A Brown Swiss cattle breeders group has given an award to the Kennedy farm in Penn Township. Members of the family are, from left, back row, Justin and Victoria Kennedy, Jordan Kennedy, and Jeff and Janice Kennedy, and front row, Jim and Rita Kennedy with great-grandsons Bryson and Caleb.

The Kennedy family loves their cows.

The six-generation farming family has been raising Brown Swiss dairy cows at their Four Seasons Farm in Penn Township since 1958, and they recently won a national award for their herd from the Brown Swiss Cattle Breeders Association of Wisconsin.

They won the Progressive Genetic Herd Award, which is given to the herd with the most increase from the previous year in predicted transmitting ability (PTA) protein of all cows within the same herd. The award has four divisions based on herd size. The Kennedy farm is in Group 3 for having 50 to 99 registered Brown Swiss cows.

The farm won the same award six years ago and received recognition for 65 years of continual Brown Swiss breeding two years ago, said Jeff Kennedy, who works the farm with his son, Jordan.

“It's a national award, so it feels pretty good,” Kennedy said.

He said the award is based on achieving the highest genomic improvement in a herd and is measured by improvements in production from one generation to the next.

They milk 55 of their 78 cows and have 80 young cows under 2 years old.

“We love our cows,” Kennedy said.

Brown Swiss milk is known for having high protein and butter fat content that is used in cheese production.

“They're big docile cows,” Kennedy said.

Brown Swiss cows don't produce as much milk as Holstein cows, but the protein and butter fat components in their milk makes them profitable, he said. Brown Swiss produce the highest cheese yield among all breeds, he added.

The farm grows 300 acres of corn and hay for the cattle.

Kennedy said his great-grandfather got the family started in farming and his grandfather opened the farm in Penn Township in 1958.

His parents, Jim and Rita Kennedy, ran the farm before him and are semi-retired, but still help out, he said. His other son, Justin, and his wife, Victoria, also work on the farm when they can.

Jeff, Jim and Rita have served on the association's board of directors. Jim's six-year term ended last year.

The association registers 9,000 animals per year and serves about 1,800 adult and junior members. All cattle in the registry descend from the initial importations of 25 bulls and 140 females from Switzerland, where the breed was developed around 4000 B.C.