Weg Acres Major’s Faith

Willard and Sylvia Gerner moved their young family to Fort Atkinson in 1955. They brought with them their foundation herd of Milking Shorthorns, farm equipment, a feed surplus and household furniture from the family’s West Bend (Cheeseville) third generation farm.

Moving “lock, stock and barrel” was a bold and challenging move for the young family, but, they soon found lifelong friends in the tight-knit Town of Oakland farming community. St. Pius X, a new Catholic parish in the Cambridge area, as well as, the Ripley School, brought together plenty of support and camaraderie among the area farmers.

Willard’s family had imported the first registered cattle into Washington County…Milking Shorthorn from Canada with English roots.  Their newly established herd in Fort Atkinson adopted the WEG Acres prefix, continuing on with Milking Shorthorn breed. After renting the farm on what now is known as “Perry Road”, the Gerners purchased the property in the 70’s from Illinois landlords. They also had purchased the neighboring Perry farm earlier that year.

The family continued the tradition of exhibiting their herd of “red, white and roans” at shows, from local to state and nationally. Willard, himself was active in 4-H, as were his sisters and brother. Weg Acres Major’s Faith was born in the early 1970’s.  The couple knew she was special, having a strong pedigree in both type and production. Faith was ahead of the times with her extreme dairy character. In 1980, WEG Acres delved into the developing era of embryo transplant. They partnered with some vets and another farmer in southwestern Wisconsin for a go at super ovulating Faith. The Gerners mated her with imported semen from a special Australian bull, Sunnyview Princess’ Promise.  In 1981 Faith’s procedure yielded three daughters and four sons, the first ET’s to be registered in the Milking Shorthorn breed. Faith, classified Excellent 93, went on to Grand Champion Honors at World Dairy Expo 1980 and Wisconsin’s Cow of the Year in 1981.

Though Jefferson County boasted some of the country’s most famous Dairymen where Holstein reigned supreme, those most respected by Willard and Sylvia always encouraged them with the attitude, “a good cow, is a good cow, no matter what the color!” Willard was especially proud of attending the UW Farm Short Course after high school and graduating from the Graham school of breeding. But, Willard and Sylvia’s greatest achievement was developing a beautiful farm and family, focusing on hard work, faith and respect for the land and animals that yielded so much.