What else does a husband of 34 years, a father of four grown children, and a grandfather of three have to accomplish? Just one more thing — hitting the million-unit mark. Ken Rowley accomplished that goal earlier this year, just under 26 years from the time he purchased his first unit of semen from All-West Select Sires. The order totaled $815 and included some large quantities of 7H1005 (Leprechaun Sioux), 7H1295 (Applenotch Instep) and 7H2897 (Volkert Comanche).
Hired by Tom and Lloyd Vierra in those early days, he quickly expanded his business and the million-unit march began. Rowley grew up on a dairy and was involved with his dad until the age of 20.
“Our dairy was in Visalia and by the time I was 20 years old, I thought I knew all there was to know about work and choosing a career,” he said. “I told my dad as much, even saying that he was crazy for working so hard at this dairy farming thing.”
He learned pretty quickly that the grass isn’t always greener, and had to work three jobs just to make ends meet. Rowley said a local dairyman called him on several occasions wanting him to come out and talk about a potential job at the dairy, and after some time, he did just that.
“He offered me a job working Monday-Friday from 8 a.m. to 5 p.m., running a 2,000-cow dairy. That didn’t sound like a bad deal to me, so I accepted the job and worked there for eight years,” he said. “It really got me back into the dairy farming world and I realized it was actually a pretty good way to make a living.”
Working five days a week quickly morphed into six and seven days a week, especially when he was put in charge of the fresh pen and hospital group.
Rowley left there and went to work at Veemans Dairy — the parents of well-known Mandy Veeman Nunes of Scientific Holsteins in Wisconsin. There he dialed up his knowledge and interest in pedigrees and focused more on breeding.
Local Select Sires representative Dutch Aldrich had been working for more than 30 years in the A.I. business and took Rowley under his wing as he noticed his developing interest.
“Dutch helped me learn what I was supposed to do when it came to refining my breeding skills,” Rowley said. “I’d even go to the slaughter house and get reproductive tracts to practice on during those days.”
The Veemans eventually moved and Ken was faced with another fork in the road. He got married to his wife, Kathy, in 1979 and they bought their own dairy just a few years later in 1982. They milked 140 cows until the first round of buy-outs came through and they sold the herd.
From that point on, Rowley knew his interest in breeding combined with his practical experience of working on several types of dairies would be a good fit for starting his own technician/sales service.
He steadily increased his business, breeding about 100 cows every day, and the first 500,000 units of semen he purchased ended up being straws he bred with himself. Today, his 25 tanks serve his own route and five other technicians. He generally carries 15-18 bulls in the tanks at any given time, and stays true to the sires in which he strongly believes. PD
—From Select Sires news release
PHOTO
Ken Rowley. Photo courtesy of Select Sires.
