Fall/Winter 2022 Premier Pioneer

SCHOLARSHIP APPLICATIONS AVAILABLE

Premier Select SireS will award up to $20,000 to students within the Premier territory through the 2023 Premier Future Ag Leaders Scholarship Program. Two exemplary students will receive $2,500 scholarships through either the Johnny Daniel Memorial Scholarship or the Wayne Dudley Scholarship. Several other students will receive scholarships of $750 to $1,000 in value.

Scholarship application forms are available under the “News” tab of premierselectsires.com, by calling (570) 836-3168, or by emailing office@premierselect.com.

Completed scholarship applications are due January 31, 2023.

Eligible students include high school seniors through college seniors presently enrolled

or planning to enroll in an undergraduate agriculture-related major. The student or his/her parent or guardian must reside in the Premier membership area and must be an active Premier customer in good standing. Previous scholarship winners remain eligible during subsequent award years; however, a student can only receive a $2,500 scholarship once in his/her school career.

The Premier Future Ag Leaders Scholarship Program provides financial support to eligible college undergraduates in agricultural majors. The program provides additional return to the cooperative’s member-owners by supporting the next generation of young people desiring to study and work in the agriculture industry. The Premier Select Sires, Inc. board of directors has made a commitment to providing money to support this scholarship program on an ongoing annual basis.

WHAT IN THE WORLD IS SELECT SIRES?

Mark Carpenter, Chief Executive Officer

Select Sires, Inc. is a cooperatively owned cooperative. “What’s that you say?” Let’s break it down.

1. You are an owner of your local member cooperative, Premier Select Sires. As a beef or dairy producer who makes purchases from Premier, you own your cooperative on a patronage weighted basis. You elect delegates to represent your interests on the Premier Select Sires board of directors, and you have access to your elected delegates to voice your concerns and needs for board meeting discussion.

Cooperatives serve an essential role in providing their members with marketplace protection. Our grassroots, bottom-up structure gives cooperative members input in Premier’s decisionmaking processes. The structure also allows the cooperative as a whole to advocate for our members’ needs and employ the necessary resources to meet those needs.

Premier has five “sister cooperatives” across the United States that function in a similar manner: All West/Select Sires, CentralStar Cooperative, COBA/Select Sires, Minnesota Select Sires, and Select Sires MidAmerica. All six of the sister cooperatives have their own independent service, marketing, and distribution functions.

2. The six US member cooperatives (previously mentioned) together own Select Sires Inc. These six member cooperatives share the ownership and collectively capitalize on the efforts of their co-owned product brand, Select Sires Inc. Therefore, each cooperative holds an ownership stake in the genetic lines it provides.

The cooperatives’ ownership of Select Sires is also on a patronage weighted basis. As mentioned, each of the six cooperatives has its own board of directors. A subset of each board is elected to represent each cooperative’s ownership on the board of Select Sires Inc.

Premier carriers about 20 percent of the equity vote on the Select Sires board. This offers you, a farmer owner of Premier, far greater representation in Select Sires than any individual producer would have as a single shareholder of Select Sires. When you elect delegates to serve Premier Select Sires, you ultimately choose your own representation at the Select Sires table.

3. Select Sires owns several other entities. As with any business, especially an industry leader, the need to make investments for advancing products and services never ends. To achieve economies of scale and enhance the return on your cooperative’s equity in Select Sires Inc., a non-member initiative was developed to sell genetics outside the US.This

venture allows Select Sires to spread the overhead costs of the stud and generate income for reinvestment. With this effort, Select Sires (and therefore the member cooperatives and their member owners) now own World Wide Sires, GenerVations, Accelerated Genetics, and Select Sires do Brazil. We also have multiple owned, partnered, and contracted distributorships around the globe representing the Select Sires brands.

In short, the answer to our original question is yes! Select Sires is owned by farmers, indirectly through the member cooperatives. Farmers own the member cooperatives, and the member cooperatives own Select Sires (and its wholly owned subsidiaries around the globe).

To summarize, when a farmer does business with one of the six member cooperatives (in your case, Premier), you do business directly with one of the owners of the Select Sires brands. Therefore, you have a voice in the direction of Select Sires through your locally elected board of directors. The structure I’ve described has been paramount to the success of our organizations because control begins at the grassroots level and is pushed up and out through the governing channels. It keeps our collective efforts grounded in what is important to our farmer owners. The General Managers and CEOs of the member cooperatives strive to lead the member cooperatives’ businesses, enhancing the equity of members by working directly for the farmer owners. Our goal is to contribute to the operational direction of the Select Sires product brands and services to meet the needs of members.

