Creeping across the pasture land. Got dirt on
the boots and a working hand. From the milk house
home to the auction call. These are the folks
standing strong and tall. Yeah, this is... Welcome
to The Bullvine, where we challenge everything
you think you know about dairy breeding. I'm
your host, and today we're diving into a story
that completely flips the script on modern Holstein
breeding. Picture this. While mega operations
are burning through millions trying to breed
the next champion, a 75 -cow farm in Ontario
just bred two consecutive World Dairy Expo Grand
Champion sires. Back -to -back years, 2024 and
2025. Today, we're sitting down with Adam Zier
from Walnut Lawn Farms in Tavistock, Ontario.
Adam's going to tell us how six skeptical heifers
changed his mind about genomics, how a number
three embryo nobody wanted became worth 180 ,000
doses of elite semen, and why his father Bernie's
words, genomics is a young man's game, turned
into a passing of the torch that would reshape
Holstein history. This isn't just another breeding
success story. This is about what happens when
you combine four generations of breeding knowledge
with validated science, when you choose quality
over quantity, and when you have the guts to
spend serious money on one cow that everyone
thought you were crazy to buy. So grab your coffee,
get comfortable, and let's hear directly from
Adam about how Walnut Lawn Farms proved that
you don't need thousands of cows to compete with
the giants. You just need the right approach.
Here's our exclusive interview with Adam Zier.
So first of all, I wanted to kind of start with
or what it was like for you to watch or be involved
with the breeding of Candy Cane, who was Grand
Champion at Expo. Yeah, so I guess when we started
putting bulls in the stud, I never really realized.
well i always thought we need to have daughters
of our bulls showing and you know doing well
in other people's barns but it probably never
really realized how how it kind of hit you when
you get a cow like that that's like i think we're
a very small part of her breeding and she is
in my mind she is the lovitch's cow like there's
no doubt about that but it's pretty cool that
our bull um is in the background there and decisions
we made made a difference in that And so then
when actually when she was grand, I had paid
for the subscription. So I've been watching quite
a bit of the show. And after that class, the
way he talked about it, I kind of thought, oh,
this guy might be grand. So then I was actually
feeding calves. And then my oldest son, Blake,
was working away. And I just kind of looked down
from the calf barn. He wasn't around for the
longest time. And I thought, I'll bet you they're
naming grand. So I went down, sure enough. And
so I actually watched it online then when they
had named it grand. Oh, cool. So yeah, it was,
it was, it was a great feeling. I think I was,
well, I was in, I was in the office fist pumping
actually when she got named. Cause yeah, it's
pretty cool when, when a daughter of one of our
bulls wins it all. Yeah. Oh, that's a huge accomplishment.
And, uh, I think, well, just yesterday we put
up a story with the Lovitches and that's a great
story. They are a great scenario. And that's
two, two, uh, things. And I think he's about,
I think they're similar to being about your age.
Like their kids are all about the same age as
yours as well. So maybe relatively the same age.
I call you guys younger breeders. I know. I think
myself as younger breeder too, but then I am
42 now. I'm like, well, I guess I'm not new anymore.
I think of you like when you were like, my memories
like start when you were like five or six. Just
little, little. And then I'm like, wait a minute
now, but if my kids are 20, that means he's,
yeah, okay. And then I saw your hockey stuff
online too. So I'm like, yep, yep. We're all
getting a lot older these days. Yeah, things
move on. Yep. And you said, now you mentioned
you are the third generation and then your kids
will be the fourth generation on the farm there?
No, I'm the fourth. Oh, you're the fourth. Yeah,
the fourth generation, I'm the fourth. So if
you don't mind, can you describe your operation
for us then? But, um, so then the operation,
we own 390 acres. Um, and then we built a new
free, we came out of a tie stall barn into a
new, uh, free stall barn, 110 stall. Um, we have
two Lely A5 robots. We moved in in 20, uh, February,
2020. Uh, so we're, we're five years now. And
now we're like a set. We usually milk around
75 cows now. So the barn's not near full, but,
um, we're loving it with the robots it's been
a really good transition so and and we are we
do we grow most of our most of our own feed we
still buy and supplement and stuff too we do
a little bit of cash cropping but the the dairy
side is what i like and it's kind of like for
me it's the the crops are not are a necessity
when we run a dairy farm but it's the cows that
i really enjoy and this all started with your
great great grandfather then yeah yeah yeah and
then it was my It was my dad that really got
into breeding and really, really had a, like
a passion for it. And I, I kind of, I fed off
that, I guess then. It's kind of how it went.
Yeah. I can remember your dad was very keen.
I mean, you're on the farm that your dad had
then, you said earlier. Yep. Yep. It's been the
same farm for all those years then. Cool. Now.
you said your dad had the passion for breeding
so that started when you were young what was
kind of the key memories from when you were younger
that got you started as well as maybe your dad's
accomplishments that he had done um well so seeing
i saw that question i was thinking about what
is like what i never thought of that what's my
first memories of of um growing up on the farm
and kind of when i when i kind of got a passion
and i I guess I do remember vividly my first
4 -H calf was Arrow Stardinella. She was an all
-white speckly thing. And I really enjoyed training
her, and I kind of, at that age, I thought I
had something really special because she's quite
a calf, you know, and you could clean and all
that. And I think it kind of, I don't know, there's
something neat about that and the competition.
I've always been into sports, and so it's kind
of the competition of it all kind of got me.
And I got my butt kicked with her in most years.
