WEBVTT 00:00:10.220 --> 00:00:14.039 Creeping across the pasture land. Got dirt on 00:00:14.039 --> 00:00:18.719 the boots and a working hand. From the milk house 00:00:18.719 --> 00:00:24.000 home to the auction call. These are the folks 00:00:24.000 --> 00:00:59.850 standing strong and tall. Yeah, this is... Welcome 00:00:59.850 --> 00:01:02.170 to The Bullvine, where we challenge everything 00:01:02.170 --> 00:01:04.670 you think you know about dairy breeding. I'm 00:01:04.670 --> 00:01:06.930 your host, and today we're diving into a story 00:01:06.930 --> 00:01:09.549 that completely flips the script on modern Holstein 00:01:09.549 --> 00:01:13.090 breeding. Picture this. While mega operations 00:01:13.090 --> 00:01:15.310 are burning through millions trying to breed 00:01:15.310 --> 00:01:18.930 the next champion, a 75 -cow farm in Ontario 00:01:18.930 --> 00:01:22.349 just bred two consecutive World Dairy Expo Grand 00:01:22.349 --> 00:01:26.709 Champion sires. Back -to -back years, 2024 and 00:01:26.709 --> 00:01:30.439 2025. Today, we're sitting down with Adam Zier 00:01:30.439 --> 00:01:33.079 from Walnut Lawn Farms in Tavistock, Ontario. 00:01:33.620 --> 00:01:36.480 Adam's going to tell us how six skeptical heifers 00:01:36.480 --> 00:01:39.400 changed his mind about genomics, how a number 00:01:39.400 --> 00:01:43.219 three embryo nobody wanted became worth 180 ,000 00:01:43.219 --> 00:01:46.500 doses of elite semen, and why his father Bernie's 00:01:46.500 --> 00:01:49.659 words, genomics is a young man's game, turned 00:01:49.659 --> 00:01:52.219 into a passing of the torch that would reshape 00:01:52.219 --> 00:01:55.659 Holstein history. This isn't just another breeding 00:01:55.659 --> 00:01:58.870 success story. This is about what happens when 00:01:58.870 --> 00:02:01.290 you combine four generations of breeding knowledge 00:02:01.290 --> 00:02:04.989 with validated science, when you choose quality 00:02:04.989 --> 00:02:07.870 over quantity, and when you have the guts to 00:02:07.870 --> 00:02:10.289 spend serious money on one cow that everyone 00:02:10.289 --> 00:02:13.849 thought you were crazy to buy. So grab your coffee, 00:02:13.949 --> 00:02:16.590 get comfortable, and let's hear directly from 00:02:16.590 --> 00:02:19.530 Adam about how Walnut Lawn Farms proved that 00:02:19.530 --> 00:02:22.210 you don't need thousands of cows to compete with 00:02:22.210 --> 00:02:25.460 the giants. You just need the right approach. 00:02:25.719 --> 00:02:28.340 Here's our exclusive interview with Adam Zier. 00:02:28.520 --> 00:02:31.919 So first of all, I wanted to kind of start with 00:02:31.919 --> 00:02:34.819 or what it was like for you to watch or be involved 00:02:34.819 --> 00:02:38.979 with the breeding of Candy Cane, who was Grand 00:02:38.979 --> 00:02:47.360 Champion at Expo. Yeah, so I guess when we started 00:02:47.360 --> 00:02:50.000 putting bulls in the stud, I never really realized. 00:02:51.469 --> 00:02:53.669 well i always thought we need to have daughters 00:02:53.669 --> 00:02:56.770 of our bulls showing and you know doing well 00:02:56.770 --> 00:03:01.090 in other people's barns but it probably never 00:03:01.090 --> 00:03:03.610 really realized how how it kind of hit you when 00:03:03.610 --> 00:03:06.189 you get a cow like that that's like i think we're 00:03:06.189 --> 00:03:08.509 a very small part of her breeding and she is 00:03:08.509 --> 00:03:11.650 in my mind she is the lovitch's cow like there's 00:03:11.650 --> 00:03:13.909 no doubt about that but it's pretty cool that 00:03:13.909 --> 00:03:17.770 our bull um is in the background there and decisions 00:03:17.770 --> 00:03:20.580 we made made a difference in that And so then 00:03:20.580 --> 00:03:24.000 when actually when she was grand, I had paid 00:03:24.000 --> 00:03:26.979 for the subscription. So I've been watching quite 00:03:26.979 --> 00:03:29.719 a bit of the show. And after that class, the 00:03:29.719 --> 00:03:31.180 way he talked about it, I kind of thought, oh, 00:03:31.199 --> 00:03:34.280 this guy might be grand. So then I was actually 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:36.479 feeding calves. And then my oldest son, Blake, 00:03:36.620 --> 00:03:39.520 was working away. And I just kind of looked down 00:03:39.520 --> 00:03:41.159 from the calf barn. He wasn't around for the 00:03:41.159 --> 00:03:43.120 longest time. And I thought, I'll bet you they're 00:03:43.120 --> 00:03:45.340 naming grand. So I went down, sure enough. And 00:03:45.340 --> 00:03:47.240 so I actually watched it online then when they 00:03:47.240 --> 00:03:51.629 had named it grand. Oh, cool. So yeah, it was, 00:03:51.629 --> 00:03:53.830 it was, it was a great feeling. I think I was, 00:03:53.830 --> 00:03:55.610 well, I was in, I was in the office fist pumping 00:03:55.610 --> 00:03:57.250 actually when she got named. Cause yeah, it's 00:03:57.250 --> 00:03:59.310 pretty cool when, when a daughter of one of our 00:03:59.310 --> 00:04:02.949 bulls wins it all. Yeah. Oh, that's a huge accomplishment. 