About Arethusa Farm

Directions to Arethusa click here
Arethusa Farm was established in 1999 when owners, George Malkemus and Anthony Yurgaitis, purchased a horse farm across from their Litchfield, Connecticut home. The original plan called for starting a dairy farm and bottling milk for sale to the local community. However, as new barns were built, and old ones remodeled, a new plan started to take shape. George and Tony were introduced to “show cows”. They attended The Royal Winter Fair in 2001 where they introduced themselves to Ernie Kueffner. He had just exhibited both the Grand and Reserve Grand Champions and they were interested to learn how he became successful at the top level. They wanted him to join them in building Arethusa Farm.

Kueffner was hired as a Marketing Consultant in the spring of 2002. At the same time, Arethusa purchased two promising young cows, Ernest-Anthony SC Vivian and Brigeen Skychief Rose, and a group of ten open heifers from Ernie. Three of these deep-pedigreed heifers were flushed, resulting in the first seven heifer calves to carry the Arethusa prefix. Sammy and Ariel were the highest scoring two-year olds to come out of this group. Ariel was named Supreme Champion of the Kingsmill Futurity at World Dairy Expo in 2004. Sammy and Ariel are now 2E 95 and 2E 94, respectively, as 5-year olds. This purchase gave Arethusa Farm an outstanding group of deep-pedigreed young cows to build on. Now these cows are filling the barns with daughters of their own.

In the spring of 2002, Ernie began traveling to look at potential additions for the farm and Hillcroft Leader Melanie was purchased in Ontario. She went on to be unanimous All-American and All-Canadian 4-year old that year. Melanie calved in August of 2003 and became a back-to-back milking-class winner at Madison. She was also All-American 5-year old in 2003. While on an intensive flush program in 2004 she continued milking well and again, thoughts turned toward Madison. This time she would be fresh 14 months.

Also waiting for a chance at the competition was the new Arethusa Jersey, Huronia Centurion Veronica EX94. She had previously been named Reserve Grand Champion at three major shows as a 2-year old. Veronica continued her winning ways and was named Grand Champion Jersey at the 2004 World Dairy Expo. Then, 2 days later, Melanie was named Grand Champion Holstein. This was unprecedented! The same farm sent two cows into the Supreme Championship competition - then Veronica was announced as Reserve Supreme Champion and Melanie was named Supreme Champion at the 2004 World Dairy Expo! Arethusa Farm made history at World Dairy Expo.

Melanie went on to be Unanimous All-American Aged Cow and was voted 2005 World Champion Holstein by the readers of Holstein International magazine. Veronica has since proven that she, too, can milk over a year, continue flushing and show successfully. Veronica was fresh 16 months when she was named Supreme Champion at the PA All-American in 2005. Two weeks later she went to World Dairy Expo and was named Grand Champion for the second consecutive year. During her third lactation, Veronica won five Grand Championships along with the titles of Reserve Supreme Champion and Supreme Champion. She is due to calve again in 2006.

Melanie and Veronica have established themselves as the matriarchs of Arethusa Farm. They are both proven show-winners with tremendous milk production and are outstanding flush cows. These traits, combined with deep pedigrees, keep their offspring and embryos in high demand. They both define the “total package” when it comes to dairy cows.

The overwhelming success of the 2004 show campaign brought a new excitement to the owners of Arethusa. They began talking about building larger facilities. The goal at Arethusa Farm has always been to breed a herd of outstanding individuals carrying the Arethusa prefix, while continually marketing offspring and embryos in order to see a return on the investment. Working toward this goal through an extensive embryo transfer program forced large building projects in 2005-2006. The herd had grown from 70 head to 240 head in a 30-month period. In August 2005, we moved animals into a new heifer facility complete with 24 group pens, curtain ventilation, inside wash rack, and office. Calves are moved to this barn (80’ X 280’) after they are weaned and stay until they are close to calving. Heifers have access to pastures through the summer and fall.

We completed our state-of-the-art, larger milking facility in 2006, which houses 80 cows. Features include 10 box stalls, tunnel ventilation, automatic feeder, comfort mattresses, inside wash rack, large feed storage area, and pasture access. An attractive conference room in the main entryway displays Arethusa show memorabilia.

In 2006 the farm also enlarged the existing calf barn. It can now accommodate up to 80 calves in individual pens as well as group pens that allow weaned calves to adapt to this concept before moving to the heifer barn.

Arethusa Farm currently has a growing nucleus of excellent employees that have one thing in common—they love working with good cattle.

New Barns being built at Arethusa - check them out! Directions to Arethusa click here