Meet the Herd: Sandie!

Sandie! So much I could say about my beautiful girl! Sandie is one of my Brown Swiss that reside here on the farm and likely the one that I am most proud of for a number of reasons! When I purchased Sandie in the Fall of 2019, she would snort, stomp, and try to run away any time that you would try to touch her. Today, through lots of long hours of work and trust, Sandie is now calm enough that we can walk right up to her and give her a good scratch without a second thought. She even seeks attention most days as well!

With that said, Sandie is undisputedly one of the boss’s here at farm. She is quick to put the new 1st calf heifers in their place at the feed bunk, and if you offer anyone a handful of hay, you best watch out because Sandie will push anyone out of the way to get it first! In the mornings she is always in the first group of cows through the parlor and typically is the first cow you will find on the South side. I think that her and Olive race to get in the parlor first in the morning! At night, she is typically a little later in the milking groups in, but still always on the South side.

Sandie has some really great genetics behind her! She classified 85 as a 2 year old and should easily gain 2-3 points this June when we classify again. Given her age, the max score that she could get would be an 89.

Classification is how we measure how close an animal comes to the ideal. Final scores can range from 60 points to 95 points.  Classification information has two primary purposes- breeding and marketing.

As a breeding tool, we can look at the linear scores to see where the cow needs improvement and select matings accordingly. As a marketing tool, the breakdowns and final score appear on pedigrees and in advertising.  The final score is used the most to promote the animal and her offspring.

Sandie has had two calves so far in her lifetime. Shimmer is one of her calves and lives here on the farm- she will calve next spring and I hope she follows in her mothers footsteps. She has had some great success in the show ring thus far and we are hoping for continued success this season as well. Stetson, her second calf, was born this past March. He was sold to a young lady in Southern PA to be a show bull!