HOLSTEIN YOUTH
Mentorship Leads Jack Melia to Success
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IT MAY HAVE BEEN DESTINY THAT HAD A HAND IN BRINGING JACK MELIA TO THE DAIRY WORLD.
By chance one day, a young Jack happened to attend a local 4-H show where his cousins were showing their calves. He was instantly hooked. “As soon as I was old enough, I started showing,” says Jack. “It fast became my entire life.” Neither Jack nor his cousins had any experience with dairy calves until 4-H. It happened that his aunt was friends with 4-H leader Martina Arth and that’s how his cousins got involved, followed by him. “Sports were the biggest part of my life. Once I started showing calves, sports petered out quickly,” laughs Jack. “It was eat, sleep, breathe sports, then it was dairy cattle.” He hasn’t missed a year in the dairy club since he joined, now in his ninth year for 2022. Growing up on a rural property near Lynden, Ont., the logical place to get a 4-H calf for the first few years was at Summitholm Holsteins, run by the Loewith family. This led to Jack’s first part-time job. “I was there all the time anyway leading calves and helping out, so they started paying me,” joked Jack. He fed calves there for about seven years. He also chased cows for milking, cleaned stalls, milked and helped with cropping over they years. As he got older, he gained more responsibility. Jack has been extremely lucky to have some top players in the dairy and showing world act as mentors for him. That mentorship has played a key role in Jack developing his skills and success within the 4-H program and his career. At 13 years of age, in his third year of 4-H, Jack’s first big mentor was Jeff Stephens. “He took me on, taking me to the bigger shows. He helped me fine-tune my skills in showmanship and getting animals ready.” Jack would go on to work with Jeff for four to five years. Jack’s next big mentorship opportunity came when he started
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working with Len Vis of Mapelwood Holsteins. Jack worked on the farm for two to three years and went to bigger shows like the Royal, all the while continuing to learn from Len. “Len taught me the finer points of getting cattle from the barn to the ring,” says Jack. Len Vis also introduced Jack to the folks at Vogue Cattle Company. Following his time with Mapelwood and Vogue, Jack was the herdsman for Joe Russworm and learned about boarding high end show cattle. Unfortunately, with that year being the first of COVID, most shows were canceled. In 2021, Jack took the skills he’s gained over the years and went on his own boarding 15-20 in Len Vis’s old recipient barn. In his time at Summitholm, he saw how an extremely well-managed dairy operation can be so successful and learned a lot from one of the top managed dairy farms in the country. It has proven to be extremely valuable for him. “At Summitholm, I learned 95 per cent of my management and cow knowledge. I apply that and the knowledge I’ve gained from my other mentors on the show side to get the best out of my clients’ calves and my own,” says Jack. Jack continues his quest for knowledge and is now learning from David Dyment, currently boarding cattle for him as well. Alongside his boarding, buying and selling and fitting career Jack now has his dream job. After helping with social media for a year and a half, he is now the Director of Marketing and Sales for online bull company AG3, owned by David Dyment. “I’ve always been able to talk to people and sell. Now I get to do that for a job,” says Jack. While some 4-H members want a high-type calf to try to win conformation classes, Jack wants to reach his highest potential in
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