The first few days...

This time last year, we had 5 full sisters born in a 24 hour period.  We were about to head out to Denver to watch the show and got the idea in our heads that 2015 MIGHT be the year we make our maiden voyage west with a pen of heifers.  In that 360 days or so, the gears turned (and ground) as we began asking questions of people who have braved the experience in the past and started assembling a line of equipment needed to spend 10 days in the yards.  See, being in the yards is VERY different than going to a "regular" show.  There is still washing and blowing and feeding and clipping and washing and blowing and feeding and clipping...you get the picture, but everything else is a little bit different.

What we started with...

For those that don't know, we are outside.  The entire time. Because of this, you must provide some shelter for the 2 legged variety, a place to wash the cattle that can be heated if the weather isn't favorable, stalls for the cattle to be displayed, make a windbreak by covering the pen with heavy tarps or plastic and I could go on but you get the picture.

After traveling all day Thursday, Friday was our first full day here and was spent setting up our pen.  We ordered bedding (because you cannot bring your own) and had it delivered to our pen.  Tack haulers will bring your equipment in from your trailer to your pen to make the unloading process quicker which is great!  We covered the sides with plastic to keep the wind from blowing through.  Takes a LONG TIME.

Pen is starting to take shape!

As the day progressed, things began to take shape and get organized a little more.We got the shavings down and we called it a day!  During this time we were setting up, the heifers and bull were just hanging out in their night pen.  Its kind of like tie outs but we can take their halters off and they can be free which they absolutely love.

In the yards headed back to the night pen.
Look at the ground!
Some of the original bricks and blocks.  

Saturday was spent doing a little more organizing and because the weather was so great, we washed and dried all 7 head.  When you get going, its hard to stop so we ate lunch at 2:30 in the afternoon!  Thankfully our crew is pretty much the best and there were no complaints.  Everyone wanted to get them clean and looking good!  We also had a little bit of traffic in the pen which was nice (and exciting).

When they were washed, we took them back to their night pen, fed and watered them and then helped
some other folks come in and get unloaded.  I think initially we had intended on getting back to the hotel but instead we fired up the trusty propane heater and stood in our pen with some friends; new and old, talking and laughing and sharing stories.  Good times.

I have to pinch myself sometimes.  We are here.  Just when I think it can't get any more real, our pen looks better. Our cattle look better.  Our Facebook page gets more likes. :) And then I see this....

...and I smiled.  In a few days, we will be standing in front of that infamous blue backdrop for the very first time.  And I cannot wait!

Dream Big

Anxious. Excited. Nervous. Thrilled. It's a pretty steady flow of these emotions...and then some!
 

In January of 2015, we are loading up the truck and heading west to Denver where we will be first time exhibitors at the National Western Stock Show. I will be the first to admit, I'm scared as hell. Scared of the travel with the cattle. Scared to show up and not have everything we need. Worried about not being ready. Scared people will not appreciate our cattle.  Worried this will be the year of record snowfall.. Basically you name it, I'm scared/worrying about it!  See, the reason why we are on this adventure at all is, well, my fault.  Let me explain why...
 

This all started from a childhood dream...Like 4 generations of my family before me, I grew up raising Hereford cattle and although it wasn't always easy, they have been VERY close to my heart since I can remember. Even when owning or showing Herefords wasn't the most popular thing in the barn. Isn't that a great example of true love and commitment?!  I had dreamed of "Living the Hereford Life" with a family that loved them too. As you fast forward through my 4-H days to adulthood, I was blessed with dreams fulfilled; a supportive family who loved Herefords too, a career in the industry I love and a husband and his family who also (with a little time) fell for my first love too-my Herefords.  
 

I believe then it was the Summer of 2012 is when the news broke that Star Lake was about to make a full dispersal. I was excited and saddened at the same time. I had always admired the cattle and identity Star Lake made in agriculture but I had yet to make it to see in person, this icon, at least in my eyes, and I knew the opportunity to do so was limited to just a few months with this news. My first call was to my father in law. He had a list in his office of farms/ranches he wanted to visit and Star Lake was on it. Phone call was made and it went something like, "Ben, Star Lake is dispersing."  "Really?" He said. "We better go!"  
 

