Dave Burket and Burket Falls Farm

This is part five of a continuing series of articles about people who have called the Cove home.  This week's article features Dave Burket and The Burket Falls Farm.

In the rural area of Blair County, known as Greenfield Township, in a section known as Pole Cat Hollow, is Burket Falls Farm. This farm is known worldwide for the registered Holstein dairy cattle with the polled (naturally hornless) and red hair coat genes that they have developed and bred. Today, over two-thirds of all polled Holstein in the world trace their roots to Burket Falls Farm.

The farm was established in 1928 by Frank W Burket. His son, Dave assumed responsibility for the family farm at the age of fourteen when his father was injured and unable to work the farm. "Dad was going to sell the farm. I talked him out of it. Since I was only fourteen, I was still in school and went back to work after school," Dave said.

Dave's son, John, currently runs the farm. He said that when his dad took over the dairy farm, they had mostly Guernsey and crossbreeds.

Then, in 1960, he said he had decided that he wanted some registered Holsteins. So, Dave went with a friend to Wisconsin and purchased a group of registered Holsteins. 

"It just so happened that one of the cows that I bought had a calf, that never developed horns," Dave said.

He remembers that the only thing that was different about that calf was that she was such an aggressive eater. She would eat anything that the older cattle would eat. 

She didn't grow any horns but there wasn't much thought about it. However, she produced at about twice the herd average with really high butter fat.

Dairy cows, for the most part, are all born with horns.  John says that they don't have horns when they are born, but genetically, they have them and the older they get the more they grow. 

Dave began to take notice and he began to inquire about the polled gene. He knew nothing about it.  

"I didn't know it was dominant," he said, "That got us to pay attention."

Dave sought the advice of the better cowmen in the nation. The system that they had didn't always agree with the mavericks. He believed in good cattle and the system at the time was all on index on numbers. If a cow had numbers, she was a good cow by their standards. 

There were a lot of people who understood the advantage of the polled gene. John explains that it is the gene that his dad lucked into. This animal that never developed horns was the best cow that he had in his herd. She was an extremely high producer and set several national records in milk production back in the 60s and 70s.

It was that gene that he worked with and capitalized on and today the polled gene is sought after because there is not a nice way to take horns off of cattle. To circumvent all of that, he has bred them genetically hornless. The demand for polled cattle around the world over the last twenty-five years has grown immensely.

John also said that in the early days, the naysayers laughed at him, thinking it was all a foolish idea. But his dad never let that bother him. He just continued and has been recognized in the state, the country, and around the world as a pioneer in polled Holstein breeding.

Dave and his farm were inducted into The Pennsylvania Holstein Hall of Fame back in 2003. He was inducted into The National Dairy Shrine in 2018. He was recognized as a pioneer in dairy cow breeding as recently as October 2018. 

About two years ago, Holstein International, a magazine published around the world, recognized him as one of the most influential Holstein breeders in the last twenty-five years. 

The farm also won the ACE Award (The Blair County Agriculture Excellence Award.) He was also inducted into the Claysburg Hall of Fame in July 2021.

John says that his dad is quite a humble guy. He doesn't bask in the limelight, but he feels that he has been vindicated in the pursuit of his dream, which is to breed the dairy cow polled or hornless. He always commented that someday the Holstein breed would be polled. That is, slowly but surely coming to fruition, primarily based on his work.

Dave says that he really is not surprised at the attention his farm has received because of the good sound cows that they had and the fact that they were naturally polled.  

"I figured that it would catch on and it has," he said.  "I don't know that I realized that it would be to the extent that it is today.  The breed will be polled in time."

Dave remembers growing up in Claysburg fondly. 

"I had some good people behind me," he said. "My grandpap was probably the most respected person in the community. People went to him for advice. Dad had a good mind, but he was crippled. I had a good family.  Now, John has been calling the shots for the last thirty-five years."

John continues to say that he doesn't think that his dad ever thought that he would become world-famous over this, but he thought that his dad always felt that for the betterment of mankind and animals kind that the polled gene would be something noteworthy and go down in history as a noble cause.

John also says that he should credit his mother some, as well. She worked alongside his dad.  They have been married for sixty-nine years. She supported him and his endeavors 100%. When they had international visitors, she helped host them. She cooked for them and provided for them. She was important in the success of the farm.

"We have had thousands of visitors over the years," John said. "They have come from all fifty states, forty countries and six continents.  It took a lot of work and preparation to prepare for visitors and so forth. My mother was always by his side in every way."

"Our genetics have been spread in every state where there is dairy cattle as well as countries around the world," he said. "The impact of that is far-reaching."

Addressing the future, John says that their plans are to continue in the dairy business and to continue marketing genetics as they have over the past fifty years. 

"We supplement our milk income with the work of genetics. That is our plan going forward," he said. "I am the third generation, the fourth generation is my children.  They are all in on it."

As far as the legacy of the farm, John says that he is just awfully proud of the hard work that his parents put into making the farm what it is.  He says that his role is kind of a small one.  He feels blessed to step into the management role and to continue the tradition.

Sophia, the cow that made the farm known, was born in 1974. She was selected in 2013 as one of the seven most important Holsteins ever bred or developed in the state of Pennsylvania. This recognition was made during the centennial celebration of the Pennsylvania Holstein Association.

The two cows that primarily made the farm known are buried in their yard.

"I do believe that anything that one sets out to do, they can accomplish it," he said. "My father proved that. I am fifty-seven years old and I watched all of those years. My father stayed true to his principles, he never deviated from what he felt was the right thing to do and did it the right way. It was a tremendous lesson for anyone, particularly his children, his three sons, watching him and how he worked. He worked extremely hard but he was never intimidated by what the neighbors and the naysayers were doing.  He stayed focused and stayed true to his roots.  He has been a tremendous success within the dairy industry, not only locally but around the world."