Here’s your chance to purchase into our Rubie Family. You can’t deny that these pretty little ladies, backed by multiple generations of Excellence, outstanding milk production numbers, demonstrated longevity and star brood potential, are attractive options for any herd.

Craigcrest Rubies Gold Charm (December 1, 2012) sells April 10th at the Taste of Ontario National Convention Sale. She’s sired by Goldwyn and is a sister to Craigcrest Rubies Gold Rejoice. See the catalogue online at www.cowsmo.com Special thanks goes to the Cowsmo team for designing the ad below.

Craigcrest Rubies Rosewood (September 24, 2012) sells May 4th in Duckett’s Celebration Sale. She’s sired by Atwood and is also a sister to Rejoice.

E & J Craig Farms, home of Craigcrest Holsteins, is a family run, purebred Holstein, dairy farm near Arthur, Ontario. We milk 45-55 cows twice a day in a tie stall facility. Our farm breeds cows for high type and longevity with a keen focus on strong cow families. We participate in cattle shows and have had success internationally. Our current goal is to work towards receiving the herd’s third Master Breeder shield.

We are looking for a senior herdsperson who enjoys milking and working with an established herd of purebred cattle and can also take a leadership role within our employee team. The ideal candidate will have at least 5 years of dairy farm manager experience and can perform the general duties expected to ensure a healthy herd and the production of high quality milk. He/she will be reliable in day-to-day work, and will be responsible for the herd on weekends and when the owner is away. She/he has proven skills in dairy farm and herd management.

We value enthusiasm for the grass roots level of the dairy industry, dedication to the job, and willingness to learn. Our employment goals are to provide a competitive salary, an up-to-date working environment and dairy farm related learning opportunities. If you share these work habits and interests please consider employment with us.

Competencies & Responsibilities

Technical Skills

• responsible for milking, feeding and caring for our cows, heifers, and calves
• facilitate the production of quality milk, with below 100,000 somatic cell count and 5000 plate loop count
• understand heat detection and general health of the cattle
• groom and clip cattle on a regular basis
• operate farm and barn equipment (computer, feed carts, tractors, skid steer, silo unloader etc)
• perform AI breeding

Attention to Detail

• observant for indicators of animal illness or injury, and understand and apply the farm’s standard procedures for care
• keep barns and facilities neat, clean and in good working order
• follow Standard Operating Procedures as listed in CQM document

Problem Solving

• take initiative in solving problems
• ability to apply prior established procedures

Team Work and Communication

• liaises with industry partners (veterinarian, AI salesmen)
• confident in leading other employees
• respects and contributes to our team approach in task completion
• contributes to daily operations and weekly planning of herd management and farm operations
• learn, understand and contribute to our herd’s cow families and breeding program
• prepare for and host farm visitors (foreign and domestic)
• ensure workplace confidentiality

Hours

• Approximately 65 hours per week
• Every other weekend off (Saturday and Sunday) On the weekend when the herdsperson is working, he/she is responsible for the night barn check (1 hour at 10:00 p.m.)

Salary

• Competitive salary based on work experience, training, and responsibility level

Application Process

Please send a cover letter, resume and references to craigcrest@xplornet.com

We are looking forward to welcoming visitors to our farm on Wednesday, March 13th from 10:00 a.m. - 3:00 p.m. There are 12 Wellington County farms on the tour - Canhope, Dannroving, Sprucecho, Krul, Aveline, Rickeen, Earlen, Fraeland, Glenvue, Fieldhouse, Walkerbrae and CRAIGCREST. Here's a link to the map with the correct location information for our farm. Our address was listed incorrectly in The Link magazine.

Woody and Yasuhiro had the cows looking their best when the classifier visited last week. It was one of the coldest days of winter 2013 but we had hot results in the barn. Overall our herd stats are 20 EX, 37 VG, & 2GP with an average of 87.4 pts.

Topping the day with the highest score in our herd is Craigcrest Goldwyn Starlet EX 94 4YR

Adding to Excellence - Six of our EX cows added another E to their scores:
Birchwind Laurier Feebee EX 90 4E	Craigcrest Dundee Jackie EX 90 3E
Craigcrest Sky Fame Ethel EX 90 4E 1*	Craigcrest Dundee Brianne EX 90 3E
Craigcrest Dolman Rosemary EX 90 2E	Craigcrest Dundee Rapture EX 90 2E

New Excellents – We now have 20 EX cows in the herd:
Craigcrest Lyman RubyMae EX 90	Craigcrest Drake Ambition EX 90

Terrific Two Year Olds – Six cows score VG on their first classification:
Craigcrest Laurin Ecstatic VG 87	Craigcrest Laurin Odelle VG 86
Craigcrest Arbor Ruby Rae VG 85	Craigcrest Sanchez Raspberry VG 85
Craigcrest Ring S Sunshine VG 86	Craigcrest Ring S Senorita VG 85
***Sunshine and Senorita are both daughters of Craigcrest Rubies Gold Ring EX 93 2E