Tod and Gail really weren't hard sells either and plans were made to attend the sale. We ended up with what Monte Soules said on the block was, "a good buy". A breed icon. Star Spiridge Kessey 321L ET and as I like to refer to her as, the mother of champions!  She may be a shoe-in for an AARP card in cow years now but she still has "it"...she has a January 2014 daughter that recently won the open Hereford show at the Wisconsin State Fair. This. Girl. Is. Timeless. 
 

Her first calves for us made sleepless nights in bitter cold January and February but they are the reason, (or maybe the credit is Kessey's), why we are headed for the yards of the National Western with two pens of 3 heifers. All from Kessey. Each pen is comprised of full siblings from two matings with the hopes of making the most uniform groups and putting Next Generation Genetics' best foot/hoof forward! We will also be offering the pick of our pens on the prestigious Mile High Night Sale.  I have nothing to worry about, right? 

We hope you will join us on this adventure!  Only 2 months and 23 day left.... :)

Here's Your Sign

I have anticipated today for quite some time. Besides being Friday, and who doesn't enjoy the end of the work week, today is the day our farm sign got a face lift.



Micheleen and Tod
Farm sign from the early 1980s hand painted by a summer intern. 

There really have only been a few signs over the years as Ben and Gail can recall. I've shown the original in a previous post here that talks about the Brancel Brothers operations in the early to mid 1900s. After that, there was likely an old Wisconsin Dairies sign that no one today can agree on the exact location of where it was hung or what it said. Then in the early 1980s, a hand painted plywood sign and the size was increased then at that time to 4x8 reading Brancel Farms Registered Holsteins Endeavor, Wisconsin.

The most recent look has been there for several years (from the late 1980s to this morning) and holds a lot of history. Its color scheme is familiar to anyone who has followed local or state politics as Ben's assembly campaign signs had the same color block pattern; red on the top, white on the bottom.

 

Ben's Old Campaign Sign

You can find the remnants of those campaign signs and that infamous pattern in various other spots around the farm, too. Usually in a place where part or all of a 4x8 sheet of plywood was need! Back in the day, all those signs were hand painted on wood and we are still getting mileage out of them! An easily recognizable pattern, the farm sign was created with the same look and usually, if you have been by the farm, you remember seeing the sign. I admit that I lovingly joke about it being the size of a small billboard.  With traffic moving at the rate of speed it does in front of the farm, it most certainly needs to make an impact for someone to remember; not unlike a campaign sign, right?!

Nee-Val Princess-Inspiration for the cow on the sign.

Originally adorned with a Holstein cow (modeled after the grand dam of Tod's Junior All-American) which served the farm and the sign well for years, the black and white beauties had all left the farm in the late 1990s. Even as the Angus cows moved in, this sign remained. Sometime just prior to our wedding, Ben's parents felt it needed to be updated and the Holstein on the sign was replaced with this little lady.

She is a little "beefier" than her predecessor and much closer to an accurate portrayal of what we do here. But, if there is one thing you can count on, it's change, right?! The Angus cow was fitting for 6 months or less and Tod and I were married and the red and white loves of my life once again made the sign out of date. We have spent the last 8 years "false advertising" with the sign. Okay, maybe not false. More like not telling the whole story. In that time, we have added more Herefords, changed ownership in the farm and have tried to streamline the name that we market with. Might I also add that although milking operations ceased in the 1990s and the farm sign has changed, it hasn't kept the Holsteins off the farm. Throughout the course of a year you can usually find a pen of embryo calves just weaned, several old donor cows or a sassy (spoiled) show heifer.

So why the history lesson? When Tod and I (and Ben & Gail) began discussing the change of the sign, Tod has not wanted ANY animals on the sign. I, however, was less in favor of this. “How will anyone know what is going on here without some pictures,” I thought.  Tod stood his ground. “Let them wonder,” he told me. "We could be international exporters of chickens some day! How would that sign reflect us then?" Point taken although we are NOT in the chicken business.  Yet.  Animals on the sign now could make us end up with a farm sign that has as many stickers on it as the corner of your license plate to reflect our changing/growing business!

