2020 AJCA-NAJ ANNUAL MEETINGS
Candidates for AJCA and NAJ Elections AJCA President Nominee Jonathan Merriam
AJCA Director Nominee Rebecca Ferry
Jonathan Merriam, Hickman, Calif., has been nominated for President of the American Jersey Cattle Association (AJCA). He currently is serving his second term as AJCA president. Merriam grew up on the family dairy farm in Hickman and now works as the genetics specialist at Ahlem Farms Partnership in Hilmar, Calif. The 7,000cow dairy owned by Carolyn Ahlem, Sabino Ahlem-Herrera and Roger Herrera milks cows on three dairies using several AJCA programs, including REAP and JerseyMate, and JerseyTags for permanent identification. Ahlem Farms Partnership is a charter investor in Project Equity and a contract advertiser w i t h t he Jersey Journal. The dairy is also a founder of Hilmar Cheese Company. All three herds have lactation averages over 19,600 lbs. milk and herd average JPIs over +22. The home dairy ranks #16 in the nation for genetic merit with a herd average JPI of +38 on 3,305 cows. Jonathan was general chair for the 2019 All American and sits on the board of Jerseyland Sires. He was chair of the 2017 All American Jersey Sale and co-chair of the 2016 National Heifer Sale held in San Diego, Calif. Merriam grew up on 400-cow dairy farm in central California, where he and his family milked 250 Registered Jerseys and 150 grade Holsteins. His grandfather, William Merriam, established the dairy herd with Jerseys in 1929 and added Holsteins in the 1960s, when the creamery required their addition due to public concern about high fat milk. Jonathan’s interest and understanding of the dairy grew over the years, from his first duties as a calf feeder at the age of nine to helping to manage the dairy in high school and junior college. Though he gained experience in all aspects of the dairy, genetics and reproduction are his greatest interest. As a youth, he was active in 4-H and FFA, where he earned the American FFA Degree. A highlight of his show career was exhibit-
Rebecca “Becky” Ferry, Johnstown, N.Y., has been nominated to serve as Director from the Second District of the American Jersey Cattle Association (AJCA). Becky owns and operates Dreamroad Jerseys LLC with her sister, Sandra Scott, in Johnstown. The two ear ned the AJCA Young Jersey Breeder award in 2009 and assumed ownership of the 300-acre farm in 2016 from their parents, who purchased it in 1990. Dreamroad Jerseys was a tour stop during the AJCA-National All-Jersey Inc. Annual Meetings in 2019. The 80-cow herd is enrolled on REAP. It has a 2019 lactation average (m.e.) of 17,530 lbs. milk 896 lbs. fat and 669 lbs. protein. With the December 2019 herd appraisal, the herd includes 23 Excellent and 50 Very Good cows and has a herd average of 86.7%. Dreamroad Jerseys is a contract advertiser in the Jersey Journal. Becky, a third-generation Jersey breeder, was born and raised on the farm and got her first calf at the age of three. Descendants of the heifer are in the herd today, many appraised Excellent. A granddaughter, Dreamroad Lester Carly, twice appraised Excellent-95%, lived to be almost 20 years old and placed in the AJCA Leading Living Lifetime Production Contest several times. At an early age, Becky became involved with the farm, doing chores alongside her sister and parents, showing and joining 4-H. When she was nine, Becky was involved in a farm accident in which she lost her legs and incurred spinal fusion of her back. Her first question to her father upon waking in the hospital, “Can I show my cows?” Though the doctors weren’t certain, Becky was. Eighteen months after her accident, she showed a very special cow, Cowbell Royal Cassidy, Excellent-94%, in The All American Jersey Show. “Cassidy” was not just inspiration and best friend to Becky. She brought happiness to the entire family, who had been through a lot. A champion in and out of the ring, “Cassidy” earned purple banners at county, regional and
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AJCA Director Nominee Gary B. Moore Gary B. Moore, Greenwich, N.Y., has been nominated to serve as Director from the Second District of the American Jersey Cattle Association (AJCA). Moore has been breeding Registered Jerseys for more than four decades. Today he owns and operates DGM Jerseys with his wife, Debbie, in Greenwich, near the Vermont border. As well, Gary has worked for Cargill Animal Nutrition for 31 years, the last 15 as a calf and heifer specialist. The Moores have continued to farm and milk cows to enable his son and daughter-in-law, Doug and Janelle, and their children to dairy. The Moores milk a mixed-breed herd (Jerseys and Holsteins) of 45 cows. The Jersey herd is enrolled on REAP and has a 2019 lactation average (m.e.) of 21,649 lbs. milk, 1,047 lbs. fat and 745 lbs. protein on nine cows. After the latest type appraisal, the herd includes four Excellent and 13 Very Good cows and has an appraisal average of 86.9%. Gary grew up on a dairy farm in Vermont that milked a few Jerseys until he was in the fifth grade. He earned a degree in animal science and dairy technology from the University of Vermont. Among his classes were several for dairy product processing. After graduation, he worked for Col. H. G. Wilde and Marjorie Field Wilde at High Lawn Farm in Lee, Mass. From there, he went to Fair Weather Farm in New Lebanon, N.Y., where he worked closely with the late Stanley Chittenden and the Chittenden family. Gary established his own herd within the herd at Fair Weather Farm and struck out on his own on a rented farm in West Rutland, Vt., in 1978. He purchased the present 117acre farm in Greenwich with Chittenden’s guidance in 1981. Moore received the AJCC Young Jersey Breeder award in 1984. He sold the bulk of the herd in the late 1980s to begin his career with Cargill, but retained a few Jerseys owned by his sons and made subsequent foundation purchases to re-establish the (continued to page 37)
JERSEY JOURNAL
