The Del-Rose Queen
By Melissa Hart
Nestled in the heart of the scenic Catskill Mountains in beautiful Delaware County, between South Kortright and Bloomville, New York, you’ll find Del-Rose Farm, milking a mixed herd of Registered Brown Swiss and Holsteins.
Ernie and Barb Hanselman, with three of their seven children, keep the plates spinning at Del-Rose, named from the two rivers that border the farm: the Delaware and the Roses Brook. While their three sons, Seth, Kale, and Ladd, are on the farm full-time, siblings Chelsea, Dara, Paige, and Miquela also enjoy being involved with the farm at some level.
The cows are housed in a 60-head comfort stall barn, and 25 percent of the herd are Registered Brown Swiss. Ladd is the biggest Brown Swiss enthusiast of the family, Barb explained. “The kids went on a school field trip to Massachusetts when Ladd was in fifth grade, and I told him he could take home one thing to remember his trip to Boston, and he went to the hat-maker and wanted the guy to put a Brown Swiss cow and an Oliver tractor on it with the words, ‘The way to farm.’”
His first calf project, when he was pre-4-H age, was a Brown Swiss his grandfather thought should go to the fair. And when she was chosen Junior Champion, “I didn’t even know what was going on; but that’s what really hooked me into the Brown Swiss, Ladd said.”
The Hanselman History
With family roots in Switzerland, the Del-Rose Brown Swiss history started just up the road with Ernest and Harriett Hanselman at Windy Acres when they purchased seedstock from Ralph Rose, one of the original Brown Swiss breeders in Eastern New York.
Walter and Mary Hanselman, parents of Ernest — Ernie’s father — originally farmed a hill over from where the Hanselmans reside now, in the valley of the East Branch of the Delaware River. They were forced out when the government took their farm by eminent domain in order to create the reservoirs for the NYC water system. “The story goes that Ernie’s grandma wouldn’t leave the house until the bulldozer was against it,” Barb noted. Walter and Mary moved to the present farm location, located in the valley of the West Branch of the Delaware River. Ernest was 20 years old. He and Harriett married five years later, and took over the Windy Acres farm.
Ernest and Harriett had five kids, three of whom were sons, and who all wanted to farm. In 1980, one son, Ernie, started Del-Rose Farm on the adjoining farm to Windy Acres, while his brothers, Carl and Allan, stayed at Windy Acres.
Del-Rose began with Holsteins, and in 1989, Ernie and Barb purchased their first Brown Swiss when Windy Acres dispersed its herd. “I thought we should buy something at the sale to continue the Brown Swiss heritage for the family,” Barb said. “The best of the herd went back to a cow named Topsy, and I wanted something that went back to her. We were broke young farmers, we couldn’t afford any of her offspring, but she was 13 years old and open and we were able to buy her for $1,100.” They didn’t get her bred back, but they flushed her and two heifer calves resulted.
A neighboring Holstein breeder also purchased a Brown Swiss cow that day. Frustrated with their lack of understanding of the breed, they asked if they could return her. Ernie’s dad took her back, and Del-Rose ended up with her progeny, and these two cows are the cornerstone of its Brown Swiss herd. Topsy would transmit the “T” family and the buy-back cow, King Chris, would end up as the “cookie” family, leading to the farm’s 2024 Living-Lifetime Energy-Corrected Milk Cow recognition.
This year, Del-Rose Bonanza Somoa 4E93 is one of the Top-10 Living-Lifetime Energy-Corrected Milk Cows. In eight lactations and 3,394 days, she had a lifetime record of 258,604M 12,444F 8,708P, yielding 312,330 pounds of Energy-Corrected milk.
Barb described the development of Somoa as such: “Grandpa and Grandma gave one of our kids a calf that went back to the buy-back cow. The calf got named Brownie, for obvious reasons. Brownie had three daughters, one of them being Del-Rose BC Snickerdoodle EX90 a BC Collection, and she had three daughters, one of them being Del-Rose Zeus Sugar Cookie.