So, here it is!  It was like opening a really great gift on Christmas morning when I got home from work this evening!  And then I saw the old sign.  Waiting for its new home.  Somewhere.  And it was a little sad.  Let’s be clear; the change of the sign is not the end of an era but just the beginning of a new one. We will keep the old signs and hang them somewhere although likely will not be used in the same way those sheets of plywood have been!

For us, the new sign symbolizes our family partnership. It symbolizes the goals and dreams we have for ourselves, our children and our cattle. And most of all, I hope that not only for us but for Ben and Gail, it is something they can be proud of. We (and this farm sign) have a great FAMILY tradition to uphold.

Goin' Showin'

On the eve of our district Holstein show I can't help but get all excited for a whole bunch of reasons.

First, I love to see how Blake is growing in this little project. She picked up this year right where she left off after last year's show. Time and schedules maybe haven't allowed for as much "practice time" as we did last year but she is doing well and a lot of support from some good friends (big shout out to Walk-Era; especially Marci, Alli and Brett who generously gave of their time to teach), who are offering her a calf to show have, in large part, made our dreams as parents, become a reality once a year. Well, at least one of our dreams for our kids. 

I'm taking pictures tomorrow! Last year I took pictures for our friends at Walk-Era and I was so humbled by their acceptance of the photos. If there is one thing I'm not, it's a professional photographer.  That and a swim suit model. Not either one.  I do enjoy it immensely though. The photography part. NOT trying on swim suits!
I particularly enjoy photography when I have a few images in the hundreds that are shot that make me LOOK like I know what I'm doing!  I had someone else ask if I would snap some for them too and I'm excited to be wanted!  Tomorrow, my photographer sister-in-law is coming and taking pics with me!  Very excited to work with her and learn from her. Danielle, can I say you are my "second shooter"?!  ;)  I can't wait to share the pics with you all in the coming days.  Check out our Next Generation Genetics Facebook page for the link. Like us while you are there!  **shameless plug**  

Last but not least, I'm very excited for the opportunity to see some great friends and great cattle!  These people have been very kind to me (especially since my roots don't go back to Holsteins).  There is a great junior program going in our district and I'm thrilled that our children will have the opportunity take part in this experience as they grow in agriculture. 

The only thing missing tomorrow will be Tod. Work is VERY busy right now for him and sometimes I admit, I feel like we are all missing out. On the other hand, I was reminded, in several ways over the last week, to be thankful. Thankful for life, work, our health...EVERYTHING we have and to practice what we are preaching at home about having an "Attitude of Gratitude".  We are truly blessed with great family, friends and this wonderful industry we call home. So many reasons to be thankful as we are goin' showin'! 

Lets catch up...

So all I ask is that the world stop turning for just a minute so I can jump off...anyone else feel this way?

The winter drug on and on and on and now all of a sudden the leaves are coming on the trees and the grass is FINALLY starting to grow.  We have the manure hauled (well most of it), pastures fertilized and we are shoulder deep in getting cows bred.
Our W2 jobs keep us all plenty busy but add a couple kids, too many cows, a chronic short in the fence and a woods clearing project gone wrong to the mix and you're looking at an exponential increase in the stress level.  And oh yeah, we're hosting a stop on the summer Hereford tour so that has added a few extra projects to the to-do list. My dad has an expression for this over abundance of work but it wouldn't be appropriate. Not here. Not now. 

Fortunately, we were presented with the opportunity to have an intern this summer and the timing couldn't be more perfect. Intern sounds so formal but it is just a little nicer way to say summer help.  Plus, when you have gotten a little ahead of yourself on commitments, it's good to call in reinforcements. 
We'll no sense in getting too chatty . . . there is work to be done after all.  I figure if I can get one little project done every day, I'll be doing pretty good.  Tonight, I got flowers planted and the kids fed.  Some days, you can't expect much more than that! 
Head over and take a look at our Facebook page for some pictures from the winter and early spring.  We appreciate you stopping by and we hope you'll join us later in the summer on the tour.  In so many ways, the excitement is just beginning!

Up and Up...

 

Whether you have livestock or pets or even a single, solitary relationship with a human being, you already know that life is full of ups and downs.

So the last month or so has been a little rough in and around the calving barn. Nine months of anticipation and planning and dreaming about what some of these calves or pairs may be and when it ends just this side of epic failure on a few occasions, even I can get a little down.  (Like call-the-trucker-I-can’t-take-another-disappointing-moment ‘down’!)

