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With cattle, being in the red is proving profitable

 

By CELESTE BAUMGARTNER
Ohio Correspondent 

EATON, Ohio — Things are not always black and white – including Holstein cows, which come in red, in addition to black.

Red Holsteins were once almost taboo, as the hue was considered a sign of impurity. But that changed, and now they are popular, said Mark Yeazel of Ja-Bob Holsteins in Eaton. A Red and White Holstein breed was established in 1964.

Red is a recessive gene, explained Yeazel, whose 120-cow dairy herd is about 90 percent Red Holsteins. If the cow and bull each have the recessive gene, they may produce a red and white animal, just as blond parents can have a red-haired child.

Yeazel’s interest in these cattle goes back to when he was a kid. A Red Holstein calf was born on the farm. His brother claimed a black and white for his 4-H project, but Yeazel claimed the red one to call his "project" though he was too young for 4-H. That calf turned out to be a good milk cow, and their dad kept a bull from her.

That was in the 1970s, and it introduced a red gene into the herd. In high school, Yeazel’s interest in genetics grew. "By the time I got into college I had determined there was a market demand for Red Holsteins," he explained. "The industry had changed its opinion – it was no longer taboo, and particularly on the international market there was a demand for Red Holsteins."

As people around the world wanted to increase their milk production, they looked to the Holstein breed, he said. Often the cattle native to their countries were brown or red, not black. They could use Red Holsteins and get the milk production they wanted, but still see their native color.

After college, Yeazel wanted to come home and join the farming operation, but he knew that would take more income. He decided Red Holsteins would be a good way to walk through that door.

"I started looking for some brood cows or just some genetics that would carry red but also have good Holstein genes, and that’s where I identified a cow called Sky-Hi Mars Helen," he explained. "I had been doing a lot of the breeding throughout my high school years and selecting bulls, so we had increased the number of reds in the herd already. I was looking for some animals that were top individuals that would have the excellent conformation and also have the genetics that the black and white world was looking for."

Yeazel hit a home run with Helen, a brood cow with many excellent offspring. She had 14 red sons via artificial insemination and is one of only 19 cows on the Wisconsin Hall of Fame. She has 195 known Excellent (conformation rating) maternal female descendants in 10 countries around the world.

"I was coming out of college just when embryo transplanting was getting its foothold and being accepted as technology in the industry," Yeazel said. "I worked at Select Embryos for my internship in college, so I recognized this was a way I could make lots of reds out of this cow. Over Helen’s lifetime, we had 130 or 140 calves out of her; she lived to be 13 years old.

"We have generations and generations of that cow still in our herd. I find it kind of fascinating that my little breeding program here in Preble County could have such an influence in the world."

Milk still produces the biggest income on his farm, but genetics supplements that. Ja-Bob sells genetics to Panama, Australia, Holland and other countries.

Red Holsteins are only one of Yeazel’s innovations. He sold a number of bulls and began including polled genes in the breeding program. Polled is a dominant gene, so using a polled bull means there is a chance of the calf being polled.

"Dehorning is a job I never liked," Yeazel said. "I started including the polled gene in my breeding program years ago and now about a third of my herd is polled. Probably more like 75 percent of my calves are polled, so I don’t have to do much dehorning. That has created another market for me. I sell a lot of red polled bulls."

Meanwhile, just a little to the northeast in Wooster, Ohio, Jason Miley of Miley Holstein Farm, also has an interest in Red and White Holsteins. About 10 years ago, they began using a few red bulls. Now his farm has 20-30 head of Red and White Holsteins, in a herd of about 250 registered Holsteins.

"We did all the breeding from within our herd – we didn’t look to get specifically into the Red and White Holstein market," Miley said. "There were a couple of new red and white bulls that came out that we sort of liked, and we used them in our program, and it started growing."

The Mileys liked the red and whites, so they began to focus on them a little more and, over time, things evolved. There seems to be more marketability with red and whites, Miley said.

"It is just something a little bit different. We like to show. They started about six or seven years ago having some separate Red and White Shows here in Ohio, and it was fun to do."

Miley’s Red and White Holsteins have done well in competition against black and whites. They won Grand Champion at the Wayne County Fair with a red and white; in 2011, their red and white won the National Holstein Futurity at the Ohio State Fair. "As far as I know, that is the only red cow that has won that," Miley said.

He was recently elected to the board of directors of the Red and White Dairy Cattle Assoc. (RWDCA). This organization, established in 1964, encourages and promotes the breeding of superior red and white dairy cattle.

"The RWDCA accepts all red and white dairy cattle into their association as long as they have a Holstein USA, Holstein Canada or Cattle Identification Database paper," said Anna Troester, assistant manager of the RWDCA.

"Red and whites sell very highly right now," she explained. "If you have a red and white on a sale, it sells for just as much or more than a black. People are looking for red and whites and ways to get into the red and white industry. I just got back from Australia, where red and whites are beginning to become very popular. I think it is a color thing."

People are excited about the red and white’s genetics, Troester said. RWDCA has members all over the world and gained 300 new members in the past year. "It’s something different," she said, echoing Miley. "Popularity is growing."

Said Yeazel, recalling his childhood: "If you have a total black and white herd and have one red calf, your child is going to claim it. It is a novelty."

The 2015 National Red and White Convention will be held in Decorah, Iowa, July 14-16. The deadline to register is immediate, June 23. For information, visit www.redandwhitecattle.com

For information on Ja-Bob Farms, visit www.ja- bobholsteins.com and Miley Holstein Farm may be contacted at 330-264-2453.

6/17/2015