00:04:03.870 --> 00:04:06.509 And, uh, I think, well, just yesterday we put 00:04:06.509 --> 00:04:10.389 up a story with the Lovitches and that's a great 00:04:10.389 --> 00:04:13.090 story. They are a great scenario. And that's 00:04:13.090 --> 00:04:16.930 two, two, uh, things. And I think he's about, 00:04:17.009 --> 00:04:18.790 I think they're similar to being about your age. 00:04:18.850 --> 00:04:20.430 Like their kids are all about the same age as 00:04:20.430 --> 00:04:23.269 yours as well. So maybe relatively the same age. 00:04:23.310 --> 00:04:28.110 I call you guys younger breeders. I know. I think 00:04:28.110 --> 00:04:31.410 myself as younger breeder too, but then I am 00:04:31.410 --> 00:04:33.790 42 now. I'm like, well, I guess I'm not new anymore. 00:04:34.290 --> 00:04:38.949 I think of you like when you were like, my memories 00:04:38.949 --> 00:04:41.769 like start when you were like five or six. Just 00:04:41.769 --> 00:04:44.170 little, little. And then I'm like, wait a minute 00:04:44.170 --> 00:04:46.529 now, but if my kids are 20, that means he's, 00:04:46.529 --> 00:04:48.350 yeah, okay. And then I saw your hockey stuff 00:04:48.350 --> 00:04:51.689 online too. So I'm like, yep, yep. We're all 00:04:51.689 --> 00:04:53.490 getting a lot older these days. Yeah, things 00:04:53.490 --> 00:04:57.149 move on. Yep. And you said, now you mentioned 00:04:57.149 --> 00:04:59.290 you are the third generation and then your kids 00:04:59.290 --> 00:05:00.850 will be the fourth generation on the farm there? 00:05:01.209 --> 00:05:03.529 No, I'm the fourth. Oh, you're the fourth. Yeah, 00:05:03.629 --> 00:05:05.990 the fourth generation, I'm the fourth. So if 00:05:05.990 --> 00:05:07.670 you don't mind, can you describe your operation 00:05:07.670 --> 00:05:10.310 for us then? But, um, so then the operation, 00:05:10.490 --> 00:05:15.029 we own 390 acres. Um, and then we built a new 00:05:15.029 --> 00:05:17.750 free, we came out of a tie stall barn into a 00:05:17.750 --> 00:05:21.889 new, uh, free stall barn, 110 stall. Um, we have 00:05:21.889 --> 00:05:26.170 two Lely A5 robots. We moved in in 20, uh, February, 00:05:26.230 --> 00:05:30.370 2020. Uh, so we're, we're five years now. And 00:05:30.370 --> 00:05:33.410 now we're like a set. We usually milk around 00:05:33.410 --> 00:05:36.870 75 cows now. So the barn's not near full, but, 00:05:36.990 --> 00:05:39.500 um, we're loving it with the robots it's been 00:05:39.500 --> 00:05:42.980 a really good transition so and and we are we 00:05:42.980 --> 00:05:45.819 do we grow most of our most of our own feed we 00:05:45.819 --> 00:05:48.000 still buy and supplement and stuff too we do 00:05:48.000 --> 00:05:50.279 a little bit of cash cropping but the the dairy 00:05:50.279 --> 00:05:52.500 side is what i like and it's kind of like for 00:05:52.500 --> 00:05:55.560 me it's the the crops are not are a necessity 00:05:55.560 --> 00:05:58.279 when we run a dairy farm but it's the cows that 00:05:58.279 --> 00:06:01.680 i really enjoy and this all started with your 00:06:01.680 --> 00:06:05.720 great great grandfather then yeah yeah yeah and 00:06:05.720 --> 00:06:08.120 then it was my It was my dad that really got 00:06:08.120 --> 00:06:10.980 into breeding and really, really had a, like 00:06:10.980 --> 00:06:13.839 a passion for it. And I, I kind of, I fed off 00:06:13.839 --> 00:06:16.040 that, I guess then. It's kind of how it went. 00:06:16.420 --> 00:06:19.220 Yeah. I can remember your dad was very keen. 00:06:19.319 --> 00:06:21.680 I mean, you're on the farm that your dad had 00:06:21.680 --> 00:06:24.600 then, you said earlier. Yep. Yep. It's been the 00:06:24.600 --> 00:06:30.079 same farm for all those years then. Cool. Now. 00:06:30.779 --> 00:06:33.420 you said your dad had the passion for breeding 00:06:33.420 --> 00:06:36.120 so that started when you were young what was 00:06:36.120 --> 00:06:38.139 kind of the key memories from when you were younger 00:06:38.139 --> 00:06:40.620 that got you started as well as maybe your dad's 00:06:40.620 --> 00:06:45.860 accomplishments that he had done um well so seeing 00:06:45.860 --> 00:06:48.259 i saw that question i was thinking about what 00:06:48.259 --> 00:06:49.860 