In 1975 Lorne and Mary Ann Ruesink started Needle-Lane Farms. They began their dairy herd with 100 milking Registered Holsteins. One of Lorne's passions was in genetics, although he had a degree in Forestry from Michigan State University he chose to milk cows since he could see more generations in his lifetime. Realizing that the black and white genetics were well established and it could take longer than his career to make an impact in the breed. Lorne chose to start breeding red & white Holsteins. This color of Holstein had been around for quite some time but had only started gaining acceptance in the 70's. It wasn't long before they started putting bulls into commercial studs. Most notable of these in the 80's was Needle-Lane Jon-Red. Other sires like Needle-Lane Juryman-Red had a positive impact worldwide.

      The next 20 years brought many changes to Needle-Lane and the herd was moved more than a few times and dispersed twice (milking animals only). Somehow through the tumultuous years the herd has been maintained. Presently young stock are raised at the home farm and around 40 milking animals are housed and milked by Top-o-Hill farm in Tipton, Michigan.

Our Breeding Program is based on the aAa system. We are trying to breed for high components, type, and longevity all within a commercial system. The emphasis on red hair-color is still there along with the introduction of the polled gene. Most all of the herd is either red or red-factor with about 20% of the animals being polled.

Some of the highlights of our present herd include:

Needle-Lane Bacc Doris*RC   EX-92 EX-MS over 155,000 milk and still producing! Her son Ohlman*RC by the famous O-Man bull is being proven. His first daughters look great and are milking great. We anticipate his first proof coming out in April 2011. Semen in available!!!

We always have Breeder Bulls, Heifers, and Cows available from the best of our herd! Please email us or contact Beverly Ruesink at 517-263-5912 for more information!