Ferme Pellerat Celebrate Triumph After Tragedy - Cowsmo

Ferme Pellerat Celebrate Triumph After Tragedy

They turned a tragic barn fire in 2007 into triumph, rebuilding their facilities and herd almost from scratch. Now 15 years later, Ferme Pellerat is celebrating their first Master Breeder shield!

Give a brief history of your operation along with how you got your start in registered dairy cattle. Who is involved on the farm now and what is their role?

Front row, L-R: Lucie Poirier, Jenny Frappier, Lysanne Pelletier, Sophie Nicole. Back row, L-R: Jean-Guy, Francis, Daniel Pelletier, Carl Dubois and Gervais Pelletier

Ferme Pellerat started registering Holsteins in 1973. It was my grandmother Thérèse Leclerc who led the herd at the time. She passed on her passion to her 4 children, but it was my uncle, Gervais, and my father, Jean-Guy, who took over the farm. Over time the herd grew and a barn was built in 2001 to improve work efficiency. Unfortunately, in 2007, a fire destroyed all the buildings and took 85 percent of the herd with it. The next year, new facilities were built and colossal efforts were made to rebuild the herd using embryo transfer. In 2015, the 4th generation joined the operation. This includes Daniel, Francis and myself, Lysanne. In 2016, a new barn was built to provide comfort to the animals and a bedded pack was added to improve the transition. In 2021, we doubled the barn from 2016 to increase production. The team includes the 5 shareholders, their spouses, 3 employees and 6 foreign workers.

Which cow families have influenced your herd the most in terms of contributing points for the Master Breeder Shield?

La Présentation Daurel EX 64* had a major impact on the herd mainly through his two daughters by Goldwyn. The first daughter, La Présentation Goldwyn Dahlia TB-86 2 yrs 27*, contributed 27 percent of the points to this shield. She also had 5 EX daughters and 16 VG daughters. The other daughter, La Présentation Léona TB 89 29*, is another big impact cow for our herd.

Dahlia’s standout daughters:

  • Pellerat Baxter Sarie Ex-91 7E 14*
  • Pellerat Superstition Dune VG-86 2 ys 10*

Favreautière Baxter Déesse TB-87 6* left us with very good producers who received 18 superior lactations and 3 Super 3.

Who are a few of your herd favorites today that represent the ‘complete cow’ in your mind? 

  • Pellerat Mogul Sweet EX 3E 1*
    • She has 107,054 kg of production for life and is a very youthful cow.
  • Pellerat Yamaska Mariali VG 88
    • At 3 years old, she has already achieved 2 superior lactations. She meets all the criteria we seek out most on cows – good components, great health and good feets and legs.
  • Pellerat Molière Sofi. 
  • A young cow with a promising future, Sofi has a super mammary system, good feets and legs and impressive production.

How has the operation and/or your goals changed overtime? What are some management strategies you’ve implemented that have had the most positive impact on your herd? 

Our goals have not changed over time. It has always been to meet the needs of the market with a profitable business. Changes in herd management in addition to the bedded pack really helped improve cow performance.

Describe what this honor means to you. Do you have any advice you’d offer to new breeders? 

It shows us that our past decisions have been the right ones and that they have allowed us to build a herd that is among the elite. For advice, we’d say that it is important to invest in good families to start and provide a stress-free environment with optimum comfort. This way the cows can operate to their fullest potential.

What’s next?! Tell us about the short- and long-term goals you have for the future of your operation and herd.   

We would like to continue with current alignment, meeting market demands with continuous growth along with maximizing efficiency with our facilities. We’d also like to have a 100% A2A2 herd one day.

A second Master Breeder shield is obviously a long-term goal, too!

Quick stats: 

  • Number of cows in herd along with breakdown of youngstock vs. milking vs. dry:  880 head, 440 cows in milk, 80 dry cows, 360 youngstock
  • Herd classification average: 20 EM – 12 EX – 190 VG – 270 GP – 29 G
  • Herd production average: 11 933 kg  4.20% F and 3.34% P
  • Sires Ferme Pellerat is currently using: 100% A2A2, 95% genomics bulls, 60% of the bulls used are carriers of the polled gene. For example: Houin Ssi Parfect Ison-P, Bomaz Martini-PP, Peak Alta Starsky-ET
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