is like what i never thought of that what's my 00:06:49.860 --> 00:06:53.379 first memories of of um growing up on the farm 00:06:53.379 --> 00:06:55.899 and kind of when i when i kind of got a passion 00:06:55.899 --> 00:06:59.220 and i I guess I do remember vividly my first 00:06:59.220 --> 00:07:03.319 4 -H calf was Arrow Stardinella. She was an all 00:07:03.319 --> 00:07:09.279 -white speckly thing. And I really enjoyed training 00:07:09.279 --> 00:07:11.500 her, and I kind of, at that age, I thought I 00:07:11.500 --> 00:07:12.939 had something really special because she's quite 00:07:12.939 --> 00:07:15.100 a calf, you know, and you could clean and all 00:07:15.100 --> 00:07:17.439 that. And I think it kind of, I don't know, there's 00:07:17.439 --> 00:07:18.959 something neat about that and the competition. 00:07:19.040 --> 00:07:21.399 I've always been into sports, and so it's kind 00:07:21.399 --> 00:07:23.100 of the competition of it all kind of got me. 00:07:23.910 --> 00:07:27.550 And I got my butt kicked with her in most years. 00:07:28.069 --> 00:07:30.509 Not every year. I had some good years, but I 00:07:30.509 --> 00:07:32.089 got my butt kicked a lot. And that's something 00:07:32.089 --> 00:07:36.629 that I look at with my own kids that I, you know, 00:07:36.629 --> 00:07:39.370 we don't buy 4 -H calves for the kids if we don't 00:07:39.370 --> 00:07:42.430 have a real cracker. I think there's good value 00:07:42.430 --> 00:07:46.970 in getting their butt kicked sometimes. It definitely 00:07:46.970 --> 00:07:49.829 builds some drive. And, of course, it's nice 00:07:49.829 --> 00:07:54.930 to do some winning too. in those years so like 00:07:54.930 --> 00:07:58.009 I guess it was 1995 then we had a Raider cow 00:07:58.009 --> 00:08:01.449 Raider nectarine that was nominated all Canadians 00:08:01.449 --> 00:08:04.050 as three -year -olds and so that was I think 00:08:04.050 --> 00:08:07.329 for dad like he felt on top of the world with 00:08:07.329 --> 00:08:11.149 having a cow like that in the barn and and and 00:08:11.149 --> 00:08:14.189 I kind of I don't know he got a lot of excitement 00:08:14.189 --> 00:08:15.769 in me as well so at that time might have been 00:08:15.769 --> 00:08:20.279 12 and um I think it was kind of I think there's 00:08:20.279 --> 00:08:21.939 a combination of getting your butt kicked a little 00:08:21.939 --> 00:08:25.980 bit along with some, um, you know, better achievements 00:08:25.980 --> 00:08:28.860 and winning a little bit kind of inspires you 00:08:28.860 --> 00:08:31.319 a little bit. And then, and then there was a 00:08:31.319 --> 00:08:34.320 run there from 95 through 2000, whatever we had. 00:08:34.679 --> 00:08:36.879 And our dad was really proud of us. We had animals, 00:08:37.139 --> 00:08:40.059 walnut lawn animals, now made all Canadian five 00:08:40.059 --> 00:08:42.879 years in a row there. And then Astry Apricot, 00:08:42.899 --> 00:08:45.379 our homebred cow we own with the Pasquies was 00:08:45.379 --> 00:08:47.360 intermediate champion at the Royal. So that was. 00:08:47.929 --> 00:08:50.090 That was a real, that was really something cool. 00:08:50.230 --> 00:08:52.370 And then when, of course, when that was, I had 00:08:52.370 --> 00:08:55.250 been like 15. So that really, that really was 00:08:55.250 --> 00:08:59.309 something else for me at that age. And what lessons 00:08:59.309 --> 00:09:01.690 or what things, like you say, that got you hooked, 00:09:01.789 --> 00:09:03.730 but what was like your dad was having a lot of 00:09:03.730 --> 00:09:06.450 success at that time? What lessons or is there 00:09:06.450 --> 00:09:08.309 things from that, that you still apply to how 00:09:08.309 --> 00:09:12.250 you run the operations today? Yeah, dad always 00:09:12.250 --> 00:09:14.929 put a, like dad always put an importance on cow 00:09:14.929 --> 00:09:21.960 families. And, um, He always told me that sometimes 00:09:21.960 --> 00:09:25.059 if you have a good cow family, you might have 00:09:25.059 --> 00:09:28.240 a generation where maybe they're not your best 00:09:28.240 --> 00:09:29.899 cow or whatever. It might be a little bit more 00:09:29.899 --> 00:09:32.899 of an ordinary cow. But if it's a great family, 00:09:33.059 --> 00:09:37.440 you can still next generation hit it with a great 00:09:37.440 --> 00:09:40.840 one. Probably the biggest thing he kind of instilled 00:09:40.840 --> 00:09:43.299 in me was the power of cow families and the value 00:09:43.299 --> 00:09:46.480 in them. Okay. And is that still a key part in 00:09:46.480 --> 00:09:48.080 when you're making your breeding decisions then? 00:09:49.700 --> 