Not every year. I had some good years, but I
got my butt kicked a lot. And that's something
that I look at with my own kids that I, you know,
we don't buy 4 -H calves for the kids if we don't
have a real cracker. I think there's good value
in getting their butt kicked sometimes. It definitely
builds some drive. And, of course, it's nice
to do some winning too. in those years so like
I guess it was 1995 then we had a Raider cow
Raider nectarine that was nominated all Canadians
as three -year -olds and so that was I think
for dad like he felt on top of the world with
having a cow like that in the barn and and and
I kind of I don't know he got a lot of excitement
in me as well so at that time might have been
12 and um I think it was kind of I think there's
a combination of getting your butt kicked a little
bit along with some, um, you know, better achievements
and winning a little bit kind of inspires you
a little bit. And then, and then there was a
run there from 95 through 2000, whatever we had.
And our dad was really proud of us. We had animals,
walnut lawn animals, now made all Canadian five
years in a row there. And then Astry Apricot,
our homebred cow we own with the Pasquies was
intermediate champion at the Royal. So that was.
That was a real, that was really something cool.
And then when, of course, when that was, I had
been like 15. So that really, that really was
something else for me at that age. And what lessons
or what things, like you say, that got you hooked,
but what was like your dad was having a lot of
success at that time? What lessons or is there
things from that, that you still apply to how
you run the operations today? Yeah, dad always
put a, like dad always put an importance on cow
families. And, um, He always told me that sometimes
if you have a good cow family, you might have
a generation where maybe they're not your best
cow or whatever. It might be a little bit more
of an ordinary cow. But if it's a great family,
you can still next generation hit it with a great
one. Probably the biggest thing he kind of instilled
in me was the power of cow families and the value
in them. Okay. And is that still a key part in
when you're making your breeding decisions then?
Yeah, it's huge. And actually like, yeah, that'd
be our, that'd be the main thing actually for
us in breeding or deciding who we work with,
like what animals we work with. And, and so then
that kind of later on, we're going to get in
here about with Sue and stuff. But now I kind
of look at it that we've taken a. kind of a step
further like dad's goal dad really had a goal
to be a master breeder and then he got two shields
that was something that he was really really
thankful for um but then when now now i kind
of look at and especially with the things have
changed just because of ivf and the number of
animals out there from the best families that
there's there's enough out there at reasonable
enough prices that i kind of look at it now That
in my mind like if a cow is not from a brand
-name family. She's she's just a milk cow mm
-hmm and And not and not saying it doesn't mean
like they're not great cows like we one of our
best two -year -olds in the barn right now just
as a barn cow is She has seven excellent dams
six generations are home bred. Oh wow and like
and that's something that you know I think it's
pretty cool, but but I always look at it if I
have to explain to a visitor who the cow family
is They're just a milk cow. And so that for me,
you know, I'm happy to get daughters from her
still. We're happy to breed from her, but she's
not something that can, she's not an animal that
can turn out something or have as high an odds,
I should say, of turning out something really,
really, really elite, I don't think. Because
those, I look at the brand name cow families
are brand name for a reason. But definitely like
that young cow is going to get sex semen because
I still want daughters from her. Just to turn
out like a special bull or something really marketable.
I just think the odds are so much higher with
a brand name family. No, it's funny, and I don't
know this, but I go back to my memories. Remember,
I'm old in this. But I always remember your dad
is a very, not progressive, but aggressive pedigree
breeder. Like, as you said, master breeder. all
Canadians very much that way, but very much also
tie stall and everything else. So, and I was
doing this and I'm like, you guys are in a very
different operation than you would have grown
up in. So there's a, quite a contrast, at least
facilities wise from what you would have grown
up in into what you have now. When I was doing
my homework for this, I'm like, yeah, that's
quite a change. I, I look at, I, I tease, I'll
call it you with. western ontario boys and a
lot of the ones that i like you look at the marcus's
and yourselves and ones like that and i'm like
yep little kind of old school tile barns i call
it and now they're all you're all freestyle robots
and everything else some of you i'm like jesus
things have changed a lot over the years yeah
when i look at that so it is quite a contrast
But things change. Like that's the thing. Farms
change, generations come in, different technology.
So it is the times, but it's, for me, it's always
interesting to look at, uh, when you go into
that. Now you did mention about the Sue family.
So might as well continue on there. Um, how did
you guys like before Sue, before Solomon, before
Sidekick, before all of this, you guys. decided
to invest or kind of bring in somewhere pedigrees
or how did all that start? Yeah. So, so dad at
that time was like, I mean, even up until we
bought Sue and that time he was kind of making
the final decisions, but they, but my parents
allowed me to make some decisions as well. And
so dad had a number of show cows he had bought
in partnerships with different people. And, um,
and again, it was always like, focusing on on
cow families and then also cows that could show
and basically in our breeding we focused heavily
on type which i still look at i think i think
there's people out there that i think i'm viewed
sometimes the genomic breeder and i suppose i
am but i viewed very much that we breed tight
like that so we really breed heavily for it because
we breed for what we like that hasn't really
changed maybe that maybe what we call the typey
cow has has changed has changed, you know, not
so tall, maybe not quite as sharp, but obviously
more dairy, kind of like the whole industry has
changed that way. But it was kind of that time
that I was then home from school and I was full
-time, and I kind of was like, Dad kind of had
the dream of, I think his goals were to get a
Master Burger Shield and then get a second one,
and then he had a dream to have five home -bred
excellent cows standing in a row, and he met
all those goals, and then for me it was more
that I wanted to, I kind of liked the idea of
putting a bull in the stud. And then genomics
came or came along and I really, well, I thought
it was a joke kind of at first, but I did, I
thought it was a joke at first. And I, I really,
I like to think I have an open mind, those sort
of things. I read on it a lot and I, um, yeah,
it was kind of like a hobby for me, kind of figuring
out this genomics thing. And then we started
genomic testing some, and we tested actually
quite a bunch of, we did a group, groups of full
sisters, actually not to see how they compared
to each other. the results from their phenotype.
