2024 Type Classification Tours
If you own a registered Brown Swiss animal, including RF, ID and IDR females, you are eligible for membership within the National Brown Swiss Association.
There are cows that leave a lasting legacy, cows that have a firm foundation of legacy and cows that combine both. These cows continue to quietly transmit their traits to suddenly pop-up generations later to remind us that those strong gene pools are still in existence. One of those legacies was front and center this year at World Dairy Expo as Gentle Breeze Mat Christine *TW’s sixth great-granddaughter and seventh great-granddaughter took top honors in the 2023 International Brown Swiss Show.
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BY: MELISSA HART When the National Brown Swiss Convention tour buses roll in the driveway at Northkill Creek Farm at Bernville, PA, they will be on the soil of a farm first homesteaded in 1888 by the Balthaser family — where the sixth generation now works day in and day out. Randy and Traci Balthaser and their daughter, Hannah, do the lion’s share of the work on the dairy with help from their son, Mark, Randy’s retired father, Wilson, and two employees. The 85-head herd of Brown Swiss, Holsteins, and crossbreds is where the Supreme Champion Best Bred & Owned at the All-American Dairy Show in 2024 was developed. Northkill Creek Groovy 3EX95, shown by Hannah, is a descendant of Randy’s initial 4-H project from the 1980s. “Groovy originated from the first Brown Swiss cow I ever started with,” he said. The foundation cow was purchased from Windmill Farm, owned by the Daubert family, who will also be hosting a tour for the convention.