00:09:54.059 Yeah, it's huge. And actually like, yeah, that'd 00:09:54.059 --> 00:09:56.740 be our, that'd be the main thing actually for 00:09:56.740 --> 00:09:59.639 us in breeding or deciding who we work with, 00:09:59.720 --> 00:10:02.779 like what animals we work with. And, and so then 00:10:02.779 --> 00:10:04.600 that kind of later on, we're going to get in 00:10:04.600 --> 00:10:07.500 here about with Sue and stuff. But now I kind 00:10:07.500 --> 00:10:10.820 of look at it that we've taken a. kind of a step 00:10:10.820 --> 00:10:13.639 further like dad's goal dad really had a goal 00:10:13.639 --> 00:10:16.059 to be a master breeder and then he got two shields 00:10:16.059 --> 00:10:18.100 that was something that he was really really 00:10:18.100 --> 00:10:23.980 thankful for um but then when now now i kind 00:10:23.980 --> 00:10:26.279 of look at and especially with the things have 00:10:26.279 --> 00:10:29.259 changed just because of ivf and the number of 00:10:29.259 --> 00:10:32.220 animals out there from the best families that 00:10:32.220 --> 00:10:34.559 there's there's enough out there at reasonable 00:10:34.559 --> 00:10:38.200 enough prices that i kind of look at it now That 00:10:38.200 --> 00:10:40.299 in my mind like if a cow is not from a brand 00:10:40.299 --> 00:10:42.919 -name family. She's she's just a milk cow mm 00:10:42.919 --> 00:10:46.120 -hmm and And not and not saying it doesn't mean 00:10:46.120 --> 00:10:48.659 like they're not great cows like we one of our 00:10:48.659 --> 00:10:51.799 best two -year -olds in the barn right now just 00:10:51.799 --> 00:10:55.860 as a barn cow is She has seven excellent dams 00:10:55.860 --> 00:10:58.600 six generations are home bred. Oh wow and like 00:10:58.600 --> 00:11:00.299 and that's something that you know I think it's 00:11:00.299 --> 00:11:03.019 pretty cool, but but I always look at it if I 00:11:03.019 --> 00:11:06.240 have to explain to a visitor who the cow family 00:11:06.240 --> 00:11:09.860 is They're just a milk cow. And so that for me, 00:11:09.919 --> 00:11:11.720 you know, I'm happy to get daughters from her 00:11:11.720 --> 00:11:14.000 still. We're happy to breed from her, but she's 00:11:14.000 --> 00:11:16.139 not something that can, she's not an animal that 00:11:16.139 --> 00:11:18.720 can turn out something or have as high an odds, 00:11:18.879 --> 00:11:21.139 I should say, of turning out something really, 00:11:21.240 --> 00:11:24.220 really, really elite, I don't think. Because 00:11:24.220 --> 00:11:26.940 those, I look at the brand name cow families 00:11:26.940 --> 00:11:31.700 are brand name for a reason. But definitely like 00:11:31.700 --> 00:11:33.600 that young cow is going to get sex semen because 00:11:33.600 --> 00:11:36.159 I still want daughters from her. Just to turn 00:11:36.159 --> 00:11:39.779 out like a special bull or something really marketable. 00:11:40.419 --> 00:11:42.740 I just think the odds are so much higher with 00:11:42.740 --> 00:11:45.940 a brand name family. No, it's funny, and I don't 00:11:45.940 --> 00:11:47.960 know this, but I go back to my memories. Remember, 00:11:48.139 --> 00:11:52.259 I'm old in this. But I always remember your dad 00:11:52.259 --> 00:11:58.580 is a very, not progressive, but aggressive pedigree 00:11:58.580 --> 00:12:02.000 breeder. Like, as you said, master breeder. all 00:12:02.000 --> 00:12:04.340 Canadians very much that way, but very much also 00:12:04.340 --> 00:12:06.360 tie stall and everything else. So, and I was 00:12:06.360 --> 00:12:07.940 doing this and I'm like, you guys are in a very 00:12:07.940 --> 00:12:09.840 different operation than you would have grown 00:12:09.840 --> 00:12:12.779 up in. So there's a, quite a contrast, at least 00:12:12.779 --> 00:12:15.360 facilities wise from what you would have grown 00:12:15.360 --> 00:12:17.960 up in into what you have now. When I was doing 00:12:17.960 --> 00:12:19.440 my homework for this, I'm like, yeah, that's 00:12:19.440 --> 00:12:22.679 quite a change. I, I look at, I, I tease, I'll 00:12:22.679 --> 00:12:26.500 call it you with. western ontario boys and a 00:12:26.500 --> 00:12:28.740 lot of the ones that i like you look at the marcus's 00:12:28.740 --> 00:12:31.320 and yourselves and ones like that and i'm like 00:12:31.320 --> 00:12:34.279 yep little kind of old school tile barns i call 00:12:34.279 --> 00:12:37.820 it and now they're all you're all freestyle robots 00:12:37.820 --> 00:12:40.039 and everything else some of you i'm like jesus 00:12:40.039 --> 00:12:42.820 things have changed a lot over the years yeah 00:12:42.820 --> 00:12:47.299 when i look at that so it is quite a contrast 00:12:48.090 --> 00:12:49.870 But things change. Like that's the thing. Farms 00:12:49.870 --> 00:12:52.610 change, generations come in, different technology. 