It’s always been Holsteins for Ty Etgen. Even as he was growing up as a kid from town working on his friend’s dairy farms around Wapakoneta, Ohio. Even as he quit football in high school to dive deeper into learning the ropes of running a dairy.
It was still Holsteins for Etgen even after he met and fell in love with a girl who grew up milking and showing Ayrshires, and then built a life on her family’s farm.
That devotion to the industry and to the breed paid off for the western Ohio native, who was recently recognized by Holstein Association USA as its 2023 Distinguished Young Holstein Breeder.
Etgen, 33, of Harrod, Ohio, received the award June 25 during the National Holstein Convention, in Lexington, Kentucky. Etgen is the first Ohioan to win this award.
Award
The Distinguished Young Holstein Breeder award recognizes significant accomplishments of registered Holstein breeders between the ages of 21 and 40 for their commitment to preserving the dairy industry and for achieving excellence in their daily lives.
Etgen’s herd of 100 registered Holsteins, Etgen-Way, is milked twice a day and has a rolling herd average of 23,044 pounds of milk, with a 4% fat test and a 3.1% protein test, according to the association.
“The whole list of Distinguished Young Holstein Breeders is impressive, and to be on that list, it means a lot to me,” Etgen said. “Fifteen years ago, I had nothing, and to be recognized with this award, it’s awesome.”
Starting small
Etgen is a first-generation dairy farmer. For as long as he can remember, he wanted to be a farmer. He grew up with friends who lived on farms, and he got involved through 4-H and FFA.
“There’s something to be said for somebody that works for themselves,” he said. “You work hard and you can sit down at the end of the day and knowing you accomplished something.”
His love for the industry and the cows took off when he got a job at Richard and Kim Steinke’s farm in high school. Working there was formative for Etgen, he said.
“I ended up quitting playing football because I wanted to work and make money,” he said. But it was about more than just the money.
“I enjoyed working with good cows and good people,” he said. “I started to see how it all worked. I would constantly ask questions and pick [Richard’s] brain and learn as much as I possibly could.”
Etgen delayed going to college to continue working on farms, but ended up at Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute campus, in Wooster, in 2009. There, he earned a degree in dairy cattle production and management. He participated in the dairy judging teams during his time there.
Family support
He married Heather Kennedy in 2013. The two met in the show ring, Etgen said. She grew up on her family’s dairy farm in Harrod and showed Ayrshire cattle.
The Kennedy family farm is where Etgen would end up building his first dairy farm. After farming in partnership for a couple of years after college, Etgen parted ways to start a small herd of his own.
Etgen and his wife approached her parents, Ron and Patti Kennedy, with a proposal. Their dairy facilities had been sitting empty for about a decade. Etgen wanted to bring about a dozen cows back there to start milking again. It’d be on the side, while he worked off-farm with Ron at his fabrication and welding shop.
In 2015, Etgen and his family were able to break ground on a new free stall barn and double-seven herringbone milking parlor at the family farm.
It was in large part thanks to his father-in-law, who was extremely supportive of Etgen’s dreams for the farm. Expanding the dairy was something Kennedy wanted to do but never got the opportunity to, Etgen said.
Etgen runs the farm full-time, operating on about 300 acres and milking 110 cows. His wife, Heather, is a school teacher. They have two young sons, Cash and Henry.
Key traits. The herd he has now is a dream come true for the boy who didn’t grow up on a dairy farm, but there’s always room for improvement. They’re not where they need to be yet, but “I think we’re getting there,” Etgen said.
He’s always admired herds across the country with high breed age average, or BAA, scores, which provides a way to score animals and herds across ages and stages of lactation. The Etgen-Way herd has a BAA of 111.4, making it one of the top 200 BAA herds in the country.
Etgen said he breeds for “high type and udders,” as well as cow families and sire stacks. Classification is also important to him.
“Life is too short to milk ugly cows,” he said, with a laugh.
(Reporter Rachel Wagoner can be reached at 724-201-1544 or rachel@farmanddairy.com.)
