Headwater Holsteins: Making it Work

HEADWATER HOLSTEINS: Making ItWork

By Melissa Hart

Nestled in the hills of northern New York, the Shermans are surrounded by several farms and necessary infrastructure for dairy producers.

On Nov. 1, 1999, on a rented farm in Delaware County, two twentysomething Holstein enthusiasts embarked on a farming endeavor that has turned into a family operation, producing 80 homebred Excellent cows with five at EX-94.

Eric and Lorelle Sherman are familiar members of the New York Holstein Fraternity, and today Headwater Holsteins is situated in the rolling hills of Lewis County surrounded by like-minded producers and an infrastructure to support their passion.

Seventeen years ago they moved three hours north and away from family. “We are in the snow and all alone,” Eric said, chuckling.

One of the biggest reasons they moved to Lewis County was the number of farms that are 100 cows or fewer - the infrastructure supports dairy farming. They belong to the Lowville Producers Dairy Co-op, which is just a few miles from the farm.

Tending approximately 260 acres, they made several improvements to the old tie-stall barn. “We had to improve all of it. It was a lot of jackhammering,” Eric recalled. “We put in a new gutter cleaner, bulk tank and stalls, we did a lot of work to this barn.” While they like the improvements they’ve made, it still takes time to feed the cows. “We just run around the barn all day. We just get done with one lap, we start another.”

The barn was built with more than 70 stalls, but now they are down to 63. “We keep losing stalls because every time we jackhammer, we lose two stalls to make the stalls bigger, so we are doing the opposite of what everyone says we should do. Others get bigger and we are getting smaller,” Lorelle explained.

“Yeah, we do everything wrong,” Eric joked.

WeLike Good Cows

In making breeding decisions, he says they are just farmers who like good cows. “You breed one good one, then you want to breed 10 more good ones,” he explained.

“Eric likes pedigrees, he likes the learning, the history of the Holstein breed. It’s not a hobby for Eric, it’s a passion in life.” Lorelle added, “He wants to have a nice high-scoring herd of cows, he wants to be in the Holstein Fraternity; he loves talking about nice cows, he loves looking at nice cows, he likes to visit other farms and look at their cows and he helps young people with getting started with their own herd.”

Mentoring young people comes by way of 4-H and county involvement. “When we go to our county show we always take an army of kids with us - and they don’t belong to us,” Eric noted with a laugh.

The Shermans had to jackhammer a lot of cement to custom fit the stalls for their cows when they moved to their farm in Lewis County.

They host judging clinics in the spring for local youth as well. The Shermans show at the local and state levels and are involved with their Holstein county club. “We are a close-knit county and we got away from hosting speakers at our annual meetings. So now we have our meal and our meeting and then we just sit around and chew the fat because we don’t always have a chance to get together,” he said.

Raising a small herd with no outside income is not the norm in today’s dairy industry. But Eric attributes their sustainability on the farm to no hired help and teamwork. He noted, “Lorelle can do anything I can do and is willing, and that’s big.” He also attributes part of their success to having all their farm ground nearby and not having to travel for planting and harvesting, in addition to having the aid of their three kids, Ethan, Carl and Ella.

“As the kids got older, they turned into great help; it wasn’t the case when they were all in diapers, though,” he laughed.

They also try to keep their machinery costs as low as they can, without being backwards about it. “We obviously have to get our work done, but we don’t get carried away buying new paint,” he added.

Managing feed costs is another component to their sustainability. “We don’t have a huge herd average. We try to avoid the feed scoop as much as possible.” They feed 15 pounds of a protein mix, some high-moisture corn, corn silage, baleage, haylage and a lot of dry hay. They raise all their forages and corn.

Lorelle pointed out, “We don’t want to pay for our milk, we want the milk to pay the bills. It’s important to keep it in balance.”

What’s in the tank?

Herd goals at Headwater Holsteins are cows that last, good pedigrees and to breed a better cow from one generation to the next. Eric believes the maternal line of the bull means a lot. “Genomics are great, but it has to make sense. Some of the information on the proofs just doesn’t add up, and if I feel that way, I won’t use a bull. The pedigree still matters.”

The sire selection at Headwater Holsteins includes Stantons Chief, Unix, Delta Lambda and Summerfest. They used Summerfest early because he was on sale and they ended up really liking his calves. Eric said they are milking six Tattoo daughters and he thinks they are

The calves are happy in their hutches at Headwater Holsteins.

milkier than expected and clean-boned.

“If you use (Summerfest)on a wide-muzzle, widechested cow with a little heavier bone, he can do you some good,” he noted.

They have two Tattoo daughters that were fresh last fall and went VG-86, and Eric is quite happy with them so far. They also had a Crush that went EX-91 with her second calf - she’s from the Talent Barbara family, and a nice young cow.

Headwater Atwood Luna-ET is EX-94 at nine years old. Out of all her calves, she had one heifer and she’s a King Doc that is due in March. In addition they have four Delta Lambda IVF pregnancies out of Luna due in March. Luna’s pedigree includes an EX-92 4E Linjet x EX-91 Dairy x EX-91 cow out of a homebred bull x VG Stardust x EX-93 Sir Christopher.

Headwater Fever Johanna just went EX-94, and she has a Select yearling. Johanna is out of an EX-93 3E Aftershock that has more than 250,000 pounds of milk lifetime and is still in the herd.

Maplegrand Paxton Pagen is another EX-94 cow the Shermans purchased at a sale, over the phone. She is sired by a homebred bull and has turned out to be a great cow. She is due anytime to Unstopabull.

The Sherman children have been instrumental in making the farm run smoothly. Ethan is now in Georgia working for a large dairy, while Carl and Ella are still at home. Future plans at Headwater Holsteins include breeding more great cows. While Eric wants to farm until he leaves this earth, Lorelle would like a retirement date, but their common goal is to live on the farm - debt-free.

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