00:12:52.950 --> 00:12:56.889 So it is the times, but it's, for me, it's always 00:12:56.889 --> 00:13:00.009 interesting to look at, uh, when you go into 00:13:00.009 --> 00:13:03.169 that. Now you did mention about the Sue family. 00:13:03.289 --> 00:13:09.509 So might as well continue on there. Um, how did 00:13:09.509 --> 00:13:11.870 you guys like before Sue, before Solomon, before 00:13:11.870 --> 00:13:15.490 Sidekick, before all of this, you guys. decided 00:13:15.490 --> 00:13:18.950 to invest or kind of bring in somewhere pedigrees 00:13:18.950 --> 00:13:22.649 or how did all that start? Yeah. So, so dad at 00:13:22.649 --> 00:13:26.190 that time was like, I mean, even up until we 00:13:26.190 --> 00:13:28.370 bought Sue and that time he was kind of making 00:13:28.370 --> 00:13:30.950 the final decisions, but they, but my parents 00:13:30.950 --> 00:13:33.690 allowed me to make some decisions as well. And 00:13:33.690 --> 00:13:36.929 so dad had a number of show cows he had bought 00:13:36.929 --> 00:13:40.429 in partnerships with different people. And, um, 00:13:40.429 --> 00:13:44.049 and again, it was always like, focusing on on 00:13:44.049 --> 00:13:46.110 cow families and then also cows that could show 00:13:46.110 --> 00:13:49.029 and basically in our breeding we focused heavily 00:13:49.029 --> 00:13:53.389 on type which i still look at i think i think 00:13:53.389 --> 00:13:55.509 there's people out there that i think i'm viewed 00:13:55.509 --> 00:13:57.750 sometimes the genomic breeder and i suppose i 00:13:57.750 --> 00:14:01.230 am but i viewed very much that we breed tight 00:14:01.230 --> 00:14:03.110 like that so we really breed heavily for it because 00:14:03.110 --> 00:14:05.450 we breed for what we like that hasn't really 00:14:05.450 --> 00:14:08.090 changed maybe that maybe what we call the typey 00:14:08.090 --> 00:14:12.230 cow has has changed has changed, you know, not 00:14:12.230 --> 00:14:14.889 so tall, maybe not quite as sharp, but obviously 00:14:14.889 --> 00:14:17.549 more dairy, kind of like the whole industry has 00:14:17.549 --> 00:14:20.590 changed that way. But it was kind of that time 00:14:20.590 --> 00:14:23.629 that I was then home from school and I was full 00:14:23.629 --> 00:14:26.909 -time, and I kind of was like, Dad kind of had 00:14:26.909 --> 00:14:29.409 the dream of, I think his goals were to get a 00:14:29.409 --> 00:14:31.129 Master Burger Shield and then get a second one, 00:14:31.289 --> 00:14:33.169 and then he had a dream to have five home -bred 00:14:33.169 --> 00:14:35.269 excellent cows standing in a row, and he met 00:14:35.269 --> 00:14:36.909 all those goals, and then for me it was more 00:14:36.909 --> 00:14:39.889 that I wanted to, I kind of liked the idea of 00:14:39.889 --> 00:14:42.860 putting a bull in the stud. And then genomics 00:14:42.860 --> 00:14:46.340 came or came along and I really, well, I thought 00:14:46.340 --> 00:14:48.179 it was a joke kind of at first, but I did, I 00:14:48.179 --> 00:14:49.980 thought it was a joke at first. And I, I really, 00:14:50.019 --> 00:14:52.340 I like to think I have an open mind, those sort 00:14:52.340 --> 00:14:56.320 of things. I read on it a lot and I, um, yeah, 00:14:56.419 --> 00:14:58.279 it was kind of like a hobby for me, kind of figuring 00:14:58.279 --> 00:14:59.919 out this genomics thing. And then we started 00:14:59.919 --> 00:15:03.779 genomic testing some, and we tested actually 00:15:03.779 --> 00:15:06.200 quite a bunch of, we did a group, groups of full 00:15:06.200 --> 00:15:08.200 sisters, actually not to see how they compared 00:15:08.200 --> 00:15:10.929 to each other. the results from their phenotype. 00:15:11.610 --> 00:15:14.509 And to be honest, it was like, we were kind of 00:15:14.509 --> 00:15:17.190 astounded how accurate it seemed to be. And so 00:15:17.190 --> 00:15:19.350 then we, we, it kind of came to the point that 00:15:19.350 --> 00:15:21.149 they were, I kind of got the green light that 00:15:21.149 --> 00:15:24.330 if there's a, a cow to invest in, like, even 00:15:24.330 --> 00:15:27.870 if it's quite a bit of money, um, that we could 00:15:27.870 --> 00:15:32.629 do that. So then Sue was, Sue was consigned to 00:15:32.629 --> 00:15:34.950 sales stars. Actually, she was just fresh. Like, 00:15:34.950 --> 00:15:39.269 um, she went, I think she went 87 points. as 00:15:39.269 --> 00:15:41.389 a yearling, or maybe she was just two years old, 00:15:41.429 --> 00:15:44.649 uh, like 17 days. And basically right at that 00:15:44.649 --> 00:15:47.649 time, she was consigned to sales stars. We started 00:15:47.649 --> 00:15:50.649 the catalog and then inquired, um, to Dominique 00:15:50.649 --> 00:15:53.250 and Kathy Merman on about her at Misty Springs. 