‘We used our backs and brains to build our herd’

MILLERSBURG, Ohio — Alan and Sharon Kozak did not inherit a farm, cattle, or equity. In 1989, they borrowed the money, rented a farm, assembled 156 Jersey cows from more than 20 herds and moved three times in their first six years before landing in the Millersburg area of Holmes County, Ohio.

“We used our backs and brains to build our herd,” Alan says.

Over 37 years, they built the Clover Patch herd to nearly 900 Jerseys — cows to calves —  developed through decades of selection for production, components, udders, and genetic merit, and backed by intensive calf and herd-health programs.

The Clover Patch Jerseys Online Retirement Auction is set for Wednesday, Nov. 11, noon to 1 p.m. ET, managed by Kreeger and Associates, with an open house Tuesday, Nov. 10, noon to 5 p.m. at the farm at 10061 Township Road 301, Millersburg, OH 44654. On-site bidding through the online portal will also be available at the farm on sale-day.

The offering includes about 450 cows and 450 genomic-tested heifers, from springers to babies. The young herd includes 200 first-lactation and 125 second-lactation cows and more than 150 fresh cows and heifers. The herd is 99.9% A2A2.

In previous sales, the Kozaks sold good young cows while retaining from the upper end to build forward. “This time, we sell the whole herd. Buyers get the opportunity to buy our very best,” Alan relates.

Milked twice daily, the cows average 82 pounds energy-corrected milk (ECM). Sale information lists 65 pounds of milk at 5.0% butterfat, 3.8% protein and 148,000 SCC. Their most recent weighted DHI SCC was 99,000.

Alan grew up on a small western Pennsylvania dairy and graduated from Penn State in 1984 with a dairy production degree. He coached Pennsylvania’s 4-H dairy judging team to the national championship in 1988. The win led to a European trip with Farmshine founder Dieter Krieg traveling with the group.  

After two years in Extension work in Centre County, Alan became executive secretary of the Pennsylvania Guernsey Association. Developing value-added markets for high-protein Guernsey milk brought him into contact with the Jersey breed. He later became a western-states representative for the American Jersey Cattle Association (AJCA) at a time it was engaged in demonstrating the need for premiums that reflect the increased product yield of higher-protein milk.

That early focus on the value inside the milk became part of his breeding philosophy that also put a premium on functional udders and cows that last and keep producing. Alan calls those years of Extension, breed work, judging, and traveling his practical “master’s degree.”

Then he and Sharon put it to work. They started with virtually no net worth, using beginning-farmer financing through FSA. While more difficult today than 37 years ago, the Kozaks have shared their experiences starting from scratch and the lessons-learned with agricultural students visiting Clover Patch over the years. Of course it takes work and time, but it also means building relationships and staying open to opportunities.

Their Millersburg opportunity, the farm where Clover Patch ultimately landed, was never advertised. They heard about it through their milk hauler. That favorable long-term lease gave Alan and Sharon the confidence to invest in facilities on land they didn’t own, later leading to an opportunity to purchase part of the farm below market value.

They used custom operators, reducing the need to own a full line of planting, manure-handling, and harvest equipment, although that came with a tradeoff: Their crop was not always first on the custom operator’s list in terms of forage timing for peak milk production.

The herd was built by bringing together cows from more than 20 sources, so in the early years, they navigated health challenges. Testing, culling, stringent health protocols, and sexed semen helped them build replacements internally for a healthy herd that has been closed to outside animal purchases for 27 years.

The goal has been to improve the whole herd, not concentrate heavily on a handful of donor cows. The Kozaks have flushed only three cows during their career. Every animal is genotyped, individual matings are made with attention to inbreeding, and A2 became a selection priority about a decade ago.

“We have selected for production and udders,” Alan says, explaining he won’t use a high-production bull if he believes he will sire udders that are too deep. Instead, he waits for a son carrying the production traits he wants with a more functional udder pattern.

This whole-herd approach put Clover Patch among the nation’s highest-ranking genetic-merit Jersey herds for years, including 11th nationally for AJCA gJPI in 2023.

Five Clover Patch bulls have gone into A.I. Enzo was the most influential. Chatham is an Enzo son with daughters producing other high-genetic-merit bulls.