And to be honest, it was like, we were kind of
astounded how accurate it seemed to be. And so
then we, we, it kind of came to the point that
they were, I kind of got the green light that
if there's a, a cow to invest in, like, even
if it's quite a bit of money, um, that we could
do that. So then Sue was, Sue was consigned to
sales stars. Actually, she was just fresh. Like,
um, she went, I think she went 87 points. as
a yearling, or maybe she was just two years old,
uh, like 17 days. And basically right at that
time, she was consigned to sales stars. We started
the catalog and then inquired, um, to Dominique
and Kathy Merman on about her at Misty Springs.
And they told us then actually they were housing
her at Maplewood, which is just about a, about
a 40 minute drive from here. It's not too far.
Not far. So yeah, we went and saw her there.
And then, um, And during that conversation, they
had said, yeah, she was consigned, but it wasn't
ready yet because she was pretty fresh still.
So they weren't going to consign her. And then
we ended up working a deal out, bought her privately
then. That's how that came about. Okay. And what
about Sue caught your guys' attention? At the
time, she was like, she had a genomic parent
average of 17 types. So we figured out with,
you know, being scored 87 points, we saw her
like. she's an easy 87 .2 year old she did go
88 later on um we saw that well she's probably
going to be number one and if not she'll be close
and then also is then the family and we still
look at it that like now if i'm ever looking
at an animal to buy we don't do a lot of buying
but here and there we add and the first thing
is we look at is the family because the pedigree
is always there it's that's your that's your
base for everything and you know you know genomics
are i i think they're very accurate but there's
definitely times it misses there's there's sometimes
formula changes there's rollbacks there's all
those things you always have your pedigree so
the the family is the biggest thing and then
we kind of genomics is often right after that
and sue is just kind of a cow that um she cost
a lot so i thought there was kind of pressure
to maybe to to turn to turn out and i'm like
well this is kind of my decision i hope she doesn't
flunk And so I kind of felt pressure at that
time to make it work. Fortunately, she flushed
really well. That really helped. But when it
really came together, as long as we could justify
the dollars, like it seemed like this was a cow
that had it all, she's definitely one we want
to look at and purchase and really work off of.
So it was, I mean, I wouldn't say it was an easy
decision because she was a lot of money, but
she had enough things going for her, and that
way it was pretty easy. Yep. Yep. And I remember
Sue back in the day as we had our cows at Maplewood
at the same time. Okay. So I remember her as
we went through and, uh, uh, I remember she was
actually like, how do I say it? We had Lenny
had a few ornery ones to work with. She wasn't
ornery to work with. And then the having the
shower family and everything behind her, you
knew that that family is always flushed. Yeah.
Yep. Yep. Yep. she had a bunch of afters she
had a bunch of her bunch of daughters born too
so yeah so um yeah you knew she she could flush
and make some offspring yeah yeah no for sure
so you got her home and then would you guys you
started flushing her right away or what'd you
guys do with her when you first got her yeah
she was she was pretty fresh but then i think
it might be the time we got her home i don't
think it was that long we got her settled we
started flushing and then we rolled her um every
month we were doing ET on her. And actually what
we kind of, we were like, we were learning as
we went. And during that time we were quite shocked
at how easy, like when you have an animal that's
that good, it was pretty surprising to us actually
how easy the marketing was, how easy eggs sold.
And you could, you could, you can name a high
price. And if, you know, if someone thought it
was too high, there's the next one in line. And
so it was, It was pretty eye -opening for us,
actually. And our goal, we kind of aimed for,
is we tried when we were, so we'd flush every
month. So, I mean, we were rolling her very often.
We'd usually put three to five eggs in, and we'd
try to get two to three pregnancies from the
mating, and then we'd sell the rest of the eggs.
And she's had a lot of flushes where she'd be
double digits, so we'd usually sell five, six
from a flush. keep the castle going that way
while still getting pregnancy. So, and I was
just, we were, we were blessed that she watched
well, that made a big difference for us. Now,
and I just, excuse me, I just don't know. Is
she the first one that you put sons into AI then
from under you guys, or had you done some before
AI before her? No, that was the first one. And,
um, and actually to the very first, the very
first boy was accepted then was a Meridian son
synergy. And then the next one was Solomon. So
she kind of hit. Oh, wow. Right. And something
with the family that I'm actually, I think we're
going to get touch on it. I know there's a question
later on about competing with like the bigger
farms, but it's something that, um, I have a
lot of belief in our, and so we, we, we work
three families. We're working heavily with now,
the Laurie sheiks, the Barbies, and then, and
then the, the suit and then the suit family,
which is like the splendor of the course. And.
Those three families are best from those families.
I have a lot of belief in them. I trust them
that we don't need 10 calves from a mating to
hit one high. It's something with Sue. Solomon
was one of only two doorman sons and then Sidekick
was the only avid son we had from summer. We
didn't need 10 because it was a strong cow family
and they were consistent enough. And I think
it's a really special family. Like, that's one
of the reasons. We don't need that many. And
I think there is times in the industry now even
we see that there's cows that are regarded as
great brood cows. And how do I say this? It's
not so negative. But sometimes they're great
brood cows because they've got 100 offspring
and they hit it with two. So we say, well, she's
a great brood cow, but is she really? That's
my question. Yeah, because some have hundreds
and hundreds of embryos and stuff, and so what
percentage do they actually hit on? Yeah, what
percentage are they hitting on? And we say, well,
they're a great brood cow, but, well, are they
that consistent? Like, not necessarily. So I'm
very proud of what's the family. Yeah, and I
said it hit pretty good for you, pretty quick.
Yeah. And if Solomon was that early in her. Situation
what was it like when what was it like for you
guys when Solomon hit number one? What was that?