With the leadership and oversight of Select Sires Inc. coming from the grassroots levels of your local cooperative, it has provided continued success for growth on local, national, and global levels, benefitting YOU as a local farmer owner. We exist for the mutual benefit of our owners!

If you ever have questions regarding our cooperative structure, feel free to talk to your local delegate or the employed leadership at Premier. You can always call the Premier office at (800) 227-6417 if you need contact information!

“What in the world is Select Sires? Is it farmer owned? I’m confused…”

You’re not alone if you’ve ever pondered this and I’m going to take a stab and try to explain it.

A WELL-ROUNDED APPROACH

Jem FarmS is a 200-cow, 950-acre dairy farm in Waynesboro, PA. Father and son Jack and Jason Martin own the farm in partnership, while Jason’s wife, Megan, and their two children, Jude and Stella, play an active role on the farm as well. The family also employs a few full- and part-time employees.

Jason said the farm was founded by his grandfather more than 50 years ago, and it began with just 14 cows. Expansion over the years led to a new dry cow facility and a new heifer building, and at the time of this interview, the Martins were currently constructing a new building to house 100 heifers.

“We always want to make sure that what we’re doing now will allow opportunities for the future generation,” said Jason. “We want to be efficient in areas that will allow us to be more productive. If our kids decide to stay on the farm, that could lead to even more growth in the future.”

“We’re still in the process of building the foundation for the

future,” added Megan. “We want the total package of the animal—nice to look at and milk. It’s neat to see where we started and where we’ve come… it’s more enjoyable to milk cows with a good udder. We like to show, and you need good genetics to improve and do well in that arena too. And we’d like to maybe market some animals in the future too.”

The Martins have worked with Premier Select Sires for about ten years and said they have relied on advice from their Area Sales Manager (Derek Lease and formerly Sean Johnson, who is now a Regional Sales Manager), Reproductive Specialist (Stephanie Heslep), and other members of the Premier team to help point them in the right direction. They said they’ve seen growth especially through their genetic efforts over the past four years.

“The reps aren’t just people that they pick off the street. Their knowledge is immense, and they’re always willing to help,” said Megan. “These people are willing to point out both the good and the bad on our farm, which is helpful for us to improve. And we look forward to them coming…they know when

we’re busy, but when we’re available they take the time to talk with us and even our kids.”

The Martins work with their Premier representatives to choose sires based upon JEM’s goals. Specific areas of focus include linear type traits, udder composite, feet and legs, components, daughter pregnancy rate, and bloodline.

“You look through the book and there are hundreds of sires. Premier knows what we’re looking for and they narrow it down to fewer options, and we make the final selection from those bulls for what will work for us,” said Jason. “It’s been really rewarding to see feed intake improvements to be able to produce more milk, getting more components than before, and seeing improvements in the general health of the cows. They’re more workable cattle with fewer issues, and we’re getting more longevity.”

In addition to genetics, the Martins use several herd management products offered by Premier Select Sires, including Accelerated Genetics Milk Replacer, Accel RS, Bovine Accellyte II, and Select DTX™.

The Martin family strives for a well-rounded herd that balances production, type, health, and longevity. To achieve that, they take a well-rounded approach that balances genetics, management, help from industry professionals, and passion.

Jason and Megan Martin of JEM Farms in Waynesboro, PA

“The prices [of the herd management products] lined up well with what we were getting,” said Jason. “The cost has been well worth it for the overall health of the animals.”

The Martins said they appreciate being a part of a cooperative.

“We’re getting a return on being part of the cooperative, and it’s nice to be part of a smaller-feeling business. The reps make you feel like that, and it’s like having a friend coming to visit when they stop.”

The Martins also seem to take a wellrounded approach to work and family life. When interacting with Jason, Megan, and the kids, their positive outlook and excitement for the future becomes contagious, and their love for working with animals and one another is evident.

JEM Farms Favorite Products

MILK REPLACER

“

We’ve been using the Accelerated Genetics 26/20 milk replacer with the blood plasma for the last four years and it’s made a significant difference in calf health. We’ve seen anything from just growth, to also our antibiotic use and treatment going significantly down—almost more than cut in half.” -Jason

ACCEL RS “

We use Accel RS to supplement any calves that are starting to go off milk a little bit, or if we notice a difference in their manure. We feed it for 2-3 days and we seem to have good results and can keep them consistently on their milk just like the rest of the calves. It seems to give them a boost. We really like the product and the calves drink it without a problem.” -Megan

