN 2021 Canadian Jersey Breeder / Eleveur de Jersey Canadien
Photos courtesy of / courtoisie de : Sean Smith
