Ideal Fury Reflector ~ Siring Special Sons & Daughters - Cowsmo

Ideal Fury Reflector ~ Siring Special Sons & Daughters

Ideal Fury Reflector was bred by Irvin McDowell, Salina, KS.

A feature article in our 2020 Winter issue written by Doug Urban. 

It was the summer of 1978 and I was living and working in Lake Mills, Wisconsin when I found myself driving by Crescent Beauty Farm on the edge of Fort Atkinson one day. I decided to stop in and see the cows. No one was in the barn, but the cows were in and detailed pedigree signs were above every stall. I was impressed to find everything neat and clean in the barn. In the barn I found twice All-American Lucht-View Atlas Lady EX-95-3E and several Excellent daughters of Crescent Beauty Talent EX-95 including the lovely black cow, Crescent-Beauty Talent Mary EX-93. However, it was in a large wellbedded box stall where I found the great white cow, ‘Felicia May’. Gene-Acres Felicia May Fury EX-97-5E was Supreme Champion cow at the 1974 World Dairy Expo. Felicia May had also been Reserve AllAmerican 4 times and was All-American Aged cow twice. She also was a member of the 1971, 1972, 1973 and 1974 All-American Get of Sire. In addition, she had lifetime production totals of 227,830M 4.3% 9,369F. As I signed the guest book and walked out of the barn I left in awe, knowing that I had seen one of my favorite cows of all-time…Felicia May a daughter of the fine type bull Ideal Fury Reflector
EX-GM.

Gene-Acres Felecia May Fury EX-97-5E was Supreme Champion at the 1974 World Dairy Expo. Doug Urban captured this photo of her (below) at Crescent Beauty Farm in Fort Atkinson, WI, in 1978.

Ideal Fury Reflector EX-GM was bred by Irvin McDowell of Salina, Kansas. Irvin ‘Spud’ McDowell was an interesting character. It has been said that Spud loved to play high school basketball. At the end of basketball season, he would quit going to school and work on the farm resulting in him failing. Irvin ‘Spud’ McDowell played basketball until he was 21 years old to great advantage because of his size and experience. Irvin lived on a farm and worked for his neighbor Elmer Dawdy who is known for breeding many influential foundation animals of the Holstein breed. Irvin milked cows for Elmer and clipped cows for sales that Elmer managed and worked with the show string. He had worked out a deal where he got paid with a heifer calf from a first calf heifer instead of getting paid with cash. Over six years Irvin received thirteen heifers for his labor. All were sired by sons of Wis Burke Ideal. One of those heifers was Ideal Burke Bessie EX-90 the dam of Ideal Fury Reflector. She was sired by Burke Ideal Raven Nomad. Her dam Bess Ideal Burke EX-94-4E-GMD was a daughter of Wis Burke Ideal and was four times All-Kansas Aged Cow. He received Bessie in exchange for $200 of labor. When Elmer Dawdy saw Bessie after she calved, he desperately tried to buy her back, but Irvin refused to sell her. When it came time to breed Bessie Irvin decided upon using Woodbourne Inka Reflector VG the A B C Reflection Sovereign son of the All-American Aged Cow Inka Pietje Veeman EX-95 GMD. Irvin had seen Reflector daughters at the show in Waterloo, Iowa and thought that he would be a good mating on the heavy Wis Burke Ideal blood that was in the pedigree of Ideal Burke Bessie. He liked the height and stretch and dairyness of the Woodbourne Inka Reflector daughters that he had seen at Waterloo. He was not going to use more Wis Burke Ideal blood as he felt that Dawdy’s inbreeding program was resulting in cattle that were short-legged and lacking dairyness as of late. On April 23, 1959 Bessie calved with a healthy, leggy bull calf. Irvin named the calf ‘Fury’ after the stylish Plymouth Fury car that he admired.