What was that day like for you guys? Well, he
was number one as a young bull. Yeah, and there's
a band proven Yeah, and when he came out actually
like I said, we were learning as we went like
I feel like we know a lot more now for being
through a little longer But I remember I do remember
a conversation I was dad and I told him This
was the time of course when Atwood was like a
young bull and he was getting used a lot in the
show cat like the top show cows and there's choices
selling for big dollars. And I remember saying
to dad, I said like, I think Solomon's going
to be used on all the big time show cows. Like
it kind of all of a sudden, like I knew his numbers
were out and I was like, Oh, he's, he's, he's
really high. Cause like we knew he was high,
but we didn't, we didn't know if he was a superstar
when we first got the numbers. Like we were new,
like we didn't, we didn't know. And, um, And
I remember I said that to dad, and he was quite
surprised by it. And he's like, oh, I guess he's
high. Maybe he is. And so it was pretty neat
then to see that he was. And it was really neat
when actually he had number one confirmation
with the same round that our other doorman's
son, Blake, from the Barbie family, was also
number one PTAT in the same round. So that was
pretty neat when they both, from different families,
hit in two different countries. Right at the
same time. So that was pretty cool. Yeah. But
then, but it was different than with, with sidekick
because then when we got sidekicks genomics,
um, this is something else I'm proud of with
the family. Uh, so we got his first genomics
and he was 22 for tight and not long ago here,
I was actually kind of figuring out where he'd
be without rollbacks and he'd be over 20 still.
If you take rollbacks out, So to me, that demonstrates
that he's, yeah, of course he's dropped over
time, like, no doubt. But he's been very consistent
from what his initial genomics were. And at the
time we got the genomics, he went up for every
trait except milk, which makes sense. We know
now they're not the milkiest. To me, genomics,
like, nailed him exactly what he is. And when
we got, so we've been through it with Solomon
a little bit. So when we got the numbers on Sidekick,
We definitely understood more that we had a superstar
there right right from the get -go and he was
I mean He was still on milk. We got numbers and
we knew he was a superstar. So it was quite different
than than Solomon Yeah, and then he was a McCutcheon
Sorry the dams I'm out of McCutcheon. Yeah And
now At the time of sidekick being bred and stuff
you guys still owned her by yourselves. Did you
not? At that point dave and those guys didn't
come in to live here. Yeah, we sold her like
we never owned part of her with them Yeah, they
sold her short, but I mean, yeah, so when we
sold I have to remember here in my head how that
was exactly when we sold summer I uh, sidekick
was was I think instead like not quite. Oh, it
was that if I remember correctly. Yes I didn't
I was trying to go through the time. Yes, I mean
in you know, they were brought in of course in
the genomic era and it was their genomics and
the pedigree that got mixed up to the stud. But
it is interesting to know, I think, too, that
they weren't the result of flushes on the virgin
heifers either. They were damned for milk cows
when those flushes happened. So that's something
to keep in mind, too. I don't like the troop
transmitters. I don't like to move on too fast,
even maybe if their numbers aren't as high as
their daughters. We still work them hard because
we know that they transmit, regardless if their
numbers maybe aren't quite as high as the newest
generation. Like right now, I look at our alligator
briar cow from the Barbie family, and she's that
cow. She's now in third calf. She's 92 points.
But she doesn't flush the best, so we have to
calve her here and there. Otherwise, we'd probably
have her as a permanent flush cow and flush as
often as we could. Okay. Yeah. Now, how old was
Summer when you guys sold her? Was she just a
two -year -old when Dave and those guys bought
her? No, she was third calver. Third calver.
Oh, she was that old. We sold her at the end
of August, and she had been fresh, I think, since
May or June with her second calf. Yeah, she was
a three -year -old. Okay. Yeah. I remember, and
then David sold her again from there. Yeah. Trying
to go through the history in my own head. Yeah.
And I remember at summer show, uh, it's like
here, one of the high index cows that also is
competing with the best choke house and that
quite an achievement. So in there, uh, for sure.
Uh, sorry, I just was thinking about Dave for
a second there anyways. And then, so, uh, sidekick
actually was done quite well. Um, did you guys
use them a lot yourself as well? Or is it a little
tricky because you had so much of the bloodline
in your farm? Uh, yeah, we've used them and actually
I'm still using them to be honest. So another
thing that kind of, when we got into the bulls
and we started putting some of these bulls instead,
that always, that always warned me, maybe, maybe
a little different than some people. Cause I've
heard it said that you always need to look if
a breeder uses their own bulls to know if you
should use them or not. And dad always really
cautioned me against using our own bulls and
that we can use them, but it's pretty easy when
you have a homebred bull to get what I would
call homeritis and you fall in love with them
a little too much. And so it would be careful.
Dad always said to me that he believed it's tough
to move your herd ahead if you use your own bulls
too heavily because I think partly you do. You
get a little bit of... a bias towards them because
you bred them and so we don't really ever use
any of our bulls heavy like i always have some
semen in the tank of our own bulls uh here and
there but i never go heavy so solomon and sidekick
i've used both um never went super heavy with
them but sidekick now we're still we're still
using them a little bit i got some sextant conventional
doses that when the time comes i need a four
udder He's kind of the guy to do it. Yeah. Yeah.
So, yeah, we know, we know so well where to use
them and we actually got a few excellent sidekicks
now. And, um, yeah, it's kind of, it's, it's
definitely fun still to use them sometimes. And
it's neat when you look at sidekicks, cause I've
been, was going through it, especially with her
winning grand. They've seemed to mature better
than most other bulls of his. Generation like
there were some others that maybe had fancier
or at least more show -winning two -year -olds
But as they've hit the three and four lactation
cows They've really come on yes elite level especially
in the show ring cows so it's learning that they've
matured that way much more and in my Thought
on that whether it's accurate I can't say but
my thinking is it's because there I think he
leaves he leaves like a really balanced frame
And so maybe they're not extreme to win as two
-year -olds, but as they age, it's those cows
that age so well and they do so well then later
on. So yeah, that's a trait that's pretty, you
know, I'm thankful our name's tied onto a bull
that can do that sort of thing. No, it's really
cool. And that's how it's in the, with Lovitches
as well, they comment that if anything, candy
cane was maybe perceived to be a little immature.
