A feature article in our 2021 Winter issue written by Doug Urban.
Hailing from the scenic Pacific Northwest, the “Dabble” cow family has become renowned as an outcross source of high type, production, productive life and longevity in the Holstein breed for Sherm Polinder and his son Jeff at Ronelee Holsteins in Lynden, Washington. Ronelee Outside Dabble-ET EX-91-2E GMD DOM 2* has displayed superior transmitting ability having numerous Excellent (EX) and Very Good (VG) daughters and many sons and descendants in AI. Dabble had 90 daughters of which 21 were classified EX and 53 VG. Fourteen daughters were recognized as Dams of Merit and one as a Gold Medal Dam. A great-granddaughter of Dabble, Ronelee McCutchen Dazzling-ET EX-94, sired by De-Su Bkm McCutchen 1174-ET, is an example (McCutchen x Aftershock x Zenith x Outside Dabble) of this family’s ability to transmit outstanding quality for generations.
The Dabble story began in the early 1990’s when Sherm Polinder purchased Select Southwind Dinah EX-91, the great-grandam of Dabble. Polinder later returned to the Brad & Sandy Kamerman herd in Churchill, Montana to purchase Dinah’s daughter, Select Mark Dolly EX-95-4E GMD DOM. Sherm recounts, “ Dolly was six weeks from calving, but we could not find transportation so she ended up calving in an open corral during a blizzard with temperatures at 30 degrees below zero. Her heifer calf died, and Dolly had frostbite at the end of one teat. It is absolutely amazing that she survived that storm. Dolly arrived at Ronelee two weeks after calving. She was a bit difficult because she was hurting from the frostbite, but she had a tremendous desire to live. As a 6-year-old, she came down with Salmonella. She had temperatures up to 106 and was very sick for a week. She survived and ended up making 42,000 lbs. of milk that lactation. Dolly tracked straight and was very mobile. Dolly, Dimple, and Dabble always competed with in a free stall herd never spending any time in a box stall.”
Dolly’s sire was a herd bull that was a son of Walkway Chief Mark. Dolly scored EX-95, had a lifetime record of 276,000 pounds of milk, and proved to be a great brood cow at Ronelee. Her 14 daughters left a lasting impression within the herd. One such daughter was sired by Startmore Rudolph-ET, Ronelee Rudolph Dimple EX-93-2E DOM. Dimple was bred to Comestar Outside-ET resulting in Dabble – making Dabble’s sire stack Comestar Outside x EX-93 Startmore Rudolph x EX-95 Cedar-K Mark x EX-91 Southwind Bell of Bar-Lee x VG-86 Marshfield Elevation Tony x VG-85 Wayne Spring Fond Apollo. Dabble’s top production record was 5-03 365d 44,530 3.6% 1612 3.1% 1397, and she had a lifetime credits of 185,730M 3.6% 6,757F 3.2% 5,966P. Dimple was also the dam of six other Excellent daughters including five sired by the Durham son at Select Sires, Regancrest-Mr Durham Sam-ET with scores of 94, 93, 92, 92 and 90.
Dabble’s first calf was a bull sired by Pursuit September Storm-ET, Ronelee SS Durable *RC EX-GM went to Select Sires where he was very popular having over 34,000 daughters. Her second son Ronelee RSVP Dreamer EX-90, also at Select Sires, had over 7,000 daughters. The Dabble family gained popularity as an outcross source when her Toystory son Domain came along. It was the beginning of the genomic era and he had high numbers, but he was also an outcross sire – with no O-Man, Shottle or Goldwyn in his pedigree.
Ronelee Toystory Domain-ET EX-90 GM had over 6,000 daughters and his legacy carries on through his son Sully Hart Meridian-ET GM ST’15 and his grandson Croteau Lesperron Unix-ET EX-96-CAN ST’17 who is out of the Domain daughter Regan-ALH Domain Daya-ET EX-93-3E-CAN 15*. By Numero Uno, Unix was the Premier Sire at the 2021 International Holstein Show in Madison. Other popular sons of Dabble include Ronelee Goldwyn Decision-ET, Ronelee Gold Digger-ET (Goldwyn), Ronelee SSI O Daddy-ET (Observer), Ronelee Snowmobil-ET (Snowman), Ronelee Super Dean-ET (Superstition) and Ronelee Shottbolt Denzel-ET (Shottbolt).
