Just home from a fantastic day at the All-Oregon Holstein Show, Jodi and Cathy Coppini took time to show us around the farm, and highlight the other half of the herd… the Brown Swiss.

Coppinis are transplants to Tillamook via California. They have made themselves at home on their 400+ cow dairy, tucked up against the hills along the Tillamook Valley. Don’t confuse this for a typical “commercial” dairy though, everywhere you look are correct cows (black and white, and brown) with beautiful udders and dairy quality. In 2010 Jodi bred 4 All-Americans or Reserve All-Americans.

Jo-Dee Prelude Nancy EX-91. Nancy is a Prelude daughter out of the great Valligrove Jetway Nora 2E-93 who was grand champion at the 2007 Central National Brown Swiss Show. Nancy herself was 2nd Jr. 3-Year-Old and BU at the 2008 Central National Brown Swiss Show.

Terra Rose Rhythm Sadie-ET 2E-93. Sadie is a Rhythm daughter out of Kulp-Gen Starbuck Shania 3E-94. She was the 2nd place 5-year-Old at the 2009 Central National Show, and was Reserve All American that year as well. She has a beautifully uddered Power Surge daughter in the milking string, as well as a Victor daughter.

3 Kaluwa

Jo-Dee Prestige Kaluwa EX-91. Kaluwa is a Prestige daughter out of Cal-Ticino Collection Kari EX-90. Kaluwa was the 2nd place 5-Year-Old at last year’s Central National Show, and was reserve grand in 2009. She is a two-time All-American and two-time Reserve All-American.

Three Starbuck daughters out of Jetway Nora, that will show as fall yearlings in milk

Heifers along the driveway leading to the farm are mostly all Nora babies.

Meet Gonzo. Gonzo is perhaps the biggest… no, scratch that, she IS the biggest bovine I have ever seen in my life. I’d seen pictures of this behemoth before, dwarfing Dodge pickups no less. But I will attest, even with all the photographic evidence, there is no way to fully comprehend the massiveness of Gonzo until you’ve stood at the gate and felt her rumble by. My travel buddy Kristi Tracy was kind (and brave) enough to stand next to Gonzo as a scale model. Now mind you, Kristi is 5′ 5″, and that’s Cathy in the background. Note the relationship of her head to the pins on Ms. Gonzo. Jodi said the last time they taped her, Gonzo was 75″ at the withers, and they’re pretty sure she’s still growing at 6 years old. Gonzo can’t be bred, but like Jodi said, “even if we could get her bred, where would we milk her!?”. For such a massive creature, Gonzo is actually quite friendly and easy to handle. …just don’t get between her and her grain bucket!

That’s a size 10 boot next to that hoof. I’ve seen draft horses with smaller feet than Gonzo’s!

This entry was posted on Wednesday, August 3rd, 2011 at 8:32 am by kknutsen and is filed under Guest Blogger Series, Herd Visit, On the Road. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.