Holstein Canada Honours Three Oxford Dairy Farms

Friday, 31 January 2020 07:42

Three dairy farms from Oxford County were recently awarded with the Master Breeder certification. Darcroft Farms, Larenwood Farms and Wilmarlea Farm all received recognition.

OXFORD COUNTY - Embro's Darcroft Farms is one of three dairy farms from Oxford County honoured with the Master Breeder certification.

Holstein Canada announced them as a recipient earlier this month.

Herd Manager Kyle MacLeod says it's a great feeling to be among the winners.

"A Master Breeder award is basically like a 15 year snapshot of your herd. So all of the upper calves that you register in that 15-year period are eligible for a certain amount of points they can earn you."

The dairy farms are from across Canada and chosen based on a certain criteria, including milk production. The winners are from five provinces including eight from Quebec and four from Ontario.

He adds the calves also earn points on classification.

The other local farms who won were Larenwood Farms in Drumbo and Wilmarlea Farm out of Embro.

MacLeod says after receiving the certification for a third time, they'll focus on winning it for a fourth time.

"We've just got to keep doing a better job of what we've been doing, continue to produce a quality product, do a great job managing it and our animals to allow them to produce a high level of quality milk and live a long and healthy life as well."

He says you're only eligible to win the shield every 16 years.

Larenwood Farms and Wilmarlea Farm picked up their certifications for the first time.

Of the winners who were announced on January 7th, 11 of them are first-time recipients.

Since the Master Breeder program began in 1929, it's become the most coveted award from Holstein Canada. 1,088 Master Breeder shields have been handed out since 1930.

You can view the full list of winners here.

They'll be honoured at the National Holstein Convention Master Breeder Gala in Saskatchewan this April. It'll be held in Regina on April 18th.