In the spring of 2003, Neil left Jersey Ontario, after having represented them as the Extension Manager/Fieldman for five years.  This enabled him to further develop his newly established "Hometown" Jersey herd, working with five flush cows averaging 11 years of age (Carmella - Genesis Jerseys, Cookie - Glenholme Jerseys, Ciss - Aland Jerseys, Natalie & Glossy - Huronia Jerseys)  Thanks to the generosity of these breeders as well as others like Hollylane, Rapid Bay, Jaspar and Willow Creek, we have been able to establish a strong foundation for the future.

In the meantime, Melanie purchased her first Jersey in 1988 and after a gift from her grandfather, began breeding Jerseys with her sister, Tiffany, under their grandfather's Bakercroft prefix.  Their cow family has yielded many heifers - including their two homebred Excellent cows, Bakercroft Galaxy Becky SUP-EX 90 and her daughter, Bakercroft GC Butterscotch EX 93-2E. 

In 2005, Neil moved his Hometown Jerseys four hours east from his family farm in Hagersville, Ontario, to their current location on Melanie's grandmother's 260 acre farm near Bath, south of Napanee - where they were combined with Melanie's portion of the Bakercroft Jerseys under the Hometown prefix.  In 2006, we purchased the minimum amount of quota and began milking the first large batch of Hometown two year olds from the flush program.

In 2007, we managed a reduction dispersal and consignment sale, as the number of animals had grown to exceed the quota available for milk production.  Rebuilding of the herd is taking place with several older cows and young heifers that remained on the farm.

In 2008, we were fortunate to be recognized for our efforts.  We were recipients of the Bill Teasdale Memorial Award for an Outstanding Young Jersey Breeder in Ontario as well as a Jersey Canada Young Achiever Award.  Melanie was also a recipient of an Ontario Dairy Youth Award, winning a trip to the World Dairy Expo in Madison Wisconsin through Holstein Ontario and the Ontario Dairy Youth Trust Fund.

In spring 2010, our 1st bull was released by Semex, Hometown On The Money. This step gave us a boost of confidence and made us start to consider selling bulls to A.I. as part of our marketing plan. The timing was perfect, as we had been watching genomics taking off in the Holstein breed during the previous year. As a result, we started to search the US Jersey herdbook for high production females who either were Genomically tested or could test high and meet the pedigree and breeding philosophy we had already been developing.

In March 2010, a trip to Gaby Jersey Farm in Tenessee, USA resulting in the purchase of an eventual 5 head to start the nucleous of the Hometown genomically tested cattle. These cattle have created quite a stir within the Canadian Jersey population bringing a large number of visitors and investors in search of both female and male offspring. We look forward to maintaining the excitement about these unique cattle well into the future.

Currently, 50 cows are milking on the farm.  We continue trying to breed for the "Hometown" kind - strong dairy cows with width, depth, well attached udders, good feet and legs who possess the will to milk, high components and depth of pedigree to ensure all of these traits can be passed on from generation to generation.

We welcomed our daughter, Chelsea Mae, to our family in April 2011.

We invite you to phone, email or drop in anytime - we always have time to chat about our favourite topic - the Jersey cow!