BOVINE ACCELLYTE II

“

When it hits about 80° outside we start using BAII preventatively—1 oz/ cow/day. As we hit closer to the 90s or if the humidity gets high, we’ll go ahead and go to 2 oz. If it’s staying really hot in the evenings we’ll even go a little heavier. Normally we will continue feeding it 2-3 days after the heat is gone just to keep the cow going. Using BAII, it seems like our production really hasn’t dropped more than 1-1.5 lbs. even when it gets really hot and humid.” -Jason

We had feed tests done by Premier and our nutritionist, and we realized we had toxin issues that were causing repro/ conception issues and abortions. We added DTX to the feed and it made a significant difference, and improved manure consistency and digestive issues. First we used a heavier dose to help our cows get over the problem, and now use it at a lower maintenance level. If we make feed changes or see digestive issues, we will up the dose, which helps maintain milk production and components through feed changes.” -Jason

L-R: Stella, Jason, Jude, and Megan Martin; featuring a 7HO12587

DIAMONDBACK heifer

Stella with a calf at JEM Farms

AG

PENNIES AND DOLLARS; IS YOUR FOCUS ON THE RIGHT ONE?

Kirk Sattazahn, Vice President of Marketing and Development

Smart decisions can add “pennies” to a genetic investment, but the real return on investment still comes from creating the best dairy replacement for the herd.

profit show that an investment in genetics and reproduction consistently offers the best return on investment.

“An investment in genetics and reproduction consistently offers the best ROI...but some allocated dollars will go further and provide a greater economic return.

We are Fortunate that Premier Select Sires operates in a space on your farm that annual economic summaries confirm as offering the best return on investment time and time again.The Cornell Dairy Farm Business Summary, Farm Credit Dairy Farm Summary, and other economic analyses of farm

Even within an easy decision like investing in genetics and reproduction, some allocated dollars will go further and provide a greater economic return. We have all seen lots of the data on making smart beef on dairy choices when creating a higher value calf not designed to enter the milking string. Those smart decisions can add pennies to a genetic investment, but the real return on investment still comes from creating the best dairy replacement for the herd. This is where the dollars of return reside in your genetics investment.

Data from the recent volume 103 of the Journal of Dairy Science show that an investment in

high ranking DWP$ and HHP$ sires from Premier Select Sires provides an unmatched return compared to any other breeding decision.

decision to use the best DWP$ and HHP$ sires puts dollars quickly back into your pocket.

Using sires from the top DWP$ quartile of Premier’s lineup provide a lifetime profit of $811 more than sires in the bottom quartile. Even the second quartile sires can’t compare to going to the best options in DWP$ and HHP$ as that second quartile still shows a $272 deficit compares to the best sires.

Considering that the top sires only have a $10 to $15 additional investment for a projected $272 return over the life of the animal, the decision to use the best DWP$ and HHP$ sires puts dollars quickly back into your pocket.

“The

*NxGEN® sire. ™Herd Health Profit Dollars and HHP$ are trademarks of Select Sires Inc. ®NxGEN is a registered trademark of Select Sires Inc. Dairy Wellness Profit Dollars and DWP$ are registered trademarks of Zoetis Inc., its affiliates and/or licensors.

REACHING GENETIC GOALS AS A TEAM

Making sound genetic decisions is just one aspect of running a dairy or beef operation, but those decisions can impact your operation for generations to come. Walt Moore of Walmoore Holsteins, Inc. chooses a team approach to genetics to make sure the farm is heading in the right direction for today and for years to come.

About Walmoore Holsteins

eStabliShed in 1909 with just twenty cows, Walmoore Holsteins is now an 1800-acre award-winning dairy farm in Cochranville, Pennsylvania. The farm is home to 1,050 milking and dry cows, as well as 950 young stock. Honors include 2001 Chester County Farmer of the Year, 2011 Master Farmer, and most recently, 2020 Dairying for Tomorrow Environmental Stewardship Honorable Mention.

Walmoore Holsteins is now owned by fourth generation farmer Walt Moore and his wife, Ellen. Three members of the fifth generation—Walt and Ellen’s two sons and a nephew—are involved on the operation in different capacities, and Walt’s father and mother still play a role on the farm. The farm also employs many people to help carry out daily functions.

Valuing Genetics

A member of Premier Select Sires since 1997, Walt stresses the importance of teamwork and a sound

genetic foundation.

“Having really good genetics in our herd is important for us to help continue to improve our herd’s production and meet our goals on the farm going forward,” said Walt. “We continue to try to drive high production and high components, and we strive for excellent quality milk.”

Walt said that genetics play a role in goals that are not necessarily production related as well.

