Board and Committees

2024 Jersey Ontario President, Heather Peters, Tavistock, ON

Dennis and Heather Peters are principles, along with Brian and Wendy Anderson, in Athlone Farms/Braeview Jerseys. The farm comprised of a 300-head herd, including youngstock purebred Holsteins and a few purebred Jerseys in

2013, was devasted by fire. Rebuilt as a mixed herd, Holsteins and Jerseys and currently 68 head of Jerseys ( 2 multiple “E”s, 2 EX, 19 VG, 8GP and those yet to be classified.

The 140 cows are milked in a double-10 parlour and produce 35 kilograms per day at 4.2 fat. The freestalls are bedded with biosolids from the farm’s anaerobic digester. The family also farms 600 acres.

Additionally, the farm has sought to be “sustainable”. “ The Athlone farm southeast of Stratford is converting methane from cow manure and bio-waste to electrical and thermal energy. Athlone Farms Inc., the 600-acre dairy and crop farm retained PlanET Biogas Solutions Inc., to construct a biogas system that will provide enough electricity to power at least 500 homes. By utilizing methane produced from their farm manure and imported organic waste, the system reduces atmospheric methane, provide a better quality of crop nutrient and even supply clean bedding for the farm's dairy animals.

The Jerseys were introduced as a result of Heather’s time at the University of Guelph, and the influence of Bobby Jarrell (RJ Farms) and Kerry Alexander (Maker Farms Inc.). Heather joined as a Director, the board of Jersey Ontario in 2002*. Heather has Chaired various committees including the Show Committee, Promotion/Communications Committee and sat on the Youth Committee, Milk Marketing and Research Committee and is currently also on the Executive Committee and Board Governance 75th Anniversary Committee. Heather is an organizer of the Western Ontario Youth Rallies and a key support person for the organization.

Heather as part of her role at Trouw/Shur-Gain Nutrition was instrumental in the Benchmarking Project for Jerseys.

2024 New Director, Quinte-Trent Jersey Club - Terry Creighton

2024 2024 New Director, Bruce-Grey Jersey Club - Jessica Kember

2024 New Director, Kawartha Jersey Club – Ben Sargent

Ben currently farms with his family at Enniskillen Jerseys which works with 100% Jerseys and is heavily involved in the Sargent Family Dairy. His passion of furthering the Jersey breed was instilled into him by Tim and Sharyn Sargent who have served on Jersey breeds boards at both the national and levels.

Ben’s interest spans the governance and development of Jersey Ontario as well as an interest is research and how even a couple Jerseys or a group of Jerseys can affect the components and SNF of a primarily Holstein herds milk tank, along with learning about benefits and challenges of differing management systems.