Rosenhill Farm in St. Albert has been named as one of the top three dairy farms in the country on Lactanet’s prestigious Canadian Dairy herds list.
Describing itself as the Canadian network for dairy excellence on its website, Lactanet provides herd management knowledge and solutions for sustainable development of the Canadian dairy industry. Each year Lactanet unveils its list of Canada’s Top 25 dairy herds, according to the Herd Management Score. The HMS is based on six criteria: milk value, age at first calving, herd efficiency, longevity, udder health and calving intervals. A score is given to each of these criteria according to the herd’s performance against 7,000 others.
Rosenhill Farm, owned by Andre and Judith Hildbrand, finished in third place and was the top-ranked farm in Ontario. The farm has consistently placed in the Top 25 across Canada, but this was the first time it has been rated in the top three.
“We’ve been up there in Russell County all along, but we’ve never been ranked as the best one in Ontario,” said Judith Hildbrand when reached at the farm last week. “Everybody seems to be very interested in us right now.”
Hildbrand was modest about the ranking, noting awards are just something that come with hard work and dedication.
“We do what we do. We just try to do everything right. You try to do our best every day – that’s all we do.”
A press release from Lactanet noted it is important to honor farms which are dedicated to excellence.
“We are proud to recognize the remarkable work of dairy farmers in terms of herd management. It was important for us to underline their exceptional dedication, especially this year with all the challenges brought by the pandemic,” said Lactanet Chair, Barbara Paquet.