“Carbon neutrality is another thing, and nutrition efficiency plays into that,” said Walt. “We need bulls and offspring that can convert feed efficiently, and genetics are huge as we strive towards our environmental goals. With all the factors we consider, to have a good genetic base is really important, and then hopefully our management can keep up with the genetics and continue to drive us forward towards those goals.”

To track progress, Walmoore holds a quarterly farm meeting and invites the farm’s decisionmakers and industry partners. This includes Walmoore’s Premier specialists, Dairy Coordinator

“These meetings have really helped us to say ‘Hey, what are our goals, where are we right now, what have we done in the past, what areas do we need to improve, what areas are we doing well,’ and it gives us a focus for the next quarter, or six months, or year,” said Walt. “In another quarter we get back and say ‘We made these couple of changes. Are we seeing improvements on that area?’ If so we can keep doing it, if not, what do we need to do to pivot and make it better?”

Select Mating Service®

As the Dairy Coordinator, Daphne Lang administers the Select Mating Service, performs pregnancy Net Merit ranking, and provides heifer calculator information for Walmoore Holsteins. “Walmoore has been using the Genetic Data Partner Program since 2004, and I started working with them in-depth over the past several years to help them with pedigree matings and selecting the best sires for their operational needs,” said Daphne. “I’ve also been able to help when they’ve

Daphne Lang and Reproductive Specialist Stephanie Heslep.

Walt Moore of Walmoore Holsteins, Inc. in Cochranville, PA

®Select Mating Service & Select Reproductive Solutions are registered trademarks of Select Sires Inc.

DWP$ is a registered trademark of Zoetis, its affiliates, and/or licensors.TPI is a registered trademark of Holstein Association USA. TMHHP$ is a trademark of Select Sires Inc.

brought on new herd managers to keep genetic efforts consistent.”

From January through July 2022 (at the time of this interview), the bulls used by Walmoore averaged: 1011 NM$, 2964 TPI®, 1065 DWP$®, 1056 HHP$®, 1035 Milk, 101 Fat, and 53 Pro. The team was also able to achieve good udder composites, low SCS, and a high measure of mastitis resistance.

“Daphne is excellent with cattle genetics and knowing cows inside and out. We’ve used her knowledge to help us try to identify what traits we want to continue to improve,” said Walt. “She’s helped us put together a program where we’re mating our top genetics with excellent sexed semen… so we can drive the female side of our genetics forward more rapidly. And then we’re also breeding the kind of lower end animals to beef and we’re able to market two different directions to diversify and improve our bottom line.”

Select Reproductive Solutions®

As a Reproductive Specialist, Stephanie Heslep administers Premier’s Select Reproductive Solutions program at Walmoore Holsteins. She creates routine reproductive reports to help the farm identify things that are going well, along with areas for improvement. She has worked with Walmoore since accepting her position with Premier

about two years ago.

“We have worked on anything from correcting dry periods, to instilling very easy portions to the shot program to try to boost conception in older cows,” said Stephanie. “I appreciate how receptive Walt is to suggestions and he’s always willing to implement changes for improvement.”

“I really am a metrics-type person and I like to track a lot of things,” said Walt. “Stephanie tracks many things including conception rates on our heifers, lactation numbers for cows, and how our individual technicians are doing on our farm so that we can retrain them if needed. We’ve been able to identify certain areas for improvement, and we’ve made changes accordingly. It’s really neat to come back in three to four months or six months later and say ‘Hey, we’ve made this change and we see an improvement here.’”

Area Sales Manager Service

In addition to Daphne and Stephanie, Walt also works with his local Area Sales Manager.

“I had the privilege of working with the late Andrew Fleischer, who always went above and beyond to help us solve our problems on-farm, whether that was through genetics, products, or offering encouragement to ‘keep up the good work’ on our farm,” said Walt.

Now serving as Walmoore’s Area

Sales Manager is Eli Williard, former Reproductive Services Specialist for Premier.

“I look forward to getting to know Walt and the rest of the staff at Walmoore as I strive to provide them with the genetics, products, and services they need,” said Williard.

Looking to the Future

Walmoore’s quarterly team meetings have proved to be an effective strategy to keep all areas of the business moving in the right direction. According to Walt, there is always room for growth and improvement as they fine tune management practices. Some markers that Walt shoots for include an average of over 100 pounds of energy corrected milk each month, 35 percent or less of involuntary culling, a somatic cell score below 100,000, finding the “sweet spot” on heifer raising costs, and continuing to grow the production level.

“Genetics are one piece of our business, and it’s great to have a team of people from Premier that know it inside and out to help us succeed,” said Walt. “It’s about communication. This team is really trying to help us improve the farm and not just trying to sell us something. They truly want to help.”

