WOOSTER, Ohio — In 2021, Ohio State Agricultural Technical Institute’s Dairy Farm held a full dispersal sale of its Jersey herd, leaving just one full herd of the golden, high-fat producing cattle left in the university system — at Waterman Farms in Columbus.
Among the barn crew at the time was Abbey Werstler, an agriculture communication student who had discovered dairy during her time at the Wooster campus. Though many students filled milking shifts, none fell harder for the small, golden calves than Werstler.
She had never been around dairy before college, but that changed fast.
“I thought, what better way to get more involved and diversify myself than to jump into an industry I didn’t know, which was dairy at the time,” she said.
Werstler first worked at Krauss Dairy in Wooster during her two-year associate’s program at ATI, then at Waterman Farms when she was completing her bachelor’s degree in Columbus. When COVID sent most students home in 2020, she returned to Wooster to work at the ATI Dairy, her favorite barn.
She graduated in December 2021, having completed the trifecta by working at all three of Ohio State’s dairies. But she knew her time with the herd was not over. At the auction, she saw an opportunity, maybe her only chance to keep part of that herd in her life.
With a completed bidder registration and some confidence, she left the auction with two spring calves. Those calves would become the start of Lady A Jerseys, a registered herd built not out of inheritance or legacy, but out of grit and love.
Ohio State was transitioning
Despite the shuffle, dreams were not lost, but gained at that dispersal sale.
Ohio State was transitioning at the time to upgraded facilities, intended to improve herd efficiency. They operated three milking dairy units: Krauss Dairy and the ATI Dairy in the Wooster area, and Waterman Farms in Columbus — all of which served as teaching and research facilities.
In 2021, the Jersey herd at the ATI Dairy was fully dispersed in an auction. All remaining lactating cows in Wooster were relocated to the Krauss Dairy Center, while the ATI facility shifted its focus to raising replacement heifers, a decision made by OSU to “drive operational efficiency, maximize resource utilization.”
The final phase of the university’s dairy facilities renovation in Columbus is expected to wrap up in 2025, when Waterman Farms installs new robotic milking systems in preparation for the return of its Jersey herd, set to move back in around November.
But on that Friday afternoon in June 2021, Wrestler secured her calves in the shuffle, even getting into a bidding war against Ohio State which was trying to retain specific genetics.
The start of something new
Werstler did not grow up on a dairy farm. Her livestock roots ran through the farrowing barn, where her mom once carried her in a baby carrier while pulling pigs. A classic 4-H kid, she showed beef cattle, turkeys and horses in Wayne County. While her family stopped farrowing pigs during her early teen years, Werstler never let the barn door close.
Months after purchasing her first two calves, fall came around, along with the Ohio Fall Jersey Production Sale. She bought two heifers and one bull calf, all while still a student. The local farm she later worked at during school, Esselburn Dairy, raised the calves until graduation. Then her family retrofitted the old family pig barn for her new herd.
By 2023, Werstler had bred and raised her first generation. Almost 20 cows later, Lady A Jerseys have been sold as calves to local 4-H members, steers have been processed for beef and her animals are registered through the American Jersey Cattle Association, identifiable by their pink ear tags, a personalized brand of Lady A Jerseys.
The calves and steers are raised at her barn, while the milking cows and bred heifers stay at a neighboring farm that she tends to.
Her commitment to building a herd and preserving the Jersey legacy led to another purchase a few years later.
“I actually bought a heifer that traced back to my oldest cow — it was neat,” she said.
To Werstler’s knowledge, only one other person in Wayne County still owns part of that original ATI jersey herd, a point of pride in keeping Jersey genetics and small-scale herds alive in the region. At auctions cattle can head all across the Midwest and Northeast, but Abbey wanted to keep this special herd here, the herd that changed her path to dairy.
A resilient journey
Buying cows was the easy part; being with them every day was harder.
Werstler was always the “ag kid” in her writing classes at Ohio State’s Columbus campus. She graduated knowing Wayne County would always be home, but at the time, she was not sure what came next.
To pursue her love of livestock and communication, she found roles ranging from staff writer to community banker. But she admitted, “It is challenging when you are in a job you just do not see a career in.”
She wanted to be present mentally and physically in a career, and she could “only find that in farming.”
With pressure to settle into a regular full-time office job, Werstler was determined to not let go of the herd she was building. “I’m not going to start something and give it all away,” she said.
At the beginning of 2025, she received the call that would allow her to work with cows full-time at Steffen Dairy Farm. This now gave her the flexibility to pursue a full-time career in dairy production and build her personal herd.
A mentor, show-woman
The market and the mission of her solo business lies in the hands of young 4-H members. A former 4-H’er herself, Werstler now serves as an advisor for the Wayne County Hoof-N-Hide 4-H Club.
In a single day, she moves between her work at Steffen Farms, chores for her herd and mentoring 4-H kids. When a new calf is born, it makes Werstler smile knowing “my herd is growing and gives me more opportunities for 4-H youth.”
Still active in the ring, Werstler hauls heifers to open all-breed shows, getting the cows out, helping kids and sharing her passion for agriculture. Her dream, much like the kids she mentors, is to win a class at the Ohio State Fair and show at World Dairy Expo.
Serving on the Wayne County Farm Bureau Board since 2022, she has brought a fresh perspective, representing young and beginning livestock producers. Among her proudest moments in advocacy are speaking at her alma mater, Triway High School, and inspiring the next generation through school visits to Shreve Elementary.
Werstler plans to continue working at Steffen Farms milking and managing herd health as full-time staff. In addition, she will grow her herd and support her fiancé, David, who also farms in the county.
She admits the dairy industry comes with uncertainty. Many farms in her area have shuttered their barns and sold off their cows. “It’s sad,” she said. “There are people just like me who still want to raise cows.” But when barns close and auctions end, not every dream disappears in the shuffle of the dairy industry. Some are just getting started.
