With the 2017 show season wrapped up, there is one heifer that has been on everyone’s radar the last few months. Ms-AOL DB Raspberry-Red-ET stole the heart of 11-year-old Jadyn Kimball over a year ago and has proceeded to capture the attention of dairy enthusiasts from around the world. The success that Raspberry has had in the show ring is fueled by a stellar pedigree anchored by Miss Roxys Recovery-Red, tracing back to the one-and-only EX-97 Roxy and the partnerships behind her cow family.
How it all started
While Raspberry’s story starts just last year, the partnership behind the family starts in the fall of 2008. Jason Thomas called fellow New Yorker Adam Liddle about a cow he thought could be a good investment. “How can you go wrong with a Red Roxy?” commented Adam. They purchased Galestone Ava Rae-Red-ET (EX-91 EX-MS), an Advent from the EX Jubilant Rae branch of the Roxy family.
In 2011, Lucy Stockwell and Jason Tooley of Ms-AOL Holsteins were looking to add a red heifer to their herd. Lucy talked to Joyce Thomas, “the tail lady,” and she mentioned that her sons, Jordan and Jason, had a nice red heifer she should see. Lucy made the trip to Lowville, NY, to see Miss Roxys Recovery-Red, a Hvezda September calf of Rae. “I figured even if she never turned out to show, she had a great pedigree that we could breed from,” commented Lucy. Lucy and Jason paid $9,000, despite being skeptical that they’ve ever get a return on their investment. “Jason never saw Recovery before I bought her,” recalled Lucy, “so when I brought her home to Jason’s, he couldn’t believe I had paid that much for her.”
“Tooleys do an amazing job running their farm and raising their animals,” remarked Lucy. Recovery developed nicely and calved in as a Milking Yearling in 2012, eventually being named HM Red & White All-American Milking Yearling after placing third at Madison. Because they had their own recipients and an IVF satellite facility only 20 minutes away at Liddleholme, they decided to try Recovery and she performed very well. By March of 2014, they had 5 Ducati and 13 Contender heifers. “That’s when it really all got started.”
Standout Reds
Recovery scored EX-90 at 3 years old and scored EX-92 2E in spring 2017 at 6-07. Her most recent record is 28,650M 4.2F 1211 2.9P 838. Today, she has seven VG and three Excellent daughters. “Recovery has proven to us that she will always make us a good one that not only shows, but is red, and has the potential to complete 10 generations of Excellents,” commented Lucy. “And she is the only one that will never have a price,” Lucy noted, “to me, she’s priceless.”
One of those 10th generation Excellent cows is Ms-AOL Cntndr Revive-Red-ET (EX-92). Josh and Samantha Fairbanks, IA, were attending NY Spring Spring in 2017 and saw Revive tied in Jason and Lucy’s string. “It was an easy decision for us to purchase her with partners Doug and Jody Fairbanks and Madison Fisher when we saw her out of her stall,” remarked Josh. “Revive was a month fresh at the show and had an awesome udder with a pedigree that went back to Roxy to boot.”
Revive would go on to win the Junior 3 Year Old class at NY Spring Show and was named Intermediate Champion. She would max out at EX-92 EX-MS just two weeks after making the move to Iowa, and a week later she was 2nd and HM Intermediate Champion at the Midwest Spring Show. Finishing her year off right, she was 2nd and Production Winner at World Dairy Expo.
Revive is currently on an IVF program. “She’s an easy cow to mate with no Apple blood in her pedigree,” noted Josh. Sires they will use include Diamondback, Jordy, Avalanche, Hypnotic, Awesome and Jacot.
“Most great cows come from years of great breeding, the right bulls, strong maternal lines, and the hard work to develop cow families behind these cows,” commented Josh about the success that the Recovery family has seen. “It’s not easy but the homework was done with this family.”
Adam Liddle also partnered with Jason and Jordan on another of Rae’s daughters, Parkvue Absolute Rap-Red-ET (VG-88). Rap was 2nd Senior 3 year old at the 2017 Eastern States Red & White Show and Northeast Fall National Holstein Show. At this year’s World Dairy Expo, she was 3rd in class, 1st Bred & Owned and named Champion Bred & Owned of the Red & White Show. She will go through the IVF program this winter.
Beech Haven Ladies enter the picture
While Chris Kimball was serving as president of the New England Holstein Association, the Red & White show was added to the Eastern States Exposition in 2013. “We started looking for red calves then to help support the show,” he recalled, “and I felt it would be good experience for our girls to show there.” Chris is married to Jamie, and they have two daughters, Jadyn (11) and Kennedy (10) and they started Beech Haven Ladies in Windham, ME, in 2011. Chris also works for Semex and while traveling, stopped at Jason Tooley’s and saw Recovery and her daughters. At this point, Jason and Lucy had already sold a few of the older calves but had two red Contender March calves available. “I worked a deal to take a calf home and raise it for half interest and put the calf into Jaydn’s name so she could show it,” said Chris.
