“Heifer Growing is Growing”

     John Arnold retired after 14 years in the construction field and returned home to the farm.  When I looked a bit bewildered at that statement John quickly added, “Work is something you have to do and retirement is doing what you want to do.”  Well, then I understood what this young enthusiastic advocate of agriculture was telling me.  While he is still very much a working man, John is working with passion in the field he loves, that of agriculture, so to him it is like being retired.

     “Here at Arnoldeyre Farm things couldn’t be much more pleasant and peaceful,” John proudly proclaimed as he greeted me the other day.  The sky was without a cloud, the heifers on his heifer raising operation had all been fed and many were just lounging around or lying down, and the family was busily preparing the bunk silo for the bumper crop of corn that was drying down as we stood overlooking the operation.  John has much to be thankful for and proud of.  He now enjoys what was a childhood dream of owning his own farm.  Today his Arnoldeyre Farm consists of 152 acres of which 100 are tillable, very well maintained barns that houses 110 heifers being raised for a large multi-family dairy operation in the county.  How did John get to this point in his life and decide on this type of operation?

     When John’s dad, Wayne, returned from Cornell University he worked on several farms before renting the renowned veterinarian Dr. Stan Garrison’s farm with his wife Janice (White) Arnold in 1963. Wayne and Janice purchased this farm in 1969 along with Dr. Garrison’s dairy herd and moved to what we now call Arnoldeyre Farm.  Wayne particularly liked the farm’s setting because from the house the entire farm is visible. There was also the sidebar benefit of having a farm without many stones.  Wayne had always had to deal with more than his share of stones and this farm’s lack of stones was a welcomed attribute.   Additionally, the farm was located in close proximity to Janice’s parent’s farm, which enabled him to work together with his in-laws on cropping.

     John went on to recall the countless improvements made to the farm over the years of his youth and how his parents, side by side, built the freestall dairy barns, the out buildings, made improvements to the herd and tilled the fields.  All during his younger days he participated on the family’s dairy farm, showed cows at the county fairs, while always with the intentions of someday having the opportunity to dairy farm.

     After graduating from SUNY Cobleskill, John went off the farm to, as he put it, “earn money to purchase the family farm.”  He felt by working hard as a professional carpenter he could earn money faster and therefore return to the farm quicker.  In 1995, John returned home as a farm employee.  His dad and he often considered incorporating and expanding the dairy operation, and installing a milking parlor to support two families.  The research and planning revealed that the farm could only support 70 dairy cows and those plans were foiled by the limitation of water.  “The farm simply doesn’t have an ample water capacity to support a larger dairy expansion,” John explained.  Therefore, the decision was made to alter the operation from dairy to dairy replacements. Furthermore, his parents were eyeing retirement when his dad turned 62.  Well, in 2002 upon his 62^nd birthday Wayne and Janice retired and sold the farm to John.  Well, selling the farm may have occurred, but both Wayne and Janice still remain active on the farm assisting John.  John calls his mother the eyes of the farm for she never misses a thing.  When heifers are loaded or moved it is Janice according to John who can identify anything out of the ordinary in a group of heifers.  That is remarkable and an invaluable benefit as John put it, “nothing gets by her, and we are confident when moving animals that all the bases are covered.”  John lamented on what an enormous treasure he has in having his father around, he is a great source of agriculture knowledge and especially knows this farm.”  John and Christine agreed that his parents afford them vacation coverage, something that is a premium on dairy farms and seems to be also on heifer raising farms too.

     The Arnolds considering their years in heifer boarding most certainly have to be considered a pioneering farm in specializing their operation to raising heifers.  Having had numerous experiences to sharpen their management skills in heifer raising it seems like this operation could share some thoughts worth considering for anyone contemplating the transition. 

     As we strolled around the farmstead, John’s wife Christine and “the apple of his eye” little Grace their 6-month-old daughter joined us, Grace adds a third generation to the farm. John is one of the more assertive advocates for agriculture in Saratoga County having worked on Cornell Cooperative Extension and Farm Bureau boards.  He has been known to proudly introduce his daughter as a member of the 2025 Saratoga County Dairy Princess Court .

     John was fast to say there are three very needed qualities or areas of concern if one is to have a first-class working relation between dairymen and heifer raiser.  He was very vocal stating besides having a written contract to which he preaches, “that way everyone knows the terms and condition,”  you also need to “know your customer,” and the most important point John proclaimed is, “be of like minded management skills.”

He was quick to add that his arrangement has been established for years and has worked out very well.  He is contracted to be an exclusive grower but has customers that honor commitments to keep him supplied with an adequate numbers of animals. “They want me to be profitable,” John, added, “this way I can do a good job and I’ll still be here in business for the future.”  It is clear that both the Arnolds and the customer want a long-term arrangement and clearly have strived to fulfill that mission.