00:15:53.769 --> 00:15:57.090 And they told us then actually they were housing 00:15:57.090 --> 00:16:00.149 her at Maplewood, which is just about a, about 00:16:00.149 --> 00:16:01.909 a 40 minute drive from here. It's not too far. 00:16:01.990 --> 00:16:04.429 Not far. So yeah, we went and saw her there. 00:16:04.570 --> 00:16:08.159 And then, um, And during that conversation, they 00:16:08.159 --> 00:16:10.779 had said, yeah, she was consigned, but it wasn't 00:16:10.779 --> 00:16:12.360 ready yet because she was pretty fresh still. 00:16:12.500 --> 00:16:14.259 So they weren't going to consign her. And then 00:16:14.259 --> 00:16:18.139 we ended up working a deal out, bought her privately 00:16:18.139 --> 00:16:22.159 then. That's how that came about. Okay. And what 00:16:22.159 --> 00:16:27.179 about Sue caught your guys' attention? At the 00:16:27.179 --> 00:16:29.259 time, she was like, she had a genomic parent 00:16:29.259 --> 00:16:31.700 average of 17 types. So we figured out with, 00:16:31.779 --> 00:16:33.940 you know, being scored 87 points, we saw her 00:16:33.940 --> 00:16:37.000 like. she's an easy 87 .2 year old she did go 00:16:37.000 --> 00:16:41.279 88 later on um we saw that well she's probably 00:16:41.279 --> 00:16:43.320 going to be number one and if not she'll be close 00:16:43.320 --> 00:16:46.960 and then also is then the family and we still 00:16:46.960 --> 00:16:49.580 look at it that like now if i'm ever looking 00:16:49.580 --> 00:16:51.460 at an animal to buy we don't do a lot of buying 00:16:51.460 --> 00:16:54.139 but here and there we add and the first thing 00:16:54.139 --> 00:16:57.279 is we look at is the family because the pedigree 00:16:57.279 --> 00:16:59.980 is always there it's that's your that's your 00:16:59.980 --> 00:17:03.809 base for everything and you know you know genomics 00:17:03.809 --> 00:17:07.170 are i i think they're very accurate but there's 00:17:07.170 --> 00:17:09.450 definitely times it misses there's there's sometimes 00:17:09.450 --> 00:17:11.630 formula changes there's rollbacks there's all 00:17:11.630 --> 00:17:14.849 those things you always have your pedigree so 00:17:14.849 --> 00:17:17.170 the the family is the biggest thing and then 00:17:17.170 --> 00:17:20.150 we kind of genomics is often right after that 00:17:20.150 --> 00:17:23.470 and sue is just kind of a cow that um she cost 00:17:23.470 --> 00:17:25.470 a lot so i thought there was kind of pressure 00:17:25.470 --> 00:17:28.769 to maybe to to turn to turn out and i'm like 00:17:28.769 --> 00:17:31.430 well this is kind of my decision i hope she doesn't 00:17:31.430 --> 00:17:35.059 flunk And so I kind of felt pressure at that 00:17:35.059 --> 00:17:37.680 time to make it work. Fortunately, she flushed 00:17:37.680 --> 00:17:42.619 really well. That really helped. But when it 00:17:42.619 --> 00:17:44.619 really came together, as long as we could justify 00:17:44.619 --> 00:17:46.579 the dollars, like it seemed like this was a cow 00:17:46.579 --> 00:17:48.700 that had it all, she's definitely one we want 00:17:48.700 --> 00:17:53.059 to look at and purchase and really work off of. 00:17:53.119 --> 00:17:55.680 So it was, I mean, I wouldn't say it was an easy 00:17:55.680 --> 00:17:57.279 decision because she was a lot of money, but 00:17:57.279 --> 00:18:00.039 she had enough things going for her, and that 00:18:00.039 --> 00:18:05.109 way it was pretty easy. Yep. Yep. And I remember 00:18:05.109 --> 00:18:07.630 Sue back in the day as we had our cows at Maplewood 00:18:07.630 --> 00:18:10.470 at the same time. Okay. So I remember her as 00:18:10.470 --> 00:18:15.690 we went through and, uh, uh, I remember she was 00:18:15.690 --> 00:18:18.829 actually like, how do I say it? We had Lenny 00:18:18.829 --> 00:18:20.710 had a few ornery ones to work with. She wasn't 00:18:20.710 --> 00:18:23.230 ornery to work with. And then the having the 00:18:23.230 --> 00:18:25.609 shower family and everything behind her, you 00:18:25.609 --> 00:18:28.170 knew that that family is always flushed. Yeah. 00:18:28.289 --> 00:18:33.109 Yep. Yep. Yep. she had a bunch of afters she 00:18:33.109 --> 00:18:35.069 had a bunch of her bunch of daughters born too 00:18:35.069 --> 00:18:39.230 so yeah so um yeah you knew she she could flush 00:18:39.230 --> 00:18:42.970 and make some offspring yeah yeah no