As a heifer, not immature, but not an extreme.
And then she just kept developing and developing.
And there's been about five or six of those ones
over the past year or two that have really come
on that maybe weren't headliners as two -year
-olds, but they've really come on nicely and
they've matured in there. And so that's kind
of neat. Cause you're like, you think about it
cause you got summer who's done quite well at
Madison herself, maybe not to grand champion
stage, but to quite well. And then now, uh, her
son, uh, is carrying on the legacy. What does
that mean for you guys to kind of, you said about,
you know, you kind of have a bit on both sides
of the female and the male side, probably quite
an achievement for you guys. Yeah. That's something
that like, I look at, um, like summer because
there's, Very few cows that are crossover cows
that are, you know, some are, I mean, we did
a McCutcheon mating on Sue. I mean, if we're
all honest, I don't think we thought we were
going to turn out a big time show cow. You know,
it wasn't made for that reason. So it's pretty
neat to have a cow that's been able to do that.
And I look at then from our Breyer family, of
course, goes back to Barbie now, Lambda Beyonce
is another one that's done that. to have two
cows that have been able to compete at Madison
and Royal and, and also be cows that can put
bulls instead just on genetic merit and not,
you know, they're putting, they're putting bulls
instead of course, cause the family and all that,
and they got a dam that can show and everything
too, but they're not, they're not putting bulls
instead just cause the dam to show cows, basically
what I'm saying. So to have two cows like that
is quite satisfying as well. Yeah. No, and it's
neat. And you talk about, you talked about like,
yes, certain cows will be flushed. hundreds of
times. So they did a potency. And then I think
about the size and scale of your operation and
you guys aren't, you know, 300 head, 500 head
or a thousand head. I believe you're what about
60 to 70 head you're milking just now? You're
around 75 now. Yeah. We're slowly expanding here
in the new barn. Of course it's not fast, but.
Nope. With that, what I try to really do is,
um, flush Like we don't we'll flush heifers with
the genomic era if you want to compete in the
genomic game yet I suppose you got to do some
but we don't flush heifers heavily and especially
if there's a Half of this maybe worse. I think
all this half is good enough. She's got she looks
apart She's got good enough numbers. We should
be flushing her if there's not a bull that really
matches super well with her I'll usually quite
often. I won't flush because I only have I can
really only do so many flushes to make so many
eggs. Often I will make that where we won't flush
and I'll breed young and get them calved in.
I love that we breed young, calve them in, see
what we got for sure. We don't give that much
time as long as we do calve them in young. We
can work with them as two -year -olds if that's
the case. I don't want to be missing too many
times in virgin heifer flushes. tiny receipts
that we don't have a lot of uh unless i'm quite
convinced yeah you have to be careful with that
yeah and then you've you know you've had a lot
of success like yourselves but it also probably
means a lot to see other people's have success
with the genetics you guys have developed so
that's cool as well yeah for sure for sure it
isn't actually like i was thinking about this
with sidekick and chris with since Candy Cane
won Madison, but I like even, like, I consider,
like, across the world. Over in the UK, there's,
like, the Meg Pandora cow. Pandora. Won some
big cows there, or big shows, and then evening
sidekick Jennifer is another one. And they're
two cows I've never seen, but, like, just incredible
in the pictures, and so it's pretty neat to think
that one of our bulls is doing, you know, dominating
on their side of the world. Pretty neat. I would
say I've seen Pandora several times. And easily
a cow that could compete in North America. You
know, there's a reason. Yeah. Really impressive.
Yeah. There's a reason Blonde didn't bought in
and I tease it probably isn't because they're
going to make a boatload out of her. They just
appreciated the cow. Yeah. Yeah. That much that
she was that exceptional. And yeah, I would say
there's two or three in Europe. most times, maybe
one or two at times that would compete over here,
but she's easily one that would put a running
type on here. She's special. Again, that could
just might not be even at her peak yet. No, no,
she'll keep developing. Nope, she will. That's
what I mean. So you look at the genetics and
that's, I mean, it's technology these days. It's
amazing how like you think, okay, I'm here in
Western Ontario and whatever, whatever, but.
The genetics are like around the world and that
kind of, I guess it's humbling at times as well
too, I guess that. Yeah, for sure. I think for
sure it is. Yeah. Yeah. In that regards. Uh,
now you guys have had a lot of achievements,
uh, over the years. And as we talk about, uh,
you know, genetics going around the world. Um,
what do you think your father would say now looking
at the success and what's happened? What do you
think he'd say to you? Yeah, I've thought of
that often because there's a lot of times I like
to have conversations with him. I like to show
him the new barn. And obviously, I find with
him and him and I are really close, I'd like
to ask him a lot of questions and advice as well.
But I think he'd be, I think he'd kind of be
a little bit in awe. He'd probably say, wow,
that's cool. And he would say, wow, that's cool.
a way that uh yeah a little bit in awe i think
he would he'd be he'd be really proud of it i
know that for sure yeah it's neat your dad at
least in my interactions never was overly talkative
but his passion and his desire yeah he he loved
holstein breeding and yeah and like uh like i
look back when we had uh raider nectarine like
when she was nominated she was in the barn he
looked after and got her ready and all that and
and he he had he loved it like this had so much
He was so proud of her. And then also just a
few years later, we, you know, we sold half of
apricot to, um, to the past gauge, but he just
beamed every time he'd see her. He, he, he loved
it. He loved Holstein breeding. Yeah. Yeah. And
then I, and I, I looked back and like, yeah,
I guess that's, that's where I got it from. I,
I got that same, um, passion as he did. So yeah,
that's pretty cool. Oh, that's cool. And then
you look to today. and you have two kids, three
kids? Three, yeah. Three kids. Do they get the
passion? Are they wanting to get into the business?