     What separates Arnoldeyre Farm from the average has to be the accomplishments that John has been able to do and maintain over the years of his operation.  He cited that part of his responsibilities is to do heat observations and get the heifers bred. He reported to me that he maintains the exceptional rate of 1.1 to 1.2 breeding per conception.  That is truly remarkable and is a testament to why the customer wants the heifers bred at Arnoldeyre Farm.

     When asked about benchmarks or performance goals, John replied that their contract has them.  He went on to say he has never had a problem meeting any of them, and in fact, his breeding program works so well they have had to change some of the guidelines on the age of first breeding.  It has been a very cordial working relationship and we have had very few times that anything has even had to be renegotiated. They have regular three-year renewal meetings that are scheduled and he felt some growers might need more frequent meetings. In a light hearted moment he mentioned that once while picking up a heifer at a farm to fill his number the owner said, “Take anyone, just give me her ear tag number for the computer records.”  When John told them he had “4909”, they quickly said,  “Oh boy, that one is a pest.”  The heifer number 4909 was one of the operators’ daughter’s 4-H calves and friendly is hardly a strong enough word to describe her.  Well, John says, “She is surely friendly but then again John remembers many of the heifers that come his way, and can call out to them once they return home and proudly affirms they know me.”

     John is very pleased with his lifestyle and said things could have hardly worked out any better.  Raising heifers fit his farm well and his management interest has him thinking a bit out of the box.  He hasn’t ruled out perhaps expanding the heifer capacity some.  Over the years they have expanded the operation from 80 to the present 110 by simple remodeling the barn with an addition for more heifer comfort while increasing capacity.  He showed how a wing was added to make his original 3-row barn into a 4-row barn. If he moves up in capacity again he is debating whether to add-on by placing an adjoining barn to the main barn or relocating to a new area. He mentioned securing additional feed is not a huge consideration. He maintains that purchasing heifer feed is not the problem that dairy producers face, and it is well evidenced by his record that he could manage the extra animals. 

     Part of their thinking out of the box is the inclusion of different types of agriculture other than heifer growing.  They have begun to branch out into fruit trees, have tried Christmas trees, and I’m not sure just what else.  You can bet with his personal drive something dynamic will be happening in the not too distance future.

     Just up the road from Arnoldeyre is John Bolesh, yet another dairy farmer turned professional heifer grower.  In fact, John Bolesh turned his Whippletree Farm into a heifer raising facility in 1990.  Deciding he was at a point in his life where he wanted to spend more time with his wife Gloria and two sons, he sold the dairy during a relatively strong milk price period, which is different than the norm.  In those days John recalled, “it was a new adventure, and many questioned it.”  However, the following year the milk price dropped and he looked almost like he had had a crystal ball.  John said, “Just lucky” no “crystal ball.”  He told me that he misses milking cows every now and then, but generally after a hard day in the field, he gets over it.

     The day I stopped to see John, he was busy chopping haylage and really couldn’t afford me much time.  As we talked, he did bring up the cyclical nature of heifer raising and how it is on a direct parallel with dairy farming.  On the surface that would stand to reason but if you were making a living from heifer growing that has to be a concerning factor.  As John said, “It isn’t a matter of having hard times because of price, it is a matter of not having customers.”  Seems many dairy farmers make the economic decision to grow their own heifers when the economic cash flow is tight. We know that good management tells us one would not want to fill potential milk stalls with youngstock.  That may cut your expense but surely would cut your income even more. The reality was in 2006 things got “so tight” that farmers were not always thinking clearly. 

     John Bolesh in his normal good natured mannerism said, “Things are coming back, and it is a much more enjoyable times now.”  He told me that in his 17 years of operating a heifer raising operation he has never seen it as tough as last year and this all occurred at the same time he was actively looking for another client.  He is currently boarding heifers for a large out of state Jersey Farm, and when it came time for pictures, John might have been camera shy, but those Jerseys were not. 

     His operation consists of several newer independent barns strategically placed around his farmstead.  The operation is nearly at capacity of 180 head of animals on the 250 acres of owned and rented land.  He commented of having some larger stalls that weren’t conducive to his Jersey clientele, but was preparing for a local farm to board some large Holstein heifers for the winter.  Being full capacity is every farmers’ intention and John Bolesh is no exception. He is not unlike John Arnold in that he is trying to diversify his operation with foreword thinking or hedging against the cycles of farmer incomes.  He is operating some dairy beef in one of his barns and he also sells horse hay.

    Growing or boarding dairy replacements is a growing business.  With the future “specializing” occurring on many of the dairy farms, the general need to have additional capacity for milking animals has opened up the heifer raising industry.  Individuals like John Arnold and John Bolesh are just two examples of individuals who have made the transition into using their operations and skills to meet this growing need of growing the next generation of dairy cows to fill the milking herds. 

     In just this past year or so Saratoga County has had several other farmers join the profession of taking on the challenge of growing out the heifer replacements for this county, neighboring counties, and even boarding states.