A Wisconsin dairy farmer is making it his life’s work to conserve a rare breed of cattle.
“There’s Bill Nye the Science Guy, then there’s J.T. Price the cow nerd,” J.T. Price said.
Price grew up on a farm, and went to college to be a veterinarian. That eventually brought him to Wisconsin, where he worked in animal genetics.
Then one day, he had the opportunity to buy a farm on Windsor Road in Windsor, Wis., which he named Grace Acres Farms.
He has turkeys, horses and even peacocks. However, his prize possessions are his cattle.
With his background in genetics, Price decided he wanted to help conserve a rare breed of cattle, called Kerry cattle.
“There’s about 45 registered [Kerry] cows remaining in the North American continent,” Price said. “Canada has about four or five cows, then the rest are in Wisconsin here, Massachusetts, and Ohio.”
Of those 45 registered cows, Price has about 20 of them. They’re all grass-fed.
“I became very passionate on preserving such an endangered breed. I thought it was kind of too late for them, just because there were so few of ‘em,” he said.
Because of his previous experience, he’s breeding more Kerrys. He’s got a few calves on the farm this summer.
Kerry cows are more "efficient" than other dairy cows, according to Price. They don’t need as much feed to produce the same amount of milk.
Source: spectrumnews1.com
Photo Credit: Grace Acres Farms
Categories: Wisconsin, General, Livestock, Dairy Cattle