Irvin McDowell decided to use Fury in his herd. The farm grew high quality alfalfa and the cows produced well. Irvin and his brother Eldon had one of the highest producing herds in Kansas and the McDowell Brothers used the prefix ‘Elm-Lim’. There were 32 Fury offspring with the Elm-Lim prefix and several bulls were used as herd sires. When the first Fury daughters started calving the bull made a good preliminary proof and were stylish, had level rumps and outstanding udders. The word spread that Fury was siring the right kind and in 1964 Elmer Dawdy brought a bull buyer from Northern Ohio Breeders’ Association (N.O.B.A.) to the McDowell farm. Based on the appearance of the Fury daughters at the farm, the bull buyer from N.O.B.A. decided to buy him and the trailer picked him up later that week. They stopped to weigh him at a stockyard in Ohio where Fury tipped the scales at 3,800 pounds.

Bess Ideal Burke was the granddam of Ideal Reflector Fury and was 4x All-Kansas Aged Cow.

The late Ron Schaap was a long-time herdsman at Pinehurst Farms owned by David H. Bachmann of Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin. There he worked with many high-scoring cows and All-American nominees. His favorite cow was a Fury daughter, Dolvic Fury Bubaleah EX-97 who was Reserve All-American Aged Cow in 1973 and a member of the All-American Get of Sire in 1972 and 1973. Bubaleah was also the
dam of Pinehurst Copyright EX-GM the Prestige of Lakehurst EX-95 GM son who sired many AllAmericans and nominees. Copyright was Premier Sire of the 1980 Central National Holstein Show and the sire of Pinehurst’s homebred All-American Gets of Sire in 1980, 1981 and 1982.

Fury also sired full sisters out of Sibu Ivanhoe Rebecca VG-88 named Rosemere Fury Becky VG-88 and Rosemere Fury Iva EX-95 2E. This pair formed the All-American Produce of Dam in 1973, 1974 and 1975 and Iva was All-American 4-year old in 1974 and Reserve All American Aged Cow in 1975. They both were also members of various of the Fury All-American Gets of Sire from 1971 through 1975. They were shown by E-L-V Apache Ranch of Lapeer, Michigan. Easthaven Quintillion Fury EX-93 was Reserve All-American 3-year old in 1971 and a member of two of the All-American Gets of Sire. Quintillion was a member of the 1972 All-Time All American Get of Sire with Iva, Felicia May and Bubaleah. She was bred by Richmond State Hospital of Richmond, Indiana and exhibited by A.B. Baker of Canton, Ohio.

Dolvic Fury Bubaleah EX-97 was a well-known Fury daughter and the Dam of Pinehurst Copyright, who became a sire of All-Americans himself.

In 1978 a Fury daughter from Ontario, Canada, Browndale Fury Echo Christie EX-3* was Supreme Champion at World Dairy Expo and All-American 4-year old. Her dam was the twice All-Canadian Green Elms Echo Christina EX-18* by Roybrook Telstar EX. Christie’s full brother Browndale Sir Christopher EX sired the All-American Get of Sire in 1987 and many All-American and All-Canadian nominees and
winners.

The influential Wapa Bootmaker Mandy EX-96 GMD was All-American 2-year old in 1975 and her dam Wapa Fury Bell EX-91 was one of 3 Excellent and 11 Very Good Furys bred by Wapa Farms of Wapakoneta, Ohio. Mandy’s S-W-D Valiant son Fisher-Place Mandingo-Twin EX-95 GM was the first bull to sell a million units of semen. Mandy also appears on the maternal side of Singing-Brook N-B MascotET VG-88 GM, another heavily used bull.

Other successful show ring type bulls have followed such as Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation EX-96 GM, Quality Ultimate EX, Hanoverhill Starbuck EX, Bridon Astro Jet-ET EX, Regancrest Elton Durham EX-GM and Braedale Goldwyn GP-GM, but the lovely daughters of the bull from Kansas bred by Spud McDowell…Ideal Fury Reflector will always have a special place in my heart.

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