Profit With ABS Tour Showcases ABS Progeny & Programs

ABS Global held its 2012 Large Herd Management Tour earlier this summer in southern Idaho. The tour drew nearly 100 participants world-wide, including individuals from Brazil, Belgium, Czech Republic, Jordan, Portugal, United Kingdom, and the United States. On the tour, participants were able to view progeny as well as outstanding results of ABS programs, including Reproductive Management System® (RMS®), Genetic Management System® (GMS®), ABS Cornerstone® progeny test program, and the ABS udder care product line.

“This tour provided the opportunity for attendees to see ABS programs and services in action,” stated Ian Hildon, ABS regional manager. “With the large scale of the operations visited and their strong commitment to ABS genetics, we were able to view large groups of both Holstein and Jersey sired-progeny at each operation. This is a rare opportunity that allowed those on the tour to see the consistency of the groups on several operations. In addition to seeing progeny from ABS mainline sires, it was exciting to view results from the ABS Genetic Management System, ABS Cornerstone and ABS Reproductive Management Services.”

On the first day of the tour, the group had the opportunity to view successful GMS and udder care results at P&L Doornenbal Dairy of Caldwell, Idaho. They also traveled to Teunissen Dairy of Plymouth, Idaho. This 2,000-cow dairy showed the effectiveness of the ABS RMS® system.

Day two provided tour-goers a visit to Millenkamp Cattle, Inc., an exceptional calf-raising facility in Jerome, Idaho. After that, it was on to Aardema Dairy #2 of Jerome, Idaho, where outstanding daughters of ABS Jersey mainline sires 29JE3508 LYNDON, 29JE3616 STRUNK, 29JE3506 LEGAL, 29JE3510 HEADLINE, 29JE3593 AMOROUS and 29JE3615 JUPITER were available for viewing. The Aardema tour continued through the day, with stops at several additional dairies, the calf ranch and the Double A and Aardema Dairies’ calving facility. While at Double A dairy, attendees were able to view progeny of Holstein mainline sires 29HO13053 MCCORMICK, 29HO10493 BURT, 29HO13083 GARRETT, 29HO10124 BOLIVER, 29HO11614 JEEVES, and 29HO13664 LEVI.

On the final day of the tour, the nearly 100 visitors took in the Black Pine Heifer facility of Malta, Idaho, which is serviced by ABS RMS technicians. Double B Dairy of Murtaugh, Idaho, provided another opportunity to view ABS progeny, including daughters of 29HO13459 GOLDENBOY, 29HO13363 DOBERMAN, 29HO13325 MAGNETISM, 29HO13991 RUBLE, 29HO13723 GAMEDAY, 29HO13447 FAIR and 29HO13796 PONDER. Day three concluded with a visit to Dry Creek of Hansen, Idaho.

Pennsylvania producer Andrew Laffey of Glenville Farms shared his experiences on the tour. “The Profit with ABS Large Herd Management Tour was a great trip to learn about large scale dairies that still place high quality genetics as one of their top priorities. It was helpful to see how each dairy used GMS in different ways to get large strings of daughters with longevity and high components for the type of milk market they supply,” commented Andrew.

ABS Global would like to thank the following dairies for being a part of the 2012 Profit with ABS Large Herd Management Tour: P&L Doornenbal Dairy, Teunissen Dairy, Millenkamp Cattle, Inc., Double A and Aardema Dairies, Black Pine Cattle Company LLC, Double B Dairy LLC and Dry Creek Dairy.