What do they add in all that? Yeah, so my oldest
is 17, and so he'll be done in grade 12, and
actually he's going to be full -time farming
with me next June, right when he's in high school.
Okay. He's really, he loves it. I think he loves
it as much as I do. He doesn't like school either,
so he's really looking forward to being home
full time. I'm looking forward to having him
home. Okay. And then my other two, at this point,
they don't seem to be as into it. Like my youngest
son, Easton, he's 12. He loves to build things.
He spends more time in the shop than he does
the barn. And my daughter, Regan, she helps me
three nights a week in the barn. It's not that
she necessarily wants to. Let's put it that way.
Now, which one's the junior hockey player? That'd
be the oldest one, would it not? Yeah, he's still
minor hockey. He's with the junior Braves. Junior
Braves, yeah. Sorry. Yeah, that's my oldest,
yeah. That's the oldest, so. Yeah. I've always
had a real passion for hockey. Growing up, mom
and dad used to always say the only thing Adam
cares about, and he needs to expand a little
bit, but all he cares about is hockey and cows.
It's kind of still what occupies me quite a bit.
So big hockey fan big Leafs fan That's something
that's been that it's around here like you're
you're not really allowed to be anything else
other than a Leafs fan we're we're hugely fans
like Like the Jays run here is kind of exciting
for us, but I'm like I watch it. I'm like I can't
the Leafs do this It's kind of a secondary thing
like it's it's all about the Leafs here actually
funny story my when Blake was was young like
he he he was a sharks fan he'd say when he was
like four and five because it was only because
a shark was cooler than a leaf and uh we got
given we got given to they just drove that my
dad does because he was a huge leaf fan too and
he told he we got given leaf tickets we were
talking about cool goals the farm got them given
and then uh i was saying well i can chore if
you and mom want to go and he goes you know you
know what he goes this drives me crazy you need
to go and take blake and turn him into a leaf
fan So he ran, he was five. He went to the Leafs
and Flyers game with me. And ever since then,
he's been a Leaf fan. So it worked. Mission accomplished.
So there you go. It worked. So you got the kids
coming on. So what is next? Like you've got the
one coming home. You said, what is the next plans
for Walnut on then? I would say there's not,
it's kind of, it's honestly a little bit status
quo. We're like, We're buying Corda to expand,
but of course that's very slow. I think our management
and genetics can almost keep up as fast as we're
buying Corda. I don't ever intend to get big.
We built the barn for 110 cows, two robots, and
I don't want to be bigger than that. That would
be up to the kids if they want to go more than
that. Obviously, I don't know for sure how many
will want to farm, but it looks now like they'll
probably just be Blake. Basically, I would say
it's kind of just keep on trying to keep expanding
our families and breeding from our best families
and just kind of continue doing what we're doing.
I don't think there's a lot of change. When I
look back, I do see as in breeding, I think things
are changing. What the industry wants is changing
all the time. And I guess I've been... breeding
cows long enough i can see that i'm sure it's
been like this forever but of course when you're
when you're young you haven't seen as many changes
and i look back and think of the way what our
goals are and the way we perceive the best type
cow to be um changes and i assume that will keep
changing and um aside from that i don't know
like as far as management goes some things that
that i see changing in for the future I refer
to what I call a cow the future. And for me,
that's a cow that's going to milk like 700 day
lactations. I think I already see it now with
the, I guess quite a few of my viewers have changed
just in the last five years because going to
it from a freestyle or tie stall to freestyle
has a lot of change. And then that added, you
know, we're more precise in our feeding than
we used to be. We have better environment for
the cows than we used to be. Everything's just
management is up because of the technology and
the environment that the housing is given. So
I see very much that the 305 day lactation we've
always traditionally talked about, like me now
that's really old school and we should be extending
our lactations much longer. And I have a goal.
Of course, I want to continue to breed some like
influential bulls and females if we can as well.
I'd like to hopefully be able to continue doing
that, but as far as like for the herd, I have
a goal of a 20 ,000 kg lactation average. And
like, we're definitely, we don't, we can't be
doing that right now, but I think in the future
it's doable with long lactations. And I've had
people ask me like, what, well, how many days,
like, what are you talking about? What if it
takes a lot of days? And for me, With the robots
and the cows, if the cows are persistent and
the cows go to the robot a lot and they'll continue
going to the robot when there's 300 and 400 days
of milk, I don't really know that it matters
how long the lactation is because I think the
sky's the limit for what the cows can do. And
I think we can get there with long lactations
and lengthen them out and get a lot higher volume
than we have traditionally. And with the robots,
you'll have all the data on their milk flow and
how much milk they're given. So you know if they're
still pumping out. You have a lot of data. And
I mean, the cows that, you know, we obviously
have some cows that aren't bred as much milk
as others, but the cows that have a lot of milk
bred into them and are keen to go to the robot
and still visit three plus times a day when they're
300 and 400 days of milk, they don't really slow
down. Like they keep milking. And so we've already
lengthened their lactations, especially on our
best cows. We're lengthening them out. And like
a bull like Delta, I'm convinced pretty much
all of them, I wouldn't say all of them, but
almost all of our old Delta daughters, they can
milk two -year lactations now already. And so
I see more of that coming in the future. Well,
it's interesting because, and I work at Differnet's
commercial. Pedigree the whole likes, but especially
when you get into the robots, a lot of them just
kind of, if you're really optimizing for profitability,
not from genetics, but just from the milk check,
uh, it's the, how many liters or how much milk
per minute type thing. Yeah. And that's not always
tied to young cows, old cows, whatever. It's
the, I know guys that use that as their breed
or dry off metric. It doesn't matter what. stage
they're at if they're still giving above x amount
of liters per amount of whatever time they want
to use they are like i will keep them milking
or i'll keep them going i'm not worried about
it it's not a i have to have them bred back by
x day um because if a cow is milking hard enough
and going hard enough i just want to get as much
milk per hour as i can get type thing And that
doesn't mean that they all have to be first fresh
cows, or sometimes that means I have more, as
you say, maybe older cows who are given a lot
of milk versus a bunch of young cows who aren't
sometimes. And that's where they use that metric
versus the others. Yeah, I mean, we're not, with
our barn being not full due to our quota, where
our quota's at, we're not really restricted to
that kind of metric because the robots aren't
near full. We'd actually been quite poorly done.