The calf program is Sharon’s domain and a big part of the equation. It starts before birth with vaccination and nutrition of the dam and continues through colostrum, nutrition, and preventive protocols for health. Colostrum is checked with a digital refractometer, and calves may receive up to 12 ounces of 28% protein, 14% fat milk replacer twice daily.

The benchmark at weaning, around eight weeks, is 2½ times birth weight while consuming five pounds of starter daily.

Calves begin life individually for one to two weeks, then move into groups that Sharon starts when she has enough calves nursing on a bottle hung in their individual pen without help.

The Kozaks believe that early group socialization helps prepare them to compete and function within the herd.

Disposition has also been important. “Sale crews have always been amazed at the workability of our cattle and how calm they are,” Alan shares. He attributes this to early socialization and human interaction. When the sale crew recently came out, no gates were needed. They worked calmly through the group in the pasture.

Heifers spend substantial time on pasture, fresh air, and sunshine. “We’re raising athletes,” Alan says. “We’re not raising feeder calves.”

The result is cattle familiar with different environments. The milking herd is accustomed to freestalls, headlocks, herringbone milking, TMR, and one wire electric fence, while the youngstock are extensively grazed.

Alan believes the cows have room to respond in other environments. They are milked twice daily, have dealt with chronic overcrowding, and forage quality has not always been what he wanted. He estimates late, overly dry corn silage in recent years cost at least five pounds of milk per cow per day.

Past buyers have observed this potential. At one dairy that bought cows from several herds and kept the groups identified, the veterinarian working with both farms later told Alan that the Clover Patch cows were averaging about six pounds more milk.

At Barley’s Star Rock Farm in Pennsylvania, parlor employees had a simpler request: “More blue tags,” referring to the identification tags on Clover Patch cows. Other buyers have successfully transitioned Clover Patch cows to robotic milking.

The Kozaks work closely with veterinarians and use SCR activity monitoring for rumination, health, and heat detection. Alan says monthly bulk-tank cultures have been negative for Mycoplasma and the herd has been negative for Staph aureus for years.

At 64, Alan’s advice for young farmers comes with experience and reflection: Finding a way to start is only the first challenge.

“Think about where the business can go,” he says.

Millersburg has been a good place to live and raise children, but a limited and shrinking land base eventually put a ceiling on growth. If starting today, he would look farther ahead at land, labor, services, and markets — and whether they leave room to expand, process milk, pursue organic production, or diversify.

Why are they ready to leave dairying now?

“Because we can,” Alan replies, noting his gratitude for what dairying has provided him and his family. Yes, there are pressures — labor, cash flow, land constraints, custom forage harvest timing, and the physical and mental demands of managing cows every day. But those challenges also have brought purpose, and they do not define their retirement story.

Dairying allowed two people who started with essentially nothing to build equity and a life together. Perhaps more importantly, it gave them a place to raise their children.

Their son is a physician assistant student set to graduate this year. Alan recalls an emotional phone call while son Brandon was working at Nationwide Children’s Hospital. He thanked his father for the upbringing, work ethic, and problem-solving skills he carried with him from the farm.

Their daughter Courtney pursued a career as a CPA and in business management. Both children say they value their farm upbringing and support their parents’ retirement.

It is a familiar story. With no next generation waiting to assume daily management, Alan and Sharon are ready to find out what life looks like when cows don’t set the clock — spending more time with their children and grandchild, parents, siblings, friends, and doing some traveling.

They don’t envision sitting still. Alan talks about perhaps having 20 to 40 acres someday, keeping a few cattle and finding other ways to replace the activity and purpose of running a dairy.

Still, there is plenty they will miss.

“The miracle of birth,” Alan says without hesitation. “Baby calves, for sure.”

They’ll miss watching those calves develop and the satisfaction of nurturing them into cows; the personalities too, especially the friendly cows that seek them out, begging for a head or rump scratch.

“We will also miss some dedicated employees and interactions with service providers, nutritionist, veterinarian, milk equipment service folks, feed mill, and many more,” Alan relates.

For 37 years, Alan and Sharon Kozak built Clover Patch Jerseys one generation at a time. On Nov. 11, after five production auctions and numerous private sales over the past 15 years in which they always kept something back, this time the Kozaks will sell them all.