 Disclaimer: Having an on-staff veterinarian does NOT make you exempt from the "downs" either.

Really???

February is a bummer of a month if you ask me. Yep, I blame it on February. It is in the middle of winter, often the coldest, most miserable and there hasn't been a decent day yet that gives me hope that spring is actually coming. Well, besides that unreliable groundhog...who believes an animal in a top hat when it comes to the weather anyway?! Okay, okay, it is probably our latitude in reality...just another Wisconsin winter at 44° North.

I do believe though that the energy you put out into the world is what comes back to you...and my whining and complaining about February or our GPS coordinates or Punxatawny Phil isn't going to make time go faster or make the ice melt. The beginning of this week was rough and I thought how in the world are we going to overcome this?? A wise man told me though, in amongst all my carrying on this week, to "keep our arrow pointed in the right direction".   Pretty sound advice and it arrived with perfect timing...two live heifer calves and a third born late last night that we all watched arrive on the cameras!  Happy Birthday little girls!  We have been pretty heavy on the bull calves so far.  I might have had a little help from an angel this week too but however it happened or whoever is responsible...many thanks from your friends at Next Gen for ending the week on the up and up.

For life...

I am a believer that there is someone that you are meant to be with as a partner in life - for life. For years, most of them as an immature teenager and young adult, I had a variety of emotions over this concept. After spending a few years dating on and off and not feeling that anyone I had met yet made that connection with me, I tried to focus more on my new career than men. Occasionally trying to date someone only to be disappointed in, mostly, me for wanting something that I wasn't even sure existed.

Having grown up in the country, on a farm and with a deep love and appreciation for agriculture and especially for my cattle, I had become convinced that to find this proverbial "love of my life", I would somehow need to change my expectations for life in the country. Either I would find someone willing to live a rural lifestyle but would either have to live without my bovines or do the work myself. The other, less desirable alternative would be to simply not live in the country in exchange for what I had hoped would be a caring husband with a good work ethic who I could occasionally drag to my parent's farm or to be spectators at a show now and then.

For once in my life, I quit trying to control my love life and as luck would have it, I was blessed with the opportunity to meet and fall in love with my partner in life - for life. The story is long, but sweet and it never gets old retelling but I'll spare the readers the details. For now anyway . . .

I have been married to my soul mate for 7 years. I never had to give up my country lifestyle or my cows. Or be someone I wasn't comfortable being. He has embraced who I am and what we have together with open arms each and every day. He is positive and kind and likable. Works harder than anyone I know. Never has said an unkind word to me or raised his voice or hand. Is always understanding. He is the kind of father to our two beautiful children that leads by example and they have inherited many of his admirable traits. We have shared great success and unbearable sadness. Laughed and cried. Traveled many miles. Chased cows. Chased calves. Chased pigs on horseback once. Chased kids. Chased mice even and we continue to chase our dreams. OUR dreams. Not mine or his but ours. It isn't always perfect but it is usually pretty darn tolerable and I wouldn't have it any other way.

Happy Valentines Day - I Love You - for life.

My history . . .

To say that my love for cattle is in my blood could be an understatement. I was born into a family with a long history in the cattle business. It dates back to at least my great great grandfather Ambrose Merry, who in the early 1900s, is credited with bringing the first Polled Herefords to Wisconsin. The breed was very new and we can get into the reasons why some other time when you need some good reading material before bed and you want to learn about dominant recessives and things like that . . .
Ambrose and his son, William or Bill as he went by, were partners in the cattle business for many years and caught the registered "bug" early on.   Sixty years ago, in February of 1953 at the Park Hotel in good old, Richland Center, Wisconsin, William became a charter member and the first president of the Wisconsin Polled Hereford Association. 
Bill and his wife, Ruby had 6 children who were all involved in the breed and showed extensively. Their oldest child, Durward, my grandfather, inherited the love for the registered business quickly as did his brother, Gordon who is still raising Hereford to this day.  Durward, Gordon and their growing families made many trips in a Buick car or an International pick-up to buy bulls in the west.  Mode of transportation for their purchases was often in the box of that International pick-up with the side racks on.  Just imagine what that felt like to have a 1200 lb (or heavier) yearling bull in the back of your truck?!  My dad tells a story that I love to hear about a bull (an Ox bull for you Hereford pedigree buffs) they bought who would stand up as the truck slowed for every little town they came to along their journey.  As if to get up and say, "are we there yet?!"  And as the truck would accelerate, they could feel him turn a time or two, like a dog does when they lay down, and with a thud; he would lie down and ride quietly until they decelerated again.  