for sure 00:18:42.970 --> 00:18:44.910 so you got her home and then would you guys you 00:18:44.910 --> 00:18:46.569 started flushing her right away or what'd you 00:18:46.569 --> 00:18:48.190 guys do with her when you first got her yeah 00:18:48.190 --> 00:18:52.309 she was she was pretty fresh but then i think 00:18:52.309 --> 00:18:54.109 it might be the time we got her home i don't 00:18:54.109 --> 00:18:55.589 think it was that long we got her settled we 00:18:55.589 --> 00:18:58.970 started flushing and then we rolled her um every 00:18:58.970 --> 00:19:00.890 month we were doing ET on her. And actually what 00:19:00.890 --> 00:19:03.470 we kind of, we were like, we were learning as 00:19:03.470 --> 00:19:08.269 we went. And during that time we were quite shocked 00:19:08.269 --> 00:19:10.569 at how easy, like when you have an animal that's 00:19:10.569 --> 00:19:14.589 that good, it was pretty surprising to us actually 00:19:14.589 --> 00:19:18.289 how easy the marketing was, how easy eggs sold. 00:19:18.349 --> 00:19:21.410 And you could, you could, you can name a high 00:19:21.410 --> 00:19:23.109 price. And if, you know, if someone thought it 00:19:23.109 --> 00:19:24.970 was too high, there's the next one in line. And 00:19:24.970 --> 00:19:29.440 so it was, It was pretty eye -opening for us, 00:19:29.480 --> 00:19:32.559 actually. And our goal, we kind of aimed for, 00:19:32.700 --> 00:19:37.160 is we tried when we were, so we'd flush every 00:19:37.160 --> 00:19:39.740 month. So, I mean, we were rolling her very often. 00:19:39.980 --> 00:19:42.519 We'd usually put three to five eggs in, and we'd 00:19:42.519 --> 00:19:45.019 try to get two to three pregnancies from the 00:19:45.019 --> 00:19:47.460 mating, and then we'd sell the rest of the eggs. 00:19:47.539 --> 00:19:49.000 And she's had a lot of flushes where she'd be 00:19:49.000 --> 00:19:51.819 double digits, so we'd usually sell five, six 00:19:51.819 --> 00:19:55.289 from a flush. keep the castle going that way 00:19:55.289 --> 00:19:57.769 while still getting pregnancy. So, and I was 00:19:57.769 --> 00:19:59.990 just, we were, we were blessed that she watched 00:19:59.990 --> 00:20:03.450 well, that made a big difference for us. Now, 00:20:03.450 --> 00:20:05.990 and I just, excuse me, I just don't know. Is 00:20:05.990 --> 00:20:09.230 she the first one that you put sons into AI then 00:20:09.230 --> 00:20:11.349 from under you guys, or had you done some before 00:20:11.349 --> 00:20:14.369 AI before her? No, that was the first one. And, 00:20:14.369 --> 00:20:17.769 um, and actually to the very first, the very 00:20:17.769 --> 00:20:19.990 first boy was accepted then was a Meridian son 00:20:19.990 --> 00:20:23.720 synergy. And then the next one was Solomon. So 00:20:23.720 --> 00:20:28.400 she kind of hit. Oh, wow. Right. And something 00:20:28.400 --> 00:20:30.900 with the family that I'm actually, I think we're 00:20:30.900 --> 00:20:32.900 going to get touch on it. I know there's a question 00:20:32.900 --> 00:20:35.980 later on about competing with like the bigger 00:20:35.980 --> 00:20:39.420 farms, but it's something that, um, I have a 00:20:39.420 --> 00:20:42.279 lot of belief in our, and so we, we, we work 00:20:42.279 --> 00:20:44.220 three families. We're working heavily with now, 00:20:44.259 --> 00:20:46.599 the Laurie sheiks, the Barbies, and then, and 00:20:46.599 --> 00:20:48.359 then the, the suit and then the suit family, 00:20:48.420 --> 00:20:50.559 which is like the splendor of the course. And. 00:20:50.990 --> 00:20:53.329 Those three families are best from those families. 00:20:53.390 --> 00:20:57.309 I have a lot of belief in them. I trust them 00:20:57.309 --> 00:21:00.529 that we don't need 10 calves from a mating to 00:21:00.529 --> 00:21:06.690 hit one high. It's something with Sue. Solomon 00:21:06.690 --> 00:21:10.869 was one of only two doorman sons and then Sidekick 00:21:10.869 --> 00:21:14.450 was the only avid son we had from summer. We 00:21:14.450 --> 00:21:17.890 didn't need 10 because it was a strong cow family 00:21:17.890 --> 00:21:21.930 and they were consistent enough. And I think 00:21:21.930 --> 00:21:24.490 it's a really special family. Like, that's one 00:21:24.490 --> 00:21:26.950 of the reasons. We don't need that many. And 00:21:26.950 --> 00:21:29.950 I think there is times in the industry now even 00:21:29.950 --> 00:21:32.869 we see that there's cows that are regarded as 00:21:32.869 --> 00:21:38.509 great brood cows. And how do I say this? It's 00:21:38.509 --> 00:21:40.549 not so negative. But sometimes they're great 00:21:40.549 --> 00:21:42.170 brood cows because