James S. Huffard III, Crockett, Va., received the Distinguished Service Award of the American Jersey Cattle Association on June 24, 2023 in LaCrosse, Wisconsin.
The Distinguished Service Award is presented by the Board of Directors to as many living AJCA members and/or members’ families, who, in the opinion of the Board of Directors, have rendered outstanding and unselfish service for many years and thereby made a notable contribution to the advancement of the Jersey breed in the United States.
During his time in the dairy industry, James has taken on a variety of responsibilities including leadership positions, developing genetics, marketing products, and creating friendships and mentorships with other breeders. The Huffard Dairy Farm has been operating under the slogan “Production-Pure Genetics Since 1929” for almost 100 years. The land and farm have been in the family for over 200 years and is recognized as a Century Farm by the Virginia Department of Agriculture. Due to this, it is no surprise that James has been surrounded by the Jersey breed his whole life.
After graduating from Virginia Tech, he began dairying full time with his father. He also stays busy as co-owner of Duchess Dairy Products and operating his own nutrition consulting company, Rationale Inc.
James has had a passion for breeding programs, but he is so much more than just that. Jeff Ziegler, Ostrander, Ohio, vice president dairy cattle breeding at Select Sires, Inc comments on James’s willingness to step up and be a leader. He has demonstrated this by supporting the American Jersey Cattle Association and National All-Jersey, Inc., in leadership positions. James served on the AJCA Board of Directors from 1988 to 1994 and then became president from 2001 to 2004. During his time on the board, he was the chair of the Breed Improvement Committee and helped develop the Functional Trait Index.
He has also served on the NAJ board as vice president since 2009 and serves as the NAJ finance chair and member of the Joint Operations Committee. He also currently serves as the technical advisor on the Type Advisory Committee and is a member of the AJCC Research Advisory Committee and the Investment Advisory Committee. In the early 2000s, he chaired the Vision 21 Committee and was a founding member and former president of Dixieland Jersey Sires Inc. These are just a few from the long list of his involvement and contributions to the Jersey industry.
The positions he has held in the past and present are all proof that he not only cares about the Jersey breed, but the industry as a whole. In addition to positions within the Jersey breed, he is also active within his Virginia community. He is a board member for the Virginia Department of Agriculture and Consumer Services and supported education in agriculture when he was the chair of Agricultural Business Technology Advisory Committee of Wytheville Community College.
James has been recognized on the local, national, and international levels for his involvement. In 1982 he received the American Jersey Cattle Club Young Jersey Breeder Award. The next year he received the Outstanding Young Farmer Award and in 1986 he was given the Virginia Tech William M. Etgen Outstanding Alumnus Award. His next achievement was in 2008 when he received the AJCA Master Breeder award. He continued to be recognized with awards into 2014 with the World Dairy Expo’s Dairyman of the Year award, and into today with this Distinguished Service Award.
