The Wisconsin Holstein Association (WHA) hosted the annual Adult Holstein Convention at the Hotel Mead and Conference Center in Wisconsin Rapids, February 24 and 25. Holstein breeders from across the state were in attendance for meetings, speakers and tours, and to receive recognition for outstanding accomplishments in 2022.

The convention kicked off late Friday afternoon with WHA committee meetings. Following these meetings, the group enjoyed social time with other members before the evening dinner awards.

Here, the 2022 Wisconsin Top Performer cows were announced. Recognized were cows owned by Tom Kestell, Ever-Green-View, Waldo; Wargo Acres, Lodi; and Valley Drive Holsteins, Campellsport. The overall Top Performer was Valley-Drive Mctchn Snip EX-90 who at 6-08 made 53,786 pounds of milk, 5.2% and 2807 pounds of fat, and 3.4% and 1782 pounds of protein in 305 days.

Also recognized were owners of cows that have produced more than 300,000 and 400,000 pounds of lifetime milk. There were 54 cows recognized for producing over 300,000 pounds and three cows that produced over 400,000 pounds in 2022. Outstanding advertisements in the Wisconsin Holstein News in 2022 were also recognized. Taking top ad honors for the year was Mar-Linda-K Holsteins of Johnson Creek.

Attendees at Saturday morning’s early bird session heard from Erica Enright of Winright Holsteins, Winchester, Ontario. Erica shared her knowledge of raising elite show heifers with the group. She walked through the steps she takes from birth to weaning then weaning to entering a show program in terms of nutrition, housing, exercise and washing. Following her presentation, she answered questions from the group.

The annual WHA business meeting was held and included committee reports from board members and an update from Holstein USA board members, Bob Webb and Tony Brey, and Holstein USA CEO John Mayer. Two new members were elected to a three-year term on the WHA Board of Directors: Steve Maier, Jim Falls and Joe Meyer, Unity. Ralph Petersheim of Viroqua was elected to serve a full three-year term after completing a one-year term, and Kurt Loehr of Eden was re-elected to a second three-year term.

During Saturday’s luncheon, the association honored 40- and 50- year members, outstanding juniors and the 2023 Wall of Fame Inductees. This year’s inductees were person, Eugene Halbach; bull, Ocean-View Sexation; and cow, Triple-J-Mac Bic Betty.

Wall of Fame Person – Eugene Halbach
The Halbach farm was started in Waterford by Eugene’s (Gene) grandfather H.W. Halbach in the 1800s as a prominent chicken farm with a few cows. The first registered cow came to the farm in 1906. One of these three cows was the granddam of Sir Fobes Ormsby Hengerveld, the only six-time All-American bull ever in the breed.

After graduating from UW-Madison, Gene went back home to farm for several years with his dad and uncle before going on the show circuit showing cattle. He then worked as a manager at Clyman Farms in Watertown where he greatly improved the herd.

Following the Clyman Farms Dispersal in 1949, Gene became a classifier at Holstein Association for several years then was hired by Bristol Farms as a manager. His goal was to breed big, deep, wide front-ended and wide rumped cows that made a lot of milk. The herd moved to Marana Dairy in Arizona in the 1970s. Gene passed away in 1997 and at that time they were the highest herd average for their size group in Arizona.

In Gene’s lifetime he bred or developed: 86 – 200,000-pound cows; 935 – 100,000-pound cows; 30 Gold Medal Dams; 44 bulls sold to AI; 251 Excellent animals including 7 – 4E-cows and 26 – 3E-cows; 40 All-American nominations with 3 All-Americans, 11 Reserve All-Americans, 9 Honorable Mention All-Americans, and 3 Junior All-Americans; 5 National Show Premier Breeder awards; and 2 National Show Premier Exhibitor awards.

Wall of Fame Bull – Ocean-View Sexation
The story of Ocean-View Sexation starts 60 years ago at the 1963 National Holstein Convention when Marvin and Vivian Nunes purchased Ideograph Burkgov Steps, the great-granddam of Sexation. They were impressed with Steps’ udder, feet and legs and overall dairy quality.

Once at Ocean-View, Steps was bred to Ida-Falls Stylemaster – an ABS contract mating that resulted in a heifer calf, Ocean-View Mistress Sonia VG-87, Sexation’s granddam. Sonia was then mated to Rosafe Citation R, a mating that produced Ocean-View Citation Sheri VG-86, the dam of Sexation. Sexation entered the Nor-Cal young sire program in December of 1974 through a lease agreement. Sexation’s type pattern and components made him popular amongst US and international dairy producers.

Early descriptions of typical Sexation daughters – they were black, good uddered, well balanced cows that wear extremely well. As of April 1989 Sexation produced: 672 Excellent daughters; 839 daughters with 25,000 pounds milk; 690 daughters with 1000 pounds fat; 1044 daughters with 800 pounds protein; 407 daughters with 25,000 milk, 1000 fat and 800 protein; 135 Excellent daughters with 25,000 milk, 1000 fat and 800 protein; and 31 Excellent daughters with 30,000 milk, 1000 fat and 800 protein.

Wall of Fame Cow – Triple-J-Mac Bic Betty
Bob and Karyn Schauf of Indianhead Holsteins, Barron, purchased Triple-J-Mac Bic Betty in 1977 at a sale in Kansas. She was a wide butted, wide muzzled calf sired by Milu Betty Ivanhoe Chief from a great, deep cow family. Bic Betty lived to be 19 years old and was the first cow in the breed to have 20 Excellent daughters in a time before embryo transfer gained traction. She was scored EX-94 2E along with being a Gold Medal Dam and Dam of Merit.

At one point, Betty, had 10 Excellent daughters in the barn. Below her picture in the Wisconsin Holstein History book is the line “the greatest transmitting cow at Indianhead.” She had progeny around the globe and at the time of Schauf’s dispersal in 2017 they were still breeding from her maternal line. At one point, 35% of the Indianhead herd descended from Betty.

As noted in an Indianhead ad in December 1996, Betty had 15 Excellent daughters, 15 high Very Good daughters, 3 Excellent granddaughters and 12 high Very Good granddaughters – with 24 of them in the herd at that time. There were over 20 different sires on these high scoring cows; her transmitting ability was really second to none.

The afternoon was highlighted with a farm tour of Grass-Ridge Farm and Gardner Cranberry and Badger Fruit Processing. At Grass-Ridge Farm, tour attendees viewed a great crop of Registered Holsteins bred by the Lippert family in Pittsville. The farm milks more than 600 cows and has an RHA of 30,447 milk, 1252 fat and 1007 protein. The herd is a Holstein Association USA Progressive Breeder Registry (PPR) herd. After visiting the dairy, the group toured Gardner Cranberry and Badger Fruit Processing where they learned about cranberry farming and product production. The business consists of four segments – Gardner Cranberry, Badger Fruit Processing, Gardner Cold Storage and Gardner Trucking.

Honored at the Saturday evening banquet was this year’s Holstein Horizon award winner, Distinguished Young Holstein Breeder, Marlowe Nelson Distinguished Service, and Distinguished Holstein Breeder award winners.

The WHA Board of Directors met to elect officers for the upcoming year. Sara Feldmann of Sheboygan will serve as president. Vice President will be Kurt Loehr, Eden, and Erica Ullom of Bloomer will serve as secretary for a seventh year. Krista Luedtke, Hortonville, and Ty Hildebrandt, Hustisford, were also elected to serve on the Executive Committee.