The Toystory cross on Dabble also yielded a high-scoring full sister to Domain in Ronelee Toystory Darva EX-92 DOM. Another influential full sister is Ronelee Toysty Decidious VG-85 GMD DOM whose Mogul son, Broeks Modious, has been a consistently popular A2A2 sire for AI Total. Due to the success of the Toystory mating on Dabble, the Polinders decided to flush her to the Toystory son Siemers Toys Hero 9701-ET. The resulting Ronelee Hero Dijon-ET VG-87 had a Mogul daughter, Ronelee Feeling Fancy-ET EX-94, whose S-S-I Epic Midnight-ET son Ronelee Midnight Detour-ET stood at ST Genetics and made daughters known for their exceptional rear udders. Another Hero daughter, Ronelee Hero Donalynn-ET VG-86 has a McCutchen son Mr Donalynn Millennium-ET with a +2.62T also at ST Genetics. He has sired several show winners in Europe and has proven popular in countries that could not import Hero semen. A third Hero daughter out of Dabble, Ronelee SSI Hero D 7157-ET VG-85 is the source of another outcross bull named OCD Jabir Heisenberg-ET EX-92 (Coyne-Farms Jabir x De-Su Dorcy Moonboy x Hero x Outside x Rudolph). Heisenberg knocks in with 5,372 daughters and a +2611 GTPI and +1.78T. His daughters are black cows with a silky hide and high components who have strength and attractive udders. Unfortunately, he died in 2020 and there is a limited amount of semen remaining.
Ronelee Fireball Mady EX-93, the Grand Champion at the 2021 Washington State Holstein Show, traces to Dabble on both sides of her pedigree. Owned by Kyle & Mandy Erickson, Mady is sired by Ronelee Racer Fireball-ET by Clear-Echo Lexor Racer out of Ronelee Feeling Fancy-ET EX-94 DOM, the Mogul granddaughter of Dabble. On the maternal side, the granddam is an Excellent-92 Domain daughter, Cedar-K Domain Mady, bred by Brad & Sandy Kamerman of Montana.
Jeff and Sherm Polinder deliberately try to breed outcross pedigrees in the Dabble family. In July 2021, Ronelee Captain 1363-ET first appeared as one of the highest testing American heifer calves for gTPI and gDWP$ at OK Dairy in Washington state. The pedigree of Captain 1363 shows that with prominent members of the Dabble family appearing throughout. She is sired by Genosource Captain x Ronelee Renegade Swivel GP-81 (S-S-I PR Renegade) x Ronelee SSI Dancer 8296 EX-90 (Triplecrown Gatedancer) x Ronelee October Mist EX-91 (Ladys-Manor Octoberfest) x Ronelee Balisto Drafty EX-91 DOM (De-Su 11236 Balisto) x Ronelee Facebook Darcy EX-92 DOM (Marbri Facebook) x Outside Dabble.
Sherm Polinder added the following comments: “Dabble herself is still living at 18 years old. She is still very mobile and currently is housed with the far off dry cows. It is our observation that we can successfully linebreed with her family. We discovered this more or less accidentally. Long before we knew her genomic value, we noticed she was always at the feed bunk eating. She has passed on this aggressiveness on to her offspring. Dabble always bred back easily and that quality continues to be transmitted. Doug Blair did some research on the pedigree of the Dabble family. Interestingly, he found that her ancestors came from some herds in Utah, Idaho, and Montana where living conditions could be difficult (brutal winters and sometimes primitive housing).”
Additionally, Dabble carries the A2A2 trait that has become more and more in demand in the Holstein breed. Before anyone was really selecting for it in the US, a number of her sons tested as A2A2 as well, including Domain, Durable, Delorean, Denzel, Daystar, and O-Daddy. Her matings with Toystory, who is also A2A2, cemented that trait in the descendants that make up a large branch of the family tree.
Holstein breeders are continually looking for outcross pedigrees. It appears that the descendants of Ronelee Outside Dabble continue to provide alternative bloodlines almost 20 years after her birth. Due to the fertility, longevity and “toughness” of the Dabble family and the careful selection of bulls with somewhat different pedigrees, Jeff and Sherm Polinder of Ronelee Holsteins continue to provide breeders an alternative.