Kevin and Barb met while attending Cornell University – Barb working towards her Bachelors in Animal Science and Kevin working on a masters in Dairy Genetics while also managing a small genetics cooperative based out of Cornell. It was in 1999 that together we started raising just a few Holstein heifers at Barb's family farm in Aurora, "Schmitt Farms". By the end of the year a Brown Swiss calf added some color to the black and white barn. In July of 2000, Barb traveled with Kevin's mom, Barb, to the National Brown Swiss Convention Sale in Harrisburg, PA. It was the beginning of history…

Purchased at the sale was the first milking cow of our "little" herd, Land O Living J Rosie OCS. Showing as a Senior 2 Year Old, was first that year at New York State Fair, 9th at Madison and scored EX-90. She also began working hard at filling our first "bulk tank" – that would be the bucket milker! As a heifer calving in at 2-03 she finished that first lactation with over 21,000 lbs of milk and 4.2 butterfat. She went on to produce 30,000 lb records there in out. "Rosie" is considered one of the foundation cows of our swiss herd. Though she is no longer with us, she lives on through the Pride son that we collected semen on, "Rugby" and the daughters of her that we have so far, "Rosette" who is sired by Collection and "Rose Bud" who is sired by Denmark.

It was not long before our milking herd of one doubled to TWO and we were well on our way to becoming what we have today. Slowly adding more cows, either from sales or from moving some of Kevin's Holsteins from his home farm, "Ziems Farm", we were milking 15 cows by the end of 2001 and preparing to fill the rest of the once empty barn. It was then that Barb decided to quit her job at Quality Milk Promotion Services at Cornell and take on dairy farming full-time. Kevin would continue in his job at Cornell for another year or so before he made the move to Select Sires. Renovations began in November 2001 and the barn was in full operation on January 2, 2002, mostly with Brown Swiss, considering the 30 head that we had bought. Without the support of our parents, we would not be where we are today.

We have won multiple awards at state and national shows. In addition we have worked hard to achieve optimal milk production at home with high quality milk. Currently our Avg SCC has been around 200,000 with more recent months dipping to below 100,000 for the herd.

Our business goals have changed as we delve into the boarding business - but we find it a great way to keep the barn full and at the same time get to work with cows that we might not normally have the opportunity ourselves to work with. With pedigrees that run deep and cow families that are world-renowned, it has really put us on the map and we love it! We are excited to have made it to being the #3 herd in the country for our BAA with the Holsteins!

Things are constantly changing at ZiemBarbWay and we are always looking for new ideas and ways that we can improve the herd. It is truly an evolution and we invite you to come and see for yourself.

Barb, Mason & Kevin Ziemba