WI Holstein Barn Meeting at Our-Favorite
March is Barn Meeting Month in Wisconsin and one of the three 2008 meetings sponsored by the state association was held last Tuesday at Our-Favorite Holsteins in Fall Creek, WI. Todd and Mary Stanek, along with their two sons Cade and Tyler, own and operate the 130 cow herd in west-central Wisconsin. The herd is milked in two separate barns, with 70 being milked at the home farm where the meeting was held.
The Stanek’s built an attactive new office onto the barn (with the rumor being it was completed just in time for the visitors!).
The day’s host, Todd Stanek, welcoming the crowd in the shiny, new office area.
The RHA for the herd is 31,273 3.65% 1140 2.98p 933 and the BAA is 107.5%
The most prominent cow family stems from EDR V I Angie Melvina EX-93 3E GMD DOM. Melvina was a well-known Wisconsin show cow in the early ’90s that the Staneks purchased in a herd dispersal. She became the matriarch of an extensive and popular cow family that has garnered worldwide attention and placed numerous bulls in AI.
Their National Convention Sale consignment hails from this family:
Our-Favorite Envyous-ET, a VG-86 Titanic daughter.
Her VG-88 Outside dam, Our-Favorite Outburst-ET, is still in the herd.
A milky individual that catches your eye happens to be the Champion sister to Jet Stream - Applouis Champion Jemima-ET VG-86 - who looks to surmount the 2000F barrier in this lactation.
Todd has had two back surgeries and can no longer do any actual milking. He credits his family and his three full-time employees with keeping the operation running smoothly. He is focusing attention on doing more merchandising while still building the herd. He would like to get to the point where all embryos are implanted in heifers, instead of using some of the cows in the herd, as then he would have the capability to sell any cow at anytime without concern as to what she is carrying.
In recent years, Todd has made a point of adding females from other notable cow families to the herd, including members of the Elegance, Laurie Sheik, Roxy and Ideal families.