“It was also during this time that on occasion Jerry Harkness and Richie Stevens would stop in for a visit, check out the cows, and talk bulls. Jerry was peddling his Bonanza semen, and we bought some and bred Sugar Cookie to him. I still remember how excited I was when Sugar Cookie calved as a two-year-old. She had a heifer calf — Del-Rose Bonanza Somoa — and she looked awesome! Forty days later when we went to the barn in the morning, we found Sugar Cookie dead in her stall. It made us puddle over little Somoa even more. “It also ended the tradition of naming the family after cookies — now they are the “S” family.
Somoa started her show career as a spring calf and was in the string for nine consecutive years. She, her daughters, and granddaughters have been the anchor for our string and groups for years. She was in the pullups for many years, but Grand has always eluded her. It was often that Jerry would be watching the show, beaming over one of his ‘Bonanzas.’
“Somoa is a well-balanced cow, with an amazing mammary, and has always looked youthful beyond her years. The amazing mammary is a strong trait in the offspring. Her first two lactations in the herd (were) lackluster. I grew up a Holstein girl, and it drove me nuts. Ernie informed me that I didn’t understand Brownies. Her third lactation, she kicked in, and in her lifetime, she has completed three 365-day lactations with over 30,000 milk, 1,700 fat, and 1,000 protein. She proved Ernie right and me wrong!
“She has multiple offspring in the herd, with two of her daughters having scored 2E. It isn’t every day that you have a cow that you have worked with every day for 14 years, but Somoa has done just that, and so we know her little ’Somoisms’ — her foghorn moo, she likes the top of her head patted, not a scratch under her chin, and her tongue exercises. We all know her, and she is our QUEEN.”
Milk is the Priority
The Hanselmans are extremely production-minded. “We want nice cows to look at, but they’ve got to make milk,” Barb said. We want total-performance cows.
The Brown Swiss are fed a different ration than the Holsteins and have experienced improved overall health because of that. Seth noted, “They are fed a higher-protein diet with more haylage than the Holsteins. Brown Swiss are definitely different, that’s for sure.”
Barb added, “Ernie’s father always believed that Brown Swiss needed more selenium, so we feed them the maximum amount allowed. We are in a selenium-deficient area.”
They believe higher selenium in the ration has helped improve reproductive health. Ladd said, “It’s a pretty simple thing to add into your ration to see if it helps.”
The Brown Swiss temperament is what attracted him to the breed. “Everyone thinks they are dumb, but I believe they are more intelligent,” he said. “I also think the advancements in that breed is beyond what other breeds have progressed. Now, they are more refined, and they have kept their production up, as well.” The Del-Rose herd has a rolling herd average of 20,251M 4.3F 875F 3.3P 668P.
The Hanselman breeding philosophy is to select for well-balanced udders and good feet and legs, with an eye on the total performance of the animal. Seth has a different appreciation for the Swiss, saying, “I love their hairy ears, they always seem to have really hairy ears.” The sires used in their herd include Rampage, Desperado, Cain, Determination, Design, Polano P, Daredevil, and Carter.
Diversification enables the three sons to stay on the farm. They crop 500 acres and sell what they don’t use for the cows. They also raise hay to sell, have a sweet corn and small vegetable business, and have a small beef herd that produces meat to sell. Barb bakes and does some catering, and Ladd does mechanic work on the side, as well.
Kale spends most of his time doing the hands-on work with the cattle. Of the award that Somoa earned, he said, “Only the strong survive. Receiving this award is fulfilling because it shows how great care and hard work, over time, can make great things happen. Many cows in today’s industry live much shorter lives.”
While Somoa has always been a farm favorite, the Hanselmans were surprised she earned the Living Lifetime ECM award. When a cow breeds back and just hammers on, you don’t realize how much production they are racking up. She has had some ups and downs over her lifetime, but Ladd pointed out, “She has a will that you don’t find in too many cows. She is a cow that has done her job.”
From one generation to the next, “It was a big deal for Ernie’s dad that the Brown Swiss are still here. And Ernie’s brother, Allan, is also a part of this as a partner on some of the Swiss. He loves cows, is enthusiastic about the herd and the kids’ involvement from an early age with the herd, and has been involved over the years. “It’s a way for him to continue to be involved in the legacy of Brown Swiss cattle in the Hanselman family,” Barb explained.
“When you work with cows, and you love cows, and you have one that has lived that long and done that well, it a source of inspiration. Ernest loved his Brown Swiss cows; he would be so thrilled.”