Me . . . about the same age my son is now.

My dad, Richard, and my Auntie Rube shared many memories of trips to sales, state fair and several other shows with their prize winning Herefords.  Local fairs were with their cousins who lived close and were also showing Herefords and the state shows were with Gordon's children, as they made their home in Sun Prairie.  Although my dad's recollection of his childhood of showing cattle involved more work than, "Sissy's"(Auntie Rube), I know he enjoyed it or he wouldn't have signed me up for the project or so willingly gave me the bug to show either.
Growing up, most every memory I have as a family, with the exception of Christmas mornings, involves the farm.  My grandpa, Durward, was killed in a farming accident 30 years ago but my grandma, Alvina, loved those Herefords too and kept right on farming.  With help from my dad and Auntie Rube taking care of the book work, my Gram cared for orphaned calves and baby lambs, fed the bulls, chased cows, hatched chicks, cut thistles, watched my brother and I AND cared for her disabled daughter (another of my dad's sisters) until my Gram was in her 70s!  She is STILL, at 96 years young, sharp as a tack and lives on the farm.  Alone.  With daily visits from Dad.  And she will stay there, she tells us, until she is called home.  I wouldn't argue that point with her.  You won't win.  :)
As a kid, we just showed what we had.  We didn't spend any money on show calves because we didn't have it to spend.  I think I was 13 before I showed steers at the county fair because I couldn’t bare the thought of not taking them home from the show.  My daddy's solution was for me to take TWO steers to the fair then . . . I'd have one to bring home then.  I had breeding stock that I took too and for being a pretty  much bull bred herd, we did okay.   Never had a grand champion heifer or a grand champion steer at the county fair and I think the only time I was reserve was at the carcass contest!  I don't remember what my dad said but he made me feel like winning that trophy with my steer's carcass was so much better than winning on the hoof! 
I did do alright in showmanship as my dad always told me in the end, this was what mattered.  Sure it was about the calf and how well they were presented but it was a lot about you.  How you prepared for the show; both yourself and your animal and how you presented yourself.  It was the one thing I had control of and it didn't matter if I was showing the grand champion or if the calf I was showing DFL'd its class.  
In retrospect, I don't know what it was exactly that made the winning or loosing not really matter . . . was it all that "bonding" we had as a family while we were pitching the manure out of the show barn by hand or the unconditional love I had (and still have) for my cattle and the show ring or my dad's talks that I'll always remember in the truck every night on the way home from the county fair or if there is something more than that.  I hope I can find a way to teach my kids the value of all this history and preparation and patience.  They are gifts that are generations in the making…

Half of the story .... Part One

This is my first crack at doing a blog, so we will see how it goes. -Ben

Vaughn Brancel

Brancel Farms, now the home of Next Generation Genetics, has been in existence since 1865. Tod and Sondra, the current owners, are the 6th generation of Brancels to farm the land near Endeavor, WI. The farm started out with a little of everything as far as livestock, but eventually became a dairy farm with some pigs. The hogs were referred to as the mortgage burners. My uncle, Fred Brancel, brought some of the first registered Holsteins onto the farm after graduating college. He left for the mission field in the late 40’s as an agricultural missionary. Shortly there after, my father, Vaughn returned from Farm and Industry Short Course at the UW Madison to join my Uncle Earl on the farm. They farmed together until 1965 when my uncle decided to leave the farm. He joined what was then a new Co-op called Wisconsin Dairies.

My father and mother farmed alone until 1972 when I came home from college and farmed with them in a working relationship. In 1975, my father and mother left the farm and my wife, Gail and I took over Brancel Farms. I was involved in 4-H growing up and showed dairy cattle at the local and state fair. My father had maintained the registration papers on the offspring of those original animals my uncle had purchased and added one every once in awhile. Thus my interest in high quality dairy cattle was instilled in me at an early age. I enjoyed the show ring and the people you meet while competing. My family had one of the top producing herds in our county for many years starting with my grandfather.

