Beslea Farms Ltd. is located in Yarker, a town in Eastern Ontario, Canada, and is owned and operated by Chris and Brianne Brown. Brianne was the first female in the Besley family to take ownership of the farm, making her the 6th generation there. She and Chris have owned the farm for 10 years now and reside there with their 5 children.
There are 220 head on the farm, including 100 milking cows, both Holstein (60%) and Jersey (40%). Brianne says “we strive for longevity and production, so type is very important to us. Our goals are to breed low maintenance cows that are productive and can compete in the show ring.” The herd at Beslea is now over 60% VG or better with nothing lower than GP in the barn. Holstein sires currently used are Dempsey, Brewmaster, Solomon, Doorman, Expander, Sidekick and Unix. On the Jersey side sires like Tequila, Excitation, Black Apple, Reviresco, Colton, Dragon, Velocity and Andreas are used in the breeding program. “We are never the first to use a new bull,” says Brianne, “we like to wait and see the type of offspring they produce.”
The first homebred EX cow, Beslea Leader Lynette, has produced numerous notable offspring in the herd. Most recently Beslea Doorman Lattitude, a descendant of Lynette, won her class at the NY Spring Carousel earlier this year. A line of Red & White Holsteins that goes back to Emlane Enhancer Maud EX 10* has also done well for Beslea, both in the show ring and with production.
The Jersey genetics have been dominated by two main cow families: Alexvale Made Me Giggle EX-96 3E, who was Grand Champion at World Dairy Expo in 2008 and Jaspar Renaissance’s Evening EX-91 3E 20*, a 3X All-Canadian winner. Purchasing descendants from these two lines have produced multiple show winners with the Beslea prefix. Most noteably, Beslea Vivtar Goblin was named All-American after capturing 1st Winter Calf and Junior Champion at the All-American Jersey Show in Kentucky and placing 2nd in the Winter Calf class at World Dairy Expo.
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