Scan the QR code to watch a video featuring Walt, Daphne, and Stephanie!

L-R: Stephanie Heslep, Reproductive Specialist; Walt Moore; Daphne Lang, Dairy Coordinator

A beef x dairy cross calf and a Holstein calf at Walmoore Holsteins

COOPERATIVE NEWS

Your Premier Select Sires Board of Directors meets routinely to analyze various aspects of the cooperative and discuss strategies for benefitting members both now and in the future. As a member cooperative, Premier is proud to be led by these exceptional beef and dairy producers!

Here are some photos from the Summer 2022 meeting held on July 5-6.

Your Premier Board of Directors and Delegates g

Standing (L-R): Pat Ard, Vern Buessing, Kevin Satterwhite, Barbara Nedrow, Gary Dell, Kelvin Hatch, Paul Gingue, Jonathan Lamb, Jessica Slaymaker, Steve Craun

Seated (L-R): Jim Houser, Kenny Taylor, James Cook, John Edd Harris, Mike Saylor

Service Awards f

Board members with board service anniversaries were recognized. This photo represents 135 years of service to the cooperative!

The group enjoyed a tour of Oakfield Corners Dairy (farm of board delegate Jonathan Lamb) in Oakfield, NY and learned about the operation’s 72-stall GEA DairyPro-Q robotic rotary milking system. h

Tour of Oakfield Corners Dairy

Absent from photo: Robert Cruikshank

HOPE FOR THE BEST…BUT BE PREPARED ANYWAY!

No matter where you hang your hat within Premier’s territory, most of us don’t know what kind of winter we’ll get. And while we can’t control the weather that’s coming our way, we can plan for a consistent calf-care program using products to ease the effects that erratic weather can have.

Premier Select Sires

1. TRIED & TRUE

two fantastic “go-to” products that you’ll want to have on hand for the coming months.

Well-known throughout the industry, CONVERTTM has been a staple in many calving kits. Compared to other calf probiotic gels, CONVERT offers 5 billion CFU of E. faecium, L acidophilus, and B. longum, a “get there first” with the most beneficial bacteria. CONVERT reduces scours, increases appetites and thus increases growth rate by quickly reacting to the needs of your calves. Most cattle producers we talk to administer a tube of CONVERT while spraying the navel and tagging the calf. It’s as simple as that!

CONVERT is available in a 60-cc tube or individual 15-cc single dose tubes. It is also available as a bolus and as BIG (Bacteria/IG) Calf Powder.

2. NEW KID ON THE BLOCK

New to the Premier product lineup, AccelAIRate is a very palatable nutraceutical that helps support the respiratory system of young cattle. Nutraceutical is just a fancy way of saying this is an allnatural product that helps in the prevention and treatment of disease. Its combination of essential oils, herb extracts, bioactive compounds and antioxidants make it a safe, no-withdrawal, economical solution to preventing and alleviating respiratory stress. It can (and should) be used during transporting, regrouping or environmental challenges. It’s easy to mix into feed or even milk (for dairy calves not yet weaned). At just pennies per head per day, AccelAIRate should be fed for 10 days.

Help your calves and young stock breathe easier this winter! Contact your Premier rep for additional information.

We were experiencing most of our newborn calves getting scours at 3-7 days old. We tried multiple medications and vaccines with no luck. After talking to my neighbor, he suggested CONVERT. We started giving every calf 10cc at birth, and the scours and problems went away! We have been using CONVERT ever since, and won’t be without it during calving season.”

We bring in about 50-80 ‘high risk’ 2 wt. sale barn calves every week and grow them to 850 lbs. We don’t know vaccination protocols, weaned status, etc., so we start all of them on a 21-day program of AccelAIRate (10g/head/day). It’s such a little amount to use, and easy to administer, and it makes such a difference. We’ve had over 700 calves start on this product protocol and they have more shine, better hair, firmer manure and there’s ZERO coughing in the group. By boosting the immune system, we have cut treatment and death rate in half and boosted ADG by .6 lb per day. I’m sold on it!”

11740 US 42N, Plain City, OH 43064

offers

TYLER REMINGTON Quinter, KS 300-head

JASON TAYLOR, TRIPLE T CALF RANCH

Fayetteville, TN 2500 head

TMCONVERT is a trademark of and manufactured for Agrarian Solutions® a registered trademark of Agrarian Solutions, Nappanee, IN. Buyer assumes all responsibil ity for use, storage, and handling of these products. All claims, representations, and warranties, expressed or implied, are made only by the manufacturer and not by Select Sires, Inc., its member cooperatives, its agents, or employees. These products are manufactured for Select Sires Inc.,