Two Hunters win Ontario Dairy Youth Awards
Melanie Hunter of Bath and Hugh Hunter (not related) of Smiths Falls have been named Ontario Dairy Youth Award winners and will receive an all-expense paid trip to World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin. Initiated in 1980, the award is funded by the Ontario Dairy Youth Trust Fund and the Ontario Holstein Branch and recognizes young people between the ages of 25 and 35 who have taken a leadership role among their peers.
Melanie Hunter and her husband Neil made a gutsy move in 2005, buying her grandparents’ farm at Bath and renovating the old dairy barn to hold 42 milking Jerseys. They put in a milk line, renovated the milk house and barn, and started off with a Jersey cow descendent from Melanie’s grandfather’s herd. Her grandfather had Holsteins but brought in a Jersey to boost the fat test.
In 2006, the adventuresome couple bought the minimum amount of quota, five kilograms, and began shipping milk. Today, they have 30 Jerseys in the milking line. He works for a feed store close by while she is the East-Central 4-H co-ordinator. Melanie anticipates the day when one of them and eventually both will farm full-time.
She says the couple chose Jerseys because "I’m small and feel more comfortable handling Jerseys" and likes the camaraderie among Jersey farmers.
She adds that she has "always had a fascination with farming," as do many more people but "this is not something you do solo."
The other eastern winner, Hugh Hunter, is 6
th generation on Maple-Ain Farms Ltd., which he bought from his parents in 2004. He took what was already one of the finest herds in the country and made it better. The farm had the first cow, Maple-Ain Matador Evelyn, that classified Excellent 10 times in Canada. That meant, she kept her shape and looks into her old age.Of the 70 cows in the current milking line and 30 dry cows, 23 have been classified Excellent. During one 12-month period under Hunter’s watchful eye, the farm produced 12 Excellent cows. Good breeders boast three or four Excellent cows. Some dairymen never see any.
He attributes his success to the establishment of "very strong cow families" along with the way the cows are managed. The cows are turned out to pasture 365 days of the year.
"We treat cows as individuals and pay attention to detail," he said. Since he built his new barn in 2004, he has had superior udder health, while natural ventilation along with tunnel ventilation in the summer has contributed to overall health.
A year ago, DeLaval installed experimental technology, called Delpro, in Hunter’s barn. It has given him the same level of automation in the milking herd as enjoyed by those with robotics or with milking parlours, he said.