The story behind Cranehill Genetics
Holstein World: Cranehill Genetics was born from the purchase of a member from the Laurie Sheik Family. What attributes do you look for when deciding to add a new animal to the herd? What elements of the Cranehill marketing and merchandising program have proven the most effective?
Ryan Matheron: Cranehill Genetics was started six years ago with the purchase of a Maplewood Estimate daughter of the Laurie Sheiks. At the time I was attending college and was interested in purchasing this individual but being a college student with minimal income the $5500 price tag was a bit steep. I then approached two of my closest friends Emanuel and Joe who are also local dairymen about my interest and together we purchased Signature Estimate Lauris, thus the beginning of Cranehill Genetics.
Thus far Lauris’ progeny have done very well. We have sold offspring to three different states including Canada. There are six bulls that are currently being sampled and she is the dam of two VG-89 two yr. olds. To say the least we are extremely happy with our first purchase.
When selecting an animal to purchase we look for individuals that have extreme marketability. We look for well-proven cow families that have transmitted generation after generation. Advertising is key when merchandising cattle. You have to stay up to speed with this fast paced industry. We try to use the bulls that are in the most demand and even try to speculate on the ones that will be. We keep current pictures on milking females as well as getting photos on heifers that we will be consigning to sales. Pictures make it much easier for potential buyers to get a better idea of what the individual looks like.
