Holstein World:  You built your current herd by purchasing herds from Canada-how has the border closing affected your a) expansion program b) merchandising program?
 

Joe Engel:
Canadian cattle have definitely had a huge impact on our herd.  Luckily when the border closed, with previous purchased herds and two more herds bought just weeks before the closing, our primary nucleus had already been formed.  We were almost too full at the time but it turned out to be a blessing.  When the border closed it definitely had an impact on us.  Bringing cows down was not only a big part of our business, but something we really enjoyed.  Fortunately we had a big inventory of young stock on the farm so we could keep merchandising without affecting our milk cow numbers.  We usually calve about 115 heifers per year; this allows us to sell about 80 females per year without loosing numbers.  It is more important than ever for us to aim for low maintenance cows that breed fast so we can continue to do this.