Born respectively in 1940 and 1942, Delmar and Larry were the third and fourth of five children. They were at least 5th generation dairy farmers and 5th generation Free Masons.  Their father, Lyman, worked the day at construction jobs, but before and after, he would milk his new herd of cows. Origins of the original herd are sparse but a Life History record and some Holstein registrations go back to 1933. At that time, the early prefix was Forage Acres/Forage-Acres.

Delmar and Larry both belonged to FFA. As a senior in high School, Larry was a member of the Pennsylvania Dairy Cattle Judging team and earned a trip to the National Dairy Congress at Waterloo, Iowa where he won a gold medal for his judging.

Delmar served on local community boards and was president of the Juniata County Holstein Association and served on the Juniata County Fair Board. Both brothers tested milk for DHIA at different times.

Unfortunately, their father found out in February of 1960 that he had bone cancer.  From that time on, he only left the house to attend the younger brother’s high school graduation and in less than four months from the diagnosis, he lost his life. 

Delmar and Larry took over the farm, respectively at ages 20 and 18. Their older Brother, Darwin, was still in veterinary school and the agreement was made that they would work to fund the rest of his education (2 years) and then never have to pay a veterinary bill again. Darwin, also known as Doc, graduated at the top of his class from the University of Pennsylvania and was offered an opportunity to stay on and teach at UPenn since his class was one of the first to be practiced in field surgery. 

However, Mother Sarah told him to come home where for more than 40 years he would practice in several counties, being the only vet at the time he started with surgical skills. Darwin — like Delmar and Larry — was also a lifelong bachelor and early on, was a silent investor in the herd by purchasing cattle with money he made in his veterinary practice. Doing so helped to expand the genetic base of the herd that their father Lyman had started.

Most of their purchased cattle were acquired during the 1960s. A notable one was Mayers Mistress Sensation Ann (EX-94), the 1963 Reserve All-American Aged cow.  She was the top seller for $8000 at the Mayers Farm Dispersal in Slinger, Wis. She sold as a choice with Marsden Black Princess (EX-95), the first cow of the breed to score 30 out of 30 points in the mammary system.

When asked years later about their choice purchase, the brothers said they bought the 94-point cow instead of the 95-pointer because she was not bred at sale time. That same day, they also purchased Mayers Mistress Dark Anna (EX-92).  She had two records over 1000 and was the dam of three Excellent daughters before arriving at Forage Acres. 

Several cattle were also purchased from Harden Farms in Camden, N.Y. Over the years, cattle were also purchased out of Ohio and Maryland. 

In 1967, a new 56-cow tie stall barn replaced the old 30-cow stanchion barn.  Lyman was very progressive and that old bank barn had the first gutter cleaner in the county and one of the first pipeline milking systems, which of course was glass at the time. The new barn was constructed to house the expanding herd. The brothers would build that themselves along with the help of family, friends, and neighbors. 

The Zimmermans always had longevity in the herd and that necessitated two reduction sales that were held on the farm in 1971 and 1994.

In 1972, sale proceeds from the year before paid for an extension of the barn including five box stalls. They were able to conveniently milk 77 cows. Oddly enough, the brothers were criticized for making the stalls too big and some people joked that the cows were going to get lost in the stalls. But at the 1994 sale, with 13 Excellent cows standing in the barn, they hardly had enough room where the stood. This always made the older brother snicker.   

The Zimmermans’ original prefix was changed to Walnut-Hills on September 20, 1979. Delmar had waited for Walnut-Hills to become available from a farm in Virginia. He liked it because it was the name of a 9-hole golf course that was partially on the farm in the 1920’s. At one point, you could still find golf balls in a pasture.

Some of the cattle and herd bulls purchased during the 1960’s came from the Behrman Family of Lodestar Farms in Newton, New Jersey.  The Behrmans were known for their Dunloggin bloodlines. At the 1994 sale, the Behrman Sisters came to walk through the barn because of all the Dunloggin blood in the herd. At that time, several Excellent cows traced back to a Lodestar cow and they came to see the results. Delmar and Larry considered the visit quite an honor. 

When Larry was asked where they bought the Dunloggin genetics, he would smile and say “anywhere we could”. 

Their fine breeding did not go unnoticed, and they were accomplished enough that Horace Backus made a few references about the Zimmermans’ breeding program in his book, Seedstock. 

When describing the influence of Elevation and his sons, Horace wrote: ‘Ocean-View Sexation also sired both members of a great Reserve All-American Produce of Dam, bred by the Pennsylvania brothers Delmar and Larry Zimmerman and shown by them with their niece Diane.’ What an honor to have Horace mention and describe your cattle as “great” in his book.  There were four generations of VG or EX dams behind these homebred full sisters scored, EX-92 and EX-94.  They earned the Reserve All-American honor in 1989. One of them, Walnut-Hills Sexy Maren (EX 94-4E) was also a Dam of Merit and the 1989 Junior Al-Pennsylvania Aged Cow.

