The 2023 Select Sires Inc. Trusted Advisors Conference took place in All West Territory this month. We were honored to host a full day of dairy tours for nearly 150 Select Sires dairy specialists from across the nation and around the world in California’s Central Valley.
Thank you to our gracious customers who allowed us to visit their farms to see the results of using Select Sires genetics, including Machado Dairy, Wickstrom Jersey Farms. Inc., Gold Medal Ag, and Hilmar Holsteins.
We also want to thank our All West team members who worked diligently to organize this tour, as well as the team members from near and far who took the time to attend. We hope all attendees found this conference to be both educational and enjoyable!
Scroll through these images to see a few of the daughters on display at each dairy.
Herd Visit #1 Machado Dairy
The Machado Family entered the dairy business with eight cows in January 1970. They started using A.I. in the late 1990’s and by 2001 the first freestall barn was built. In 2002 after managing the herd for seven years, a formal partnership was established between Johnny and his mother, Isabel. This partnership has allowed for more growth, including the addition of two more freestall barns, a milk barn and the purchase of a heifer facility. This herd has been using our Select Mating Service (SMS) program for over 20 years and is a NxGEN customer. Johnny is a dedicated Executive Committee Member of All West, as well as an active member of the California Holstein Association and youth dairy shows. In January 2023, he was the recipient of the AJ Quist Young Breeder Award. Johnny is pictured here with All West Dairy Program Specialist, Tony De Mello.
1st lactation 7HO14160 LUSTER-P daughters
Machado Dairy Turlock, CA
“These are only five of at least 30 that we could have chosen from in this herd! All have great feet and legs, udders, teat placement and are balanced cows.” – All West’s Tony De Mello
2nd lactation 250HO14134 RENEGADE daughter
Machado Dairy Turlock, CA
“She is fresh about 90 days and is one of my favorite cows in the herd! She has a beautiful udder and dairyness with great feet and legs.” – All West’s Tony De Mello
Herd Visit #2 Wickstrom Jersey Farms, Inc.
Brent Wickstrom’s grandfather, Duane, started milking cows at a rented facility in 1967, before moving to their current facility in 1973, where he first milked 800 cows. In the late 1990s, the family added freestall barns to their dairy, followed by the addition of a 60-stall rotary milk parlor complete with flow meters to measure daily milk weights and RFID tags, as well as housing for up to 1,900 cows in 2008. When Brent graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2013, he began milking even more cows and built a new special needs barn on the dairy. Wickstrom Jersey Farms has bred 28 sires currently in the Select Sires Jersey lineup including 614JE2103 JX GUETTA {6}-P, 7JE1950 WISEMAN, and 7JE2102 FIRSTCUT. They also utilize our Select Mating Service (SMS) and Optimal Genetic Pathways (OGP) programs. Besides being an important member of the Jerseyland Sires team, Brent earned the California Young Jersey Breeder Award in 2018 and the National Young Jersey Breeder Award in 2019.
7JE1787 CALIBAN daughter
Wickstrom Jersey Farms, Inc. Hilmar, CA
7JE1758 JX THRASHER {6} daughter
Wickstrom Jersey Farms, Inc. Hilmar, CA
“Thrasher is No. 1 in the breed at +198 JPI. He is No. 1 for HHP$ as well at +$974 making healthy, long-lasting daughters. His daughters are sound, commercial cows, as you can see, with a great combination of dairyness and strength.” – All West’s Brian Nelson
Herd Visit #3 Gold Medal Ag
Grant Ahlem’s grandfather started the family’s original farm in 1931, which his father took over in 1984. A 40-stall rotary parlor was installed in 1997. Grant graduated from Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo in 2002 and started Gold Medal Ag in 2021. Today, the herd is milked on two dairies, Gold Medal Ag and Jade. All heifers are raised at Dalhart Jersey Ranch in Dalhart, TX. Grant currently serves as Chairman of the DJR Board and was awarded the American Jersey Cattle Association Young Breeder Award in 2010. Gold Medal Ag uses our Select Mating Service (SMS) program for their heifers and uses beef-on-dairy semen.
7JE5032 VICTORIOUS daughter
Scored EX-91 MAX the morning of our visit!
Gold Medal Ag Hilmar, CA
(left) 7JE1788 JX HEIST {6} daughter
Gold Medal A, Hilmar, CA
(right) 7JE1758 JX THRASHER {6} & 7JE5004 CHROME daughters
Gold Medal Ag, Hilmar, CA
Herd Visit #4 Hilmar Holsteins
In 1950 with 120 cows, Franklin Matheron established Hilmar Holsteins. By the early 1970s, brothers Dale and Dwayne had taken over the management of the business and began increasing the herd size. In the 25 years that followed, the milking herd grew from 120 to 500 to 1,000 cows, which lead to the need of a new milk barn in 2000. Shortly after the barn was built and following their college graduations, both Ryan and Aaron returned home to join the family business. It was at this time that a major facility expansion was done and improvements were made. Hilmar Holsteins utilizes elite genetics from our NxGEN program in their herd and has bred a number of bulls who are now in the Select Sires lineup. As a testament to the Matheron Family’s dedication to purebred Holsteins, they have been the recipients of many awards, including the Doug Maddox Senior Breeder Award for Dale and Dwayne in 2020 and the AJ Quist Young Breeder Award for Ryan in 2016 and Aaron in 2018.
(left) 7HO14804 BARCLAY
Hilmar Holsteins, Hilmar, CA
“Like LUSTER-P, BARCLAY is a bull who continues to add more daughters to his proof and continues to improve. He has been a huge seller in All West Territory and became even more popular with this month’s sire summary. His daughters are very dairy cows and have beautiful udders. He will remain a customer satisfaction bull for some time. This daughter specifically has been one of the stars of the 2023 Trusted Advisors Conference Dairy Tour. You can see the beautiful width of her rear udder and the dairyness of this cow.” – All West’s Tony De Mello
(right) 7HO14320 ALPHABET daughter
Hilmar Holsteins, Hilmar, CA
“He has been a big seller in All West Territory. He is a proven HELIX son out of a YODER. His is at +2,681 Milk, creating high producing daughters with really nice udders. Very rarely do we get a bull who sires that much milk combined with these beautiful udders.” – All West’s Tony De Mello
(left) 2nd lactation 7HO14454 LIONEL
Hilmar Holsteins, Hilmar, CA
“Hilmar Holsteins is one of the herds in All West Territory who had some of LIONEL’s original daughters for his first proof. They have beautiful rear udders and are very dairy, clean cows with a great will to milk. He is a sire who has surprised me with the great udders and great feet and legs he produces.” – All West’s Tony De Mello
(right) 14HO15201 MOONSHINER
Hilmar Holsteins, Hilmar, CA
“We are just starting to see some MOONSHINER daughters calve in All West Territory. This is one of his early daughters and probably my favorite cow on the tour today. He is a bull who tends to add a lot of quality and production. His daughters are silky with great mammary systems. We are looking forward to seeing a lot more of them here as time goes on.” – All West’s Tony De Mello
See the cows and hear our comments in this video!
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