Peck to Chair CDCB Producer Advisory Committee

Bill Peck of Welcome Stock Farm, Schuylerville, NY, is the new Chair of the CDCB Producer Advisory Committee (PAC), assuming the lead role from Lloyd Holterman of Rosy-Lane Holsteins in Watertown, Wis.

Bill and his brother, Neil, are the sixth generation to dairy near Schuylerville, NY. At Welcome Stock Farm, they milk approximately 1,000 Holstein cows, focused on producing high genetic merit cattle. They have bred high-ranking A.I. sires and sell many bulls, females and embryos each year as genetic seed stock. An early adopter of genomic testing, Bill is a firm believer in the importance of data recording and participates in DHIA testing and type classification. He has previously served on the Holstein USA Genetic Advancement Committee, along with several community and dairy leadership roles.
 
“The producer committee is to be a sounding board for CDCB,” Bill describes. “It’s very important for CDCB to hear from producers – folks in the barn every day milking cows – as to the genetic changes or benefits we are seeing and what direction we need to go in.”
 
Producers serving on the 2022-23 committee include:
• Chair: Bill Peck, Welcome Stock Farms, Schuylerville, NY
• Kent Buttars, Butter Dell Dairy, Lewiston, Utah
• Spencer Hackett, Melarry Farms, Rice, Minn.
• Lloyd Holterman, Rosy-Lane Holsteins, Watertown, Wis.
• Tom Kestell, Ever-Green-View, Waldo, Wis
• Sean Tollenaar, Tollcrest Dairy, Wheatland, Calif.
 
“Great questions are asked, and we work as a team of dairymen from across the country to give insight for the future genetic direction,” Bill says of his experience on the PAC.
 
In April 2022, the Board increased the committee from five to six producers, for additional input and consistency through three-year rotations of committee members.
 
Thank You to Lloyd Holterman, for chairing the PAC since its creation in August 2019 and truly setting the tone for grassroots input around U.S. genetic evaluations.

Photo caption: The 2021-22 PAC met in April, with Bill Peck, Lloyd Holterman and Sean Tollenaar (left to right) in New York, while Kent Buttars and Mike Santos joined virtually. Photo by Randy Blodgett.