The 1990’s were spent putting the prefix on the map through showing cows with their niece Diane and nephew David Glock; just kids, on the halter.

The brothers’ highest scored cow — one to be found in Holstein history books — is Walnut-Hills Logic Cathy.  She was owned with Paul Neer and scored EX-95, (EX-96MS).  She was linebred from Triple Threat and traced back to a Forage-Acres cow born in 1975. Cathy was supreme champion at the 1995 Pennsylvania Farm Show, best bred and owned of the 1995 NAILE (Louisville), and grand champion at the 1996 Pennsylvania Spring Show for the brothers and good friend, Paul Neer.

Another prominent cow family was headlined by Walnut-Hills Triple Marcella (EX, DOM). This family produced: Walnut-Hills Sexy Marty (EX-94), a daughter of Marcella and Mu-Ke Linjet Megan EX-94. Megan’s dam was Walnut-Hills Strato Mid-Red (VG-8), purchased by neighbor Ronnie Mummah at the 1994 sale. When she was a heifer, Megan was purchased by the brothers, freshened out and developed to become intermediate champion at the 1999 Eastern Fall National. She was also line-bred from Triple Threat, tracing back, through Forage Acres Miss Marge-Twin, who descended from a heifer purchased from Lodestar Farm in the mid 1960’s.

Walnut-Hills Out Metta (EX-91), a daughter of Megan, was the 4th dam of the Zimmerman Brothers’ great nephew Mason’s first and current show calf, Marshmallow. This spans 12 generations of cow family and four generations of their human family. Notably, Mason’s other show calf traces back to Bridgette the EX-91 Astrojet linebred with an Astronaut granddam on the maternal side.

Sadly, tragedy struck on June 2, 2009.  Around 12:30 in the afternoon. The 265-foot-long tie-stall barn caught on fire from a spark coming out of the power box. It only took 45 minutes to engulf the entire barn. Thirteen fire companies responded, but it was already too far gone. 

Thanks to our Lord above, it didn’t rain as hard as it was supposed to that day.  You see, the Walnut-Hills girls never went out in the rain. The entire herd was spared (and two semen tanks with the embryos in them).  Later that very same night, the cows were milked 10-12 miles down the road under one roof in an empty dairy barn. But only after a milking system was installed in a hurry.

Unfortunately, subsequent trauma from moving the herd would cause the loss of many of the big cows.

Around 2012, at the ages of 70 and 72 the brothers built a 110-head freestall with a double-8 herring bone parlor attached.

For generations, the family went to St. Stephen’s Lutheran Church in Licking Creek.  Each summer they would donate milk to the church and several firemen’s festivals for fundraisers to support the community.  The brothers were stockholders in the early beginnings of the Juniata County Fairgrounds and served on committees early in life.

The brothers wish to thank life-long family friends: Steve Long, Krista and Jake Pontius, Markus Zook and Ethan Goss for helping with the farm and taking in their cows at different times over the years to keep the bloodlines intact to this day. 

In addition, Niece Diane and her husband Michael Cornman house a couple of show heifers in the Elizabethtown area for their son Mason.  They also want to acknowledge again the support of brother Doc and their sisters. 

The brothers battled through keeping their family and farm together after the loss of their father at their young age. The purchased cows made connections for them to gather breeding knowledge. When asked about their breeding philosophy, Delmar said he bred for good udders, rib, lots of body and high components”.

Larry answered: “You breed for type and feed for production.” Both brothers studied bulls, then talked and listened to those breeders who they felt were proven to be successful.  One that they both mentioned was Peter Heffering.

They utilized flushing programs and often used their own bulls from their better cows as herd sires.

Cindy used the showring to highlight the breeding program and provide opportunities for her children and other 4-H kids in the county.

They instilled in their family to be humble and appreciative of opportunities, to win honestly and be proud of winning the breeder awards even if they couldn’t compete for the champion.  

They taught: 

• You never haggle with a classifier, even if it meant a cow stayed at 89 – “if she’s that good, we’ll get her EX next time”.
• It is more important to bring them home to the place they were born and develop them into aged cows that produce for many more years 
• Breed cows that tested as high as Jerseys in components to help offset the check when milk prices dipped. 

In total, the Zimmerman brothers bred 1613 Registered Holsteins, including 77 Excellent. (One 95, three 94, three 93, five 92). They have also developed at least five additional EX cows, bred two Gold Medal Dams and eight Dams-of-Merit. Further, they developed one Gold Medal Sire (Mayers F A Royalty-Twin (GP-82) born on Sept. 16, 1965. 

It was always about securing the right bloodlines, developing them and breeding them for the long-haul, while trying to keep cow families intact. They used North America’s greatest type bulls; they knew how to pick the right ones to work for them. In just an 80-cow herd, they bred 30 or more progenies of Advent, Counselor, Inspiration and Skybuck; 40 or more of Sexation, Astro Jet, Reubens, Enhancer, Linjet and 80 registered offspring of Hanover-Hill Triple-Threat-Red. The young students of the breed learned by doing it themselves to become Master Breeders.