Other Classy Cows – Other scoring results:
Craigcrest Laurin Onyx VG 89 3YR	Craigcrest Laurin Excelle VG 88 3YR
Craigcrest Redesign Bubbles VG 87 3YR	Craigcrest Goldwyn Rosebud VG 87 3YR
Craigcrest Laurin Ruben VG 85 3 YR	Craigcrest Noralee GP 83 2YR

We’re really happy to announce that Rubies Gold Rejoice has been nominated All-Canadian and All-American for the FOURTH consecutive year! You can see her Sr. 3 Yr. Old class in the January edition of both the Holstein Journal and Holstein World. Thanks to these publications for sponsoring the competitions.

We sure enjoyed our week at The Royal. We tied in the Lencrest string with the Bowers family and friends. The 2012 Holstein Show was one of the best. Rejoice looked regal throughout the Sr. 3 Yr old Class and placed 5th. Compliments to Judge Callum McKinven on his work in the ring – professional and classy!

Highlights of the week included meeting up with friends from near and far, chatting with Royal visitors about dairy farming, cheering on Lencrest Giller Belle as she placed HM Senior Champion in the Jersey Show and celebrating with Richard Caverly on his win with Sweet-Pepper Black Francesca who was Grand Champion Ayrshire.

Thanks to Richard for sharing these photos from the Royal - a reflection shot of Rejoice and a photo of the show crew.

We're making the final preparations for Royal Week. Congrats to Conner, Blaire and the rest of the Wellington 4-H Dairy Team who placed 3rd in "Premier County" at the TD Canadian 4-H Dairy Classic.

Elgin, Yasuhiro, and REJOICE, will be travelling into Toronto on Tuesday for the Dairy Show on Friday. Each year we enjoy meeting up with friends and fellow dairy farmers from Canada and around the world.

See you there!

Here’s Rejoice’s 2012 World Dairy Expo photo. WOW! Thanks Cybil!

Every year the months of September and October seem to fly by. Elgin travelled to Australia in September to judge at both the Royal Melbourne Dairy Show and the Royal Adelaide Show. Hospitality in Australia is always fantastic and he had the opportunity to judge excellent classes of dairy cattle.

Elgin and James had a great week at World Dairy Expo. Tying in a show string with Mike & Julie Duckett, and FROSTY, was a highlight. What a tremendous team they work with to care for and prepare the cattle for the show ring! Along with milking, feeding, chores and trips to the wash rack there was time to check out the WDE exhibits and visit with fellow dairy farmers.

CRG Rejoice looked topnotch for her 4th consecutive WDE appearance. She placed sixth in a very competitive Sr. 3 YR Old class. We appreciate the fact that her home-bred development from winning the Winter Calf Class in 2009 to being in the top group as a SR 3 YR Old is followed with great interest. Rejoice’s daughter, Craigcrest Rejoices Ayame, sold for $13,000 to Mark Butz in The World Classic Sale. Congratulations Mark.

The rest of October has been filled with corn harvest, barn washing, field work and feeding all of the new heifer calves. We’ve had quite a run of heifer calves. Time consuming but positive!

With so much time away and so many things to get done, we truly appreciate our wonderful dedicated and hardworking Craigcrest team. Thanks Woody, Yasuhiro, Don, and Debbie!

Craigcrest Rejoices Ayame will be at WDE too - in the World Classic Sale line-up! She’s Rejoice’s first daughter to sell and a top-notch offering. She was born May 2012 and is sired by BRADNICK. The sale is on Friday, October 5, 2012, in Madison, Wisconsin.

Ayame is backed by 4 generations of EX cows – Rejoice (EX 92 US), Montdale Dundee Rubie (EX 93 5*), KAS Carlton Ruby (EX 91 5E 5*), and her dam (EX 90 3*) If you are interested in more info about Ayame please contact Elgin on his cell 519-831-3519 or email us at craigcrest@xplornet.com. The World Classic catalog is online available here.

By the way, the name Ayame was selected by our good friend Yasuhiro Makihara. It is the Japanese word for the beautiful iris flower. See two posts below for a photo.

We’re Expo bound! Rejoice recently scored EX 92 US and we’re happy to be showing her in the SR. 3 YR OLD class on October 6th! If you’re at WDE, be sure to stop by and have a visit. You’ll find us tied with Mike and Julie Duckett.

Now for the classification update. A Holstein Canada classifier was into the farm just before we left for Madison and highlights of that scoring include..... Rejoice’s sisters - Gold Nugget VG 88 3YR, Saphire EX 93 3E and Amethyst EX 90 3E.