Chris selected Ms-AOL Cntndr Rookie-Red-ET (EX-91 EX-MS) who went on to win her class at the Eastern States Red & White Show two years in a row and was shown as a spring yearling at Expo, placing seventh. Rookie calved as a Junior 2-year-old and was purchased at the NY Spring Show by MilkSource Genetics LLC., WI, for $30,000. After selling fresh again in the spring of 2017, she was purchased by Stranshome and T&L Cattle, MN, and was named Intermediate Champion of the MN State B&W Show and Grand Champion of the MN State R&W Show. She sold in the Stranshome “Selling the Showstring Sale” during MN State Fair to Lane & Grady Wendorf, WI.
Because of the success that Jadyn and Rookie had their first year together, Chris returned to Jason’s in 2015 and came home with a Barbwire daughter of Recovery named Rebel. Jadyn had another winning year, taking Junior Champion honors at the Eastern States Red & White Show. As Beech Haven is only set up for heifers, she has returned to Jason’s and is due in December.
When it came time for Jadyn to select her heifer for 2017, she and Chris visited Jason’s together in October 2016 to see what they had for September calves. Full sisters Ms-AOL DB Raspberry-Red-ET and Ms-AOL Dback Raelynn-Red-ET were both in hutches, and “Jaydn liked Raspberry for her color and name,” remarked Chris. Anthony Liddle purchased Raelynn, who was Junior Champion at the NY State Fair Red & White Show and the Eastern States Red & White Show. She would be one of the few heifers that would beat Raspberry during her remarkable 2017 show season.
Chris returned to Jason’s in the spring of 2017 and came home with two Contender March calves out of Recovery, Right Away and River, owned by Jadyn and Kennedy. During the 2017 Eastern States Red & White Show, four daughters of Recovery were shown – Raelynn, Raspberry, Right Away and River, two sets of full sisters, one by Diamondback, one by Contender. Between the four of them, they brought home five Junior Champion titles, 1st and 2nd in the Spring and Fall calf classes, and 2nd and 3rd in the Produce of Dam class. What a resume-building day for this family!
“I feel success is 50% the genetics you have and 50% the management and effort you put into them,” remarked Chris. And the success that Beech Haven Ladies has seen since it’s inception six years ago follows that formula. They have invested time and time again in proven cow families and partnered with some of the industry’s best, including Jason Lloyd, Peter Vail, Blue Spruce Farm and Fairmont Farm, along with those already mentioned. Kennedy has developed her own 10th generation Excellent family tracing back to DRA August (EX-96), who she owns in partnership with Kyle and Shanna Reid.
“We have learned that you can take a nice calf and make her reach her potential with a lot of TLC, time and effort,” noted Chris. With Chris on the road covering three states for Semex, Beech Haven Ladies is managed year-round by Jamie and the girls. Jaydn and Kennedy are involved in the daily business of the operation, managing everything from feeding and daily chores to record keeping, learning pedigrees and training their heifers. The ladies commit to washing every day starting in early April and clip calves every two weeks. “It’s become a family business where we are trying to instill a work ethic, responsibility and a well-roundedness for our girls which we hope will serve them well in their lives,” commented Chris.
And their time and dedication has certainly paid off. Beech Haven Ladies has developed seven All-American or Junior All-American Nominations in three breeds over the last four years, including the 2014 Unanimous All-American Red & White Spring Yearling, Morrill Heztry Clover-Red (EX-92), now owned by Crescentmead – Lane and Grady Wendorf, WI. With the success that Raspberry has had this year, they are sure to add to the number as well.
When asked if he considered having someone else lead Raspberry when the time came to exhibit at the next level, Chris responded, “our girls do all the showing as they are doing the work at home and the best way for them to learn is to be out in the ring themselves.” And all the time and effort that both Jadyn and Kennedy have put into working with their heifers is evident in the show ring. Under the bright lights of the coliseums in Madison and Toronto, in front of thousands of fans, 11-year-old Jadyn looked like a pro on the halter of Raspberry. “Our pride in our girls stems not from the blue ribbons and banners but from the wonderful young ladies they are becoming,” concluded Chris.
And the last chapter of this story has surely not been written. With more daughters coming from Recovery, her daughters, granddaughters and other family members, this branch of the Roxy family will continue to grow and flourish for all those involved.
* Just announced: Ms-AOL DB Raspberry-Red-ET sells December 11 in the Music City Celebration sale in Nashville!