When Gail and I were farming on our own, we developed a friendship with Wally and Arlene Lindskoog of Arlinda Farms in California. Wally instilled in me the wisdom to have balanced cows that had strength/dairy plus body/udder and a structural conformation that produced lots of milk over a number of lactations. We ended up with a rolling herd average just short of 24,000# in the 1980’s. Eventually we went back to showing some at district and state black and white shows and even World Dairy Expo. We had the good fortune to have Grand Champion once in a while, which was pretty good considering we were not breeding for the show ring.

Tod, Gail and Ben

By the time Tod was five or six, he was taking an interest in showing our registered Holsteins and did well on the local level. As he grew older, along his friend Tommy Lyon from Westfield, his desire to compete at a higher level was building. One day he asked if he could breed some cows for the purpose of showing.  I said he could have one cow. He bred that cow the way he wanted and she calved with a beautiful heifer calf that grew like gang busters. Then one morning, there she lay dead at three months of age. He bred that cow back the same way and again a great heifer but this time it lived and he showed her several times, either winning or standing near the top each time. Now this cow he bred to the bull of his choice and her daughter he showed at the State Black and White Show, World Dairy Expo, at the NAILE in Louisville, and Harrisburg and she was selected as the All American Junior Two Year Old. Now that’s a feat, I, his father could never have reached. So now you have the brief version of the early start of one half of the Tod and Sondra of Next Generation Genetics. Next blog, I will share more as I remember it...

I wish I knew more ....in HD.

I married a man whose first love was a Holstein cow. Mine was not. I love them now but I admittedly made fun of the dairy kids growing up. And when I say "made fun" I mean they knew it and they jabbed right back with comments like, why was I walking so fast and why was I carrying a stick! They walked backwards. And walked slowly. And what was up with the white pants? To this day I have yet to wear white ANYTHING and not have it tarnished let alone wear white when dealing with the bovine "elements".

I will also admit though I found them beautiful creatures before I loved my husband too. I may have even had a little jealousy for their majesty; especially the big girls. Jealous because they could clip most of their hair off and not have to spend hours training it to go a particular way. Jealous because they seemed to never display a three-ring circus when they were shown (we have all seen a class or two like this at a county fair beef show).

When we started dating, it was pretty obvious, although his family didn't milk cows any longer, these girls and the friends he made along the way were still a big part of his life. And still are today (he works with some of the best cows in the business on a daily basis). Some of our best friends are dairy families and my jealousy has been replaced over the years by admiration; for the cows and their owners. Admiring them for their 24/7 commitment. Their persistent desire to make the next generation better than the last. For their obvious love of these bovine beauties and not because they have to but because they want to. And those cows. . . aahh. I have said many times, I love my (beef) cows but there are few things in agriculture more beautiful to me than a Holstein cow.

We still have a few donors that come and go at home.  We have been known to have a heifer or several hanging around and we have even calved a few in. Throughout these years, I have truly grown to love them. For all those reasons I admire them (and their owners), but also because Tod does too.

In 2012, our daughter showed for the first time in the 10 and under class at the district Holstein show and it was one of the most wonderful experiences of my life. To see her work at something that brought such joy to Tod's life was ... Wonderful! 

So the emotional end of things I clearly have down . . . what I wish I knew more about though was evaluating them. Separating the cream from the crop; pun intended. I mean, I can tell you a good one from a bad one.  What (or who) I'm not as good as is Tod. Seriously, the guy as got an eye and knows what he is looking for. 

We have some friendly competitions from time to time and the current competition is the Hoards Dairyman (HD) judging contest. He was reluctant at first; probably having mercy on me.  It would be like me playing Scrabble with my 4 year old, I imagine!  He did finally agree though and we are writing down our placings on a post-it note taped to the inside of a cupboard door as the issues of the publication arrive in the mail.  Here is a link to last year's contest if you want to check it out.

So wish me luck...I will probably need it.  I don't think we are ever too old to learn so I'm going to try and add some knowledge to however little dairy judging skill I have. Some is more than none, right!?