On robot efficiency and that, because we're not
milking, we don't have them full. But, yeah,
I think there's a lot of changes coming in that.
Like, we were in the robot barn here not that
long, and I had a two -year -old, and she had
to be dried off, and she was milking 40 kgs still.
And I look at it and, like, well, most cows at
300 days of milk, they're probably at their highest
component percentage. She's milking 40, and,
like, to me, that's just, to me, it's bad management
if I'm drying a cow off that's at 40 kgs of milk.
Yeah. And I might as well just let her roll.
And so, of course, the tricky part is there is
sometimes you get them pregnant, you'll leave
them there longer, and you get them pregnant
and all of a sudden they decide they don't have
to throw the robot as often or they slow down
and milk. You still get that, so that has to
all be balanced along the way. But I think that's
kind of where we're headed in the future. Now,
you mentioned earlier about your dad, you know,
wanted to be a master breeder, then he ended
up being a two -time master breeder. I wanted
to have all Canadian nominations and stuff. Do
you have goals that way? Do you still, like,
you've had a lot of success as a group, but do
you set goals still that way? Is that still in
your goal setting when you think about it? Yeah,
I still have things I want to achieve. And, well,
one of them is that, like, when I decided, of
course, like I said, we've both been tight breeders,
and we decided we want to put a bull in the stud.
I mean, that time I was like, I want to breed
a bull that dominates the show ring. it's still
a goal of mine to have um premier um premier
cider at madison or royal we've never got that
and it's pretty cool when sidekick and solomon
were second third of madison a few years back
but i still haven't met that goal and i still
want to get that one and there's there's some
other ones like as i said with the herd there
um i want to get a 20 000 lactation average isn't
there a goal i'd like to meet um i'd also just
kind of just for the I guess kind of for the
fun of it, when I was younger, I've always loved
the shows. When I was younger, I always thought
that'd be cool if you're leading the grand champion
at the Royal. And now I don't have that same
desire to show, but I love seeing... Well, I
don't have the desire and I don't have the know
-how to get the cows at the level the best guys
do. So I look at it that I'm so much better off
to sell the best cows. the experts do what the
experts do and not try to compete with them because
I can't do it as well as they do. But I really
think it'd be neat to walk into Madison or Royal
sometime with a breeder's herd. I think it'd
be pretty neat. I think I'd be satisfied if we
were last. If we could just have two that competed
in the same year, that'd be quite an achievement,
I think. that bring out breeders heard that those
national shows like every year are that i have
a lot of respect for them that's that's impressive
when i think about because that's one thing that
like maybe it'll change in the future like blake
we used to show more like our county show and
stuff since we've been the freestyle we've only
shown heifers yeah probably because we i'm not
quite sure how to like i can get them ready for
a county show i can't compete with the best that's
why i figure the best like our best cows if i
can sell them i sell them to the guys that can
get them ready but um blake he's he gets a little
more of an edge to take some cows out to the
county show and whatnot and i i i guess i'm not
i'm not against it because i'm like but i do
have to remind him it's a lot of work and we
can't compete with the best because we don't
have to know how to compete with the very best
and i i kind of really like what we're doing
now with the genomic breeding i enjoy it and
i feel like the show herds and exhibitors, they
just must have to deal with a lot of stress because
I look back and think when we were showing a
little more and like your best cow puts a little
bit of weight on or she's not pregnant right
when she needs to be. It's a big deal where now
I just feel it's just a lot less stress. My best
cow puts a little weight on, so what? It doesn't
hurt nothing. I like when they carry some condition.
That sort of thing makes it a little more forgiving.
I can remember, I can remember, I used to call
it the Woodstock International Show because that
show was always the, it seemed like everyone
was going gung -ho with Martin and a bunch of
John Martin. I still refer to it as the one,
it's the O -N -E, the Oxford National Exhibition.
Yeah. So it's one of the steamier, I should say,
it's one of the steamier county shows. That's
what I like. I'm like, well, I don't know if
your county show is even the easiest of all the
county shows. In my memory, we always called
it the international. But it still was a county
show. Yeah, it is. It is. I'm just teasing. There's
a lot of guys that went pretty hardcore in the
region there for sure. For sure. I always chuckle
about that show. Um, what would you say to like,
you got your young son coming up or you got your,
some of the young breeders kind of getting going.
What advice would you give them? What kind of
worked for you guys that you think that they
should, uh, think through? What do you tell your
son when he's coming into it? Um, like I so firmly
believe in, in the power of, of cow families
is, is one thing that you, your, your odds are
just like, like in breeding nothing's ever i
look at nothing's ever certain nothing's ever
certain in breeding you can do a cross that you're
convinced is going to work we use all the data
we have but still god puts the dna together and
and and he decides how the genes fall so we don't
know how it's going to go but you can stack the
odds so highly much more highly in your favor
with really strong families um if if and so in
my opinion i would I would, if I was going to
start trying to really, um, breed like elite
genomics or whatever, I would kind of target
what I want to, what's my goal? Like, what am
I aiming for? Like, um, if you're, if you're
aiming to breed an all Canadian, um, you're probably
going to focus a little bit different than on
what you're going to, or to put a bull in the
stud. But the really special families, to me,
have it all. They have the production. They have
reproduction. They flush. They got the deep pedigree.
