Celebrating 60 Years part 2

Here is a continuation of our 60 year celebration on our facebook page. Make sure to like us and follow along if you haven't already! Also make sure to check out the first of these posts so you don't miss any of our farm's history!

#17 The next purchase that still has a foothold in our herd today came with Peps Acres M Mandy. She was bought in 1965 from the Poepping Bros.

 #18 There have been 108 descendents of Peps Acres M Mandy, 14 generations strong. 25 of these are in the herd today, with only one, the youngest, being an ET. And she is the only ET from our herd found on any of our family trees! Abiqua Acres Aarons Marna-ET is pictured here with her surrogate Mama Shadow. See the cute story of how she got her name!

 #19 This "M" family has been put on the map of the Guernsey world because of Abiqua Acres Goliaths Mari-EX90. Born on 6th of January 1998 Mari produced 174,216M, 8,137F and 6,127P in her lifetime. She had two daughters and still has 3 direct female descendants in the herd, but she might sound familiar because she is the Bull mother of Abiqua Acres Banger Martini (pictured) and Abiqua Acres C Marksman-14GU315. While Martini was not promoted to the active list, we are excited about the impact that Marksman could have. Available through Accelerated Genetics he is starting to have daughters freshen across the country.

#20 Another fun little tidbit about this "M" family. In 2010 we had 4 generations in the milking herd at the same time: Abiqua Acres Hotshot Miracle, her daughter Lorry's Missy, her daughter Maxies Midnight and her daughter Glacier Midori!

#21 The most influential purchase to affect our herd came with one of Alan's first purchases in 1967 from Frances Hertel - a calf named Vanher Banker Snooks. This family has by far been one of the favorites, I am finishing up some of the numbers to show the scope of this families impact. I will bring you more on the "S" family tomorrow!

#22 1968 The first stall shed is constructed and concrete slabs poured.

 

#23 Since 1970, when we first started tattooing, there have been 1,408 heifer calves born at Abiqua Acres. That's an average of 34 per year.

#24 Our largest calving years on record are tied with 44  heifer calves in 1980, 1984 and 1994.

#25 A TV crew for "Oregon at Work" overtook the farm for a day in 1972. From parlor clean up to manure spreading the crew took a lot of footage that day. We are unsure of what became of those efforts, but makes a fun entry in the scrapbook and somewhere there is a day at Abiqua Acres on film!

#26 October 11th 1973: Alan claims Junior Champion of the Youth Show with Jr. Yearling Abiqua Acres Heros Susan, on the colored shavings at the Western National Guernsey Show in Fresno, California.

#27 Remember the "S" family I mentioned earlier? This productive and prolific family is responsible for 135 females in 14 generations with no ET work! Today there are 19 in our herd from this family.

#28 The "S" family also accounts for 18 cows that have surpassed 100,000lbs of milk, the first to reach this milestone is the pictured Abiqua Acres Heros Susan. Total milk for this family: anyone care to take a guess? 5,408,681 lbs of milk over the lifetime of this family, this number includes the cows still in our herd and will continue to grow with this productive family!

     

#29 With the production and longevity behind this family a young sire has been place with Genex: Abiqua Acres Grumpy Sergeant 1GU442. With NM$, DPR and PL off the charts for this bull Sergeant rightfully tops the list of the American Guerns ey Association 's herdlife booster young sires. Sergeant’s pedigree is backed with an impressive 5 generations to reach the 100,000m milestone. And his sister Abiqua Acres Faros Speranza makes the 6th generation with her living lifetime record of 130,781m. Pictured is her bull calf Abiqua Acres Geo Sputnik who we are also hoping to place with a bull stud. Needless to say we are beyond excited about this favorite family now hopefully making an impact across the Guernsey breed!

#30 The Mann's youngest daughter Dena was crowned as the Oregon Guernsey Queen in 1974. She represented the Oregon Guernsey Breeders Association during the 1975 National Convention that was held in Oregon. During this year Dena also served as the Marion County Dairy Princess, representing her local farmers at fairs and festivals.

  

#31 Dena ended 1975 with a bang as she claimed Grand Champion Showmanship at the Oregon State Fair. It was a heated class, but her showmanship cow Abiqua Acres Prince Palma was able to help her to victory.

#32 Raised with a love for dairy farming and the Guernsey cow, Alan Mann was the 1976 recipient of the National Outstanding Guernsey Youth Award from the American Guernsey Association. At the age of 21 he was already fully involved in the family farm and in fact had spent most of high school doing chores before and after school while his parents were away on trips.

#33 May 20, 1977 Additions and remodels to the milking parlor are finished, with double the milking stalls and a new milk tank! Lorna is the first cow to be milked on the new side. This double 3 side opener is the same parlor we still milk in today.