Holstein World: Share with our readers a little bit about your background. What led to you being involved in the Registered Holstein business? What keeps you active in the business today?

Ryan Matheron: My grandfather started Hilmar Holsteins over 50 years ago. He always had and enjoyed working with good registered cattle. I believe this is where my family’s love for the Holstein cow stems from. When I was young I was very involved in the 4-H and FFA programs. I started out showing at our local fairs, then the California Holstein Show and even the Western National. While in high school, I was fortunate enough to be part of the state winning dairy judging team. After graduating from high school, I then went on to Cal Poly were I majored in Dairy Science with an Ag Business minor. While at Cal Poly I was the herdsman at the foundation dairy and was a member of the judging team. While on the dairy judging team we traveled to various places and visited numerous operations. During college I also had the opportunity to do a summer internship at Carrousel Farms, which was definitely an exciting experience.

The greatest part of being involved in the Registered Holstein industry is the people you meet along the journey. I have met some great people and even made some greater friendships all because of the Holstein cow. Currently I am the President of our local Holstein Club and I was just elected to the State Board of Directors, which I am very excited about.

Holstein World: Describe for our readers the different operations you are involved in – Hilmar Holsteins & Cranehill Genetics. What are your key responsibilities and what are some of the general stats…Number of animals, Acres farmed, Location, Type of facilities, etc.

Ryan Matheron: Hilmar Holsteins is a family run business between my father, Duane, uncle, Dale, brother, Aaron, and myself. The herd consists of 1700 milking cows and a total of about 3600 females. We raise another 80 to 100 breeding bulls, which are sold annually. All cows are housed in a free-stall operation and are milked in a rotary parlor twice a day with no BST. Our current rolling herd average is 25,600 lbs of milk. We farm about 500 acres of all irrigated land including corn, oats, sudan and alfalfa. Hilmar Holsteins is located in Hilmar California, which is about an hour south of Sacramento.

Cranehill Genetics is a partnership between Emanuel Azevedo, Joe Oliveira, and myself. It consists of 30 head total and numerous embryos yet to calve. All three of us have dairy operations so the cattle are housed at each of our locations.

After experiencing another round of technical difficulties early this week, I”m happy to let you know we are back online!

Our guest blogger for this week is Ryan Matheron of Hilmar Holsteins & Cranehill Genetics in Hilmar, CA. To get caught up on our conversation with Ryan, I will be posting two questions and answers today. Remember to check in the rest of the week to learn more about this young dairyman making an impact on the Holstein business.