Craigcrest Rejoices Ayame (pronounced "i-ya-may") is the first daughter of Craigcrest Rubies Gold Rejoice to be offered for sale. Ayame was born May 2012. She sells October 5 at the World Classic 2012 Sale in Madison Wisconsin. Be sure to visit our website again soon as we will be providing more info and updates. Here she is!

As promised we've updated the Our Herd page with more details on the "Rubie Family". We believe in developing cow families that excel in type, milk production and genetic potential, and the Rubie Family does it all!

We've also included some "comments from the cowman"; Elgin's perspective on the development of this cow family that we are so proud of. Check it out here >

We had a fantastic night at the Dufferin-Wellington Holstein Show. E & J Craig Farms won Premier Exhibitor and Premier Breeder. Congrats to all the other exhibitors, and thanks to our mighty team who helped in the ring and behind the scenes.

We recently returned home from a few days visit to Alberta. The highlight was attending Rocky Mountain High Sale 2012. The owners of Rocky Mountain Holsteins, staff and sale crew sure know how to do it right! We enjoyed their western hospitality and a great sale. Congrats to Rocky Mountain Holsteins on the purchase of Craigcrest Rubies Gold Sparkle. We look forward to hearing more about Sparkle in the months to come.

We finished off the trip with a couple of days of sightseeing. We took Hwy 1A for most of the trip between Cochrane and Lake Louise. The scenery was magnificent from the foothills to the heights of the Rocky Mountains. Lots of people highly recommended lunch on the patio overlooking Lake Louise and they were absolutely right!

A new ad featuring FULL SISTER to Rejoice, Craigcrest Rubies Gold Sparkle, has been posted on Dairy Agenda Today. Sparkles sells in the Rocky Mountain High Sale on July 5th. She's a January 2012 calf sired by Goldwyn.

head west for gold Full sister to Rejoice & Gold Ring Sells July 5th Rocky Mountain High Sale, Cochrane, Alberta Invest in this Family of Possibilities. Craigcrest Rubies Gold Sparkle is lot #120.

We had an awesome classification in mid-May. Thanks to the barn crew for making sure the cows looked their best! Craigcrest Holsteins is now 91.5% Very Good or Excellent. We have 18 EX, 36 VG and 5 G. Here are the highlights:

• Craigcrest Sterling Absolute VG 87 2YR (Sterling x About Time)
• Craigcrest Rubies Gold Nugget VG 87 2YR (Rejoice’s Full Sister)
• Craigcrest Goldwyn Royalty VG 87 3YR (Dam - 87 Astronomical; Grand Dam - KAS Carlton Ruby)
• Craigcrest Rubies Opportunity VG 86 3YR (D - Final Cut X 89 Champion; GD - Dundee Rubie EX 93 5*)
• Craigcrest Dolman Rosemary EX 90 4YR (D - VG 87 3* Rudolph; GD – VG 87 Approval)
• Craigcrest Final Cut Rodina EX 91 4YR (D - 4th Gen. EX – EX 2E Astronomical; GD - Carlton Ruby 91 5E)
• Craigcrest Drake Babydoll EX 93 2E 5YR (Brianne Family - GP 83 Rudolph x VG 1* then 6 Generations EX or VG & Starbrood cows)
• Craigcrest Goldwyn About Time EX 93 2E 5YR (D - VG 87 2* Champion; GD - Stadacona Outside Abel VG-88 26*)
• Craigcrest Dundee Brianne EX 2E 6YR (D - Dundee X 86 Progress; then 6 Generations EX or VG & Starbrood cows)
• Craigcrest ReDesign Rebecca VG 85 2YR (Dams – EX3E, VG 87 3*, VG 87)
• Craigcrest ReDesign Chantel VG 85 2YR (Dams - VG 85 Final Cut, VG 87 Allen, VG)

*** Just a reminder, the full sister to Craigcrest Rubies Gold Rejoice, “Craigcrest Rubies Gold Sparkle”, sells on July 5th at the Rocky Mountain High Sale.

Spring as usual has been a very busy time. Now that the crops are in and the classifier has been to visit, it's time to catch up on some website updates.

Classification results will be posted next week, but for now we want to let you know that a FULL SISTER to Rejoice, Craigcrest Rubies Gold Sparkle, SELLS in the Rocky Mountain High Sale on July 5th. She's a January 2012 calf sired by Goldwyn.

Rejoice added some extra excitement to our holiday weekend with the birth of a heifer calf by Bradnick. Mother and calf are both doing well! We'll be posting more details soon.

Congratulations to all of the 2011 Holstein Canada Master Breeders who receive their Awards this week at the Holstein Canada National Convention in Manitoba! Enjoy the well-deserved celebration! Do you recognize the Master Breeders below?

We're hoping you've seen the March editions of the Holstein Journal and Holstein World. Both featured ads announcing Rejoice’s three consecutive unanimous All-Canadian, All-American wins. Thanks to these publications for sponsoring the competitions and thanks to everyone who've sent their well wishes.