I look at our three families we're working with
the most are, like I think I said earlier, the
Lurie Sheik. It goes back to the Lurie Sheik
family. It goes back to Barbie. It goes back
to Splendor and Shower. Those families have been
around and have been... famous families for longer
than i've been around and so you know they're
and they're still they're still hot and so when
you get an elite one from those families so i
guess what i'm kind of trying to say is if you
really want to be in the elite side of it you
can try to build your own family into that but
i think you might be ready to retire by the time
you get there more times than not so you're better
off to make an investment on something that you
think you can you can breed from And the next
thing I would say is honesty and integrity. I
look at it that we score everything. This last
round, we scored a couple two -year -olds that
I'd rather maybe didn't have scores on them.
But I want our bulls and our females, but especially
because, of course, the bulls are being marketed
to people more. I want the numbers to be accurate,
and I want people to trust them. To me, I'll
put the reliability in there. If a cow's standing
in the barn, maybe I've sold her, but if she's
still in the barn and she's from one of our best
cows and I know she's not going to be one of
our top scoring two -year -olds or whatever,
you should be scoring no matter what. And being
honest with people and being real with people.
Obviously, we hope every female is born and every
bull that goes to stud is going to be the next
superstar. We also know that they're not going
they're not going to be but hopefully we can
hit with you many as possible and Be honest with
people don't tell them everything's Everything's
great. And I always try to I usually leave a
border least I try to do a Facebook post on the
bull you know and I'll be honest like if Where
I see the bull and I like for instance, we have
a bull lobster is just released and I think he's
really tremendous bull I'm when we are using
him some in our own herd I don't personally think
he's likely going to be a show bull, though.
So I'll say that so people will use that bull
for what they're aiming for. If they're aiming
for... If they're going to use him, in my opinion,
they're going to use him trying to breed an all
-Canadian March calf, and he doesn't do it, they're
going to be disappointed. So I'm better off to
say this is where I think he is. Of course, I
don't know for sure, but where I think he is,
and then hopefully more people are satisfied
with what they... with what they get because
they deliver what they're hoping for. Okay. And
so that connects to one of my other questions
is years from now, you know, when things are
all said and done or when people see the name
Walnut Lawn or think about Walnut Lawn, how would
you like them to perceive or what would you like
them to think about when they think about the
name Walnut Lawn and the prefects and what you
guys have done? Yeah, I hope they think, like,
again, I hope they see that we, strive for integrity
and honesty as an operation. And then also that
our genetics delivered, I hope, what they're
looking for and delivered cows that farmers like
is basically what I hopefully deliver and that
are reliable. And yeah, hopefully there's just
some steadiness there, I guess I should say,
to the name and the genetics that are... that
our bulls and the females possess. Okay. So yeah,
I hope they see a liability there as well. Now
you've been through a lot, you've had a lot of
accomplishments, but you've also been through
a lot. So when you're sitting in the barn and
it's just you standing in the barn and everything's
quiet and you're looking at the cows, you know,
what do you like to think about? What goes through
your mind when you're just sitting there looking
at what you've achieved, but also where you're
at? Hey, I read this question. And my first thought
was, it all depends on how the day goes. But
as I read it, I thought, if I'm standing in the
barn, more often than not, as I'm about to turn
the lights off, I think, I hope you guys don't
do something stupid tonight. Honestly, that's
what's most common. No, no, I get it. That's
the most common one. If I think about our breeding
and I think about what some of the sidekicks
and Solomon daughters have done, yeah, I'm really
thankful. Put it that way. Really thankful that
breeders have given our bulls a chance and that
God's given me an opportunity to farm and breed
cows. I look at the breeding side of what we
do as... It's definitely not business, but also
it's like a hobby. And so it's pretty neat that
I've been able to have a business out of what
I also consider a hobby. So, yeah, I'm thankful.
And, yeah, for that, that people have given our
bulls an opportunity and that they've also delivered.
And not just that it's an accomplishment to get
the bull to stud, but it's also been that a few
of our bulls have really made a real impact and
it's really satisfying. And I guess to kind of
tie into that as well, so last year I went to
Madison for the first time in a few years. And
then, of course, Footloose was the first, well,
Solomon's daughter's world champion, of course.
That was pretty neat to think that. When I really
think about it, wow, when I kind of, I really
think about it, it hits me a little bit that,
oh, one of our bulls got a world champion. That's
kind of hard to believe, to be honest. And last
year when she was in the docket string, I'd never
actually seen her other than pictures until last
year. And to stand there and look at that cow,
think she's world champion, and then on her name
card to see Walnut Lawn Solomon and see her prefix
there was, yeah, it was really rewarding. It
was really cool. Wow. What an incredible journey
from those six Goldwyn sisters to consecutive
Madison championships. The walnut lawn story
isn't just about breeding great cattle. It's
about proving that in 2025, with genomics validated
and cow families proven, the advantage has shifted
back to those who really pay attention. To every
cow, every mating, every embryo. Adam Zier and
his 75 cows just showed the entire Holstein world
that it's not about the size of your operation.
It's about the intelligence of your approach.
If you want to read the full feature article
with all the details, photos, and Adam's complete
breeding strategy, head over to thebullvine .com.
And if you're inspired by what you heard today,
share this episode with another breeder who needs
to hear that David can still beat Goliath. I'm
your host at The Bullvine, reminding you that
sometimes the best genetics come from the most
unexpected places, like a number three embryo
from a 75 -cow farm in Ontario. Until next time,
keep challenging the status quo.