Birdsong Farm's "Fancy" family is the newest cow family on the farm, and was started with the addition of Gaymar Astro Fancier SUP-EX 90-3E in the autumn of 2012. Fancier arrived at Birdsong Farm with chronic mastitis and after testing I discovered that it was caused by Staph aureus, so in 2015 I made the decision to dry her off and flush her. The flush was a success, with two heifers to carry on the Fancy family name. 

There are three cows and heifers in the Fancy family: Gaymar Astro Fancier SUP-EX 90-3E (died in 2018), Birdsong Sweet Summertime, and Birdsong

Gaymar Astro Fancier SUP-EX 90-3E

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GAYMAR ASTRO FANCIER was born at Gaymar Jerseys on April 1, 2005, and she came to Birdsong Farm on September 2, 2012.

Fancier's sire is ROCK ELLA ASTRO and her dam is GAYMAR TRIM FANCY. She is registered with Jersey Canada; please click on the Jersey Canada logo below to view her pedigree. 

Fancier arrived at Birdsong Farm with chronic mastitis (an issue that I was already aware of). She was a very sick cow when she arrived, and so I spent months nursing her back to health before breeding her. I had my heart set on a heifer calf from Fancier, but instead Malcolm was born on January 6, 2014 and Nico on May 21, 2015. Towards the end of 2013 I learned that the bacteria causing Fancier's mastitis was Staph aureus. Finally, in the autumn of 2015 I made the decision to dry Fancier off and flush her as there was a very high chance that she would spread the bacteria to my other Jerseys. 

Fancier is tested as A2/A2 for Beta Casein and A/A for Kappa Casein. She is genotyped with the 80K SNP panel, and she has a GPA LPI of 458 with a DGV of 562 (Aug*17; 42% reliability); please click here to read her genotyping report. Fancier is negative for JH1 and JH2 (Jersey Haplotype 1 & 2), and her inbreeding percentage is 6%. 

Fancier was classified as Very Good 85 (2-4; 1st) in August 2007, Very Good 87 (4-11; 3rd) in March 2010, Excellent 90  (6-6; 4th) in October 2011, EX 90-2E (7-6; 5th) in October 2012, and as SUP-EX 90-3E (10-5; 7th) in September 2015; please click here to view her classification scorecard.

In 2006 Fancier was 4th place Junior Yearling at the Chilliwack Exhibition, in 2010 she was 1st place 5 Year Old and the Reserve Grand Champion Cow at the Interior Provincial Exhibition, in 2012 she was 1st place Mature Cow and the Reserve Grand Champion Cow at the Chilliwack Exhibition and 1st place Mature Cow at the Interior Provincial Exhibition, in 2014 she was the 6th place Mature Cow at the Interior Provincial Exhibition, and in 2015 she was 2nd place Mature Cow. 

Fancier was flushed to GUIMO JOEL and RIVER VALLEY CECE CHROME on October 19, 2017. We recovered 16 embryos (2 unfertilized, 8 degenerate, and 6 fertile. Of the 6 good embryos, 5 were Grade A. We'd set up 6 recipients (with the plan to freeze any extra embryos), so we implanted them all. We preg checked our recipients on November 22, 2017, and all 5 of the Grade A embryos resulted in pregnancies. Two of the five pregnancies have been sexed as heifers, and the calves are due on July 21, 2018. 

The four calves from the flush are:
  • Birdsong Sweet Summertime -ET, born July 21, 2018
  • Birdsong Glacier Fire -ET, born July 22, 2018
  • Birdsong Gypsy Moon -ET, born July 24, 2018
  • Birdsong Northern Frost -ET, born July 24, 2018

​Fancier was culled on March 17, 2018.