they've got 100 offspring 00:21:42.170 --> 00:21:44.710 and they hit it with two. So we say, well, she's 00:21:44.710 --> 00:21:48.450 a great brood cow, but is she really? That's 00:21:48.450 --> 00:21:52.150 my question. Yeah, because some have hundreds 00:21:52.150 --> 00:21:54.230 and hundreds of embryos and stuff, and so what 00:21:54.230 --> 00:21:56.470 percentage do they actually hit on? Yeah, what 00:21:56.470 --> 00:21:57.990 percentage are they hitting on? And we say, well, 00:21:57.990 --> 00:22:00.450 they're a great brood cow, but, well, are they 00:22:00.450 --> 00:22:04.109 that consistent? Like, not necessarily. So I'm 00:22:04.109 --> 00:22:05.970 very proud of what's the family. Yeah, and I 00:22:05.970 --> 00:22:08.470 said it hit pretty good for you, pretty quick. 00:22:08.910 --> 00:22:12.279 Yeah. And if Solomon was that early in her. Situation 00:22:12.279 --> 00:22:14.339 what was it like when what was it like for you 00:22:14.339 --> 00:22:16.619 guys when Solomon hit number one? What was that? 00:22:16.619 --> 00:22:19.420 What was that day like for you guys? Well, he 00:22:19.420 --> 00:22:22.119 was number one as a young bull. Yeah, and there's 00:22:22.119 --> 00:22:25.299 a band proven Yeah, and when he came out actually 00:22:25.299 --> 00:22:27.900 like I said, we were learning as we went like 00:22:27.900 --> 00:22:30.319 I feel like we know a lot more now for being 00:22:30.319 --> 00:22:34.119 through a little longer But I remember I do remember 00:22:34.119 --> 00:22:36.920 a conversation I was dad and I told him This 00:22:36.920 --> 00:22:38.759 was the time of course when Atwood was like a 00:22:38.759 --> 00:22:40.440 young bull and he was getting used a lot in the 00:22:40.440 --> 00:22:42.849 show cat like the top show cows and there's choices 00:22:42.849 --> 00:22:45.789 selling for big dollars. And I remember saying 00:22:45.789 --> 00:22:49.289 to dad, I said like, I think Solomon's going 00:22:49.289 --> 00:22:51.410 to be used on all the big time show cows. Like 00:22:51.410 --> 00:22:54.390 it kind of all of a sudden, like I knew his numbers 00:22:54.390 --> 00:22:56.650 were out and I was like, Oh, he's, he's, he's 00:22:56.650 --> 00:22:58.670 really high. Cause like we knew he was high, 00:22:58.829 --> 00:23:01.369 but we didn't, we didn't know if he was a superstar 00:23:01.369 --> 00:23:02.910 when we first got the numbers. Like we were new, 00:23:03.009 --> 00:23:06.819 like we didn't, we didn't know. And, um, And 00:23:06.819 --> 00:23:08.299 I remember I said that to dad, and he was quite 00:23:08.299 --> 00:23:11.240 surprised by it. And he's like, oh, I guess he's 00:23:11.240 --> 00:23:14.180 high. Maybe he is. And so it was pretty neat 00:23:14.180 --> 00:23:18.299 then to see that he was. And it was really neat 00:23:18.299 --> 00:23:20.359 when actually he had number one confirmation 00:23:20.359 --> 00:23:24.160 with the same round that our other doorman's 00:23:24.160 --> 00:23:26.980 son, Blake, from the Barbie family, was also 00:23:26.980 --> 00:23:29.619 number one PTAT in the same round. So that was 00:23:29.619 --> 00:23:33.200 pretty neat when they both, from different families, 00:23:33.220 --> 00:23:35.559 hit in two different countries. Right at the 00:23:35.559 --> 00:23:38.799 same time. So that was pretty cool. Yeah. But 00:23:38.799 --> 00:23:41.660 then, but it was different than with, with sidekick 00:23:41.660 --> 00:23:45.579 because then when we got sidekicks genomics, 00:23:45.799 --> 00:23:49.859 um, this is something else I'm proud of with 00:23:49.859 --> 00:23:52.819 the family. Uh, so we got his first genomics 00:23:52.819 --> 00:23:56.859 and he was 22 for tight and not long ago here, 00:23:56.900 --> 00:23:58.559 I was actually kind of figuring out where he'd 00:23:58.559 --> 00:24:01.680 be without rollbacks and he'd be over 20 still. 00:24:01.880 --> 00:24:05.680 If you take rollbacks out, So to me, that demonstrates 00:24:05.680 --> 00:24:07.759 that he's, yeah, of course he's dropped over 00:24:07.759 --> 00:24:11.200 time, like, no doubt. But he's been very consistent 00:24:11.200 --> 00:24:15.700 from what his initial genomics were. And at the 00:24:15.700 --> 00:24:17.740 time we got the genomics, he went up for every 00:24:17.740 --> 00:24:20.819 trait except milk, which makes sense. We know 00:24:20.819 --> 00:24:24.380 now they're not the milkiest. To me, genomics, 00:24:24.500 --> 00:24:28.119 like, nailed him exactly what he is. And when 00:24:28.119 --> 00:24:30.059 we got, so we've been through it with Solomon 00:24:30.059 --> 00:24:32.259 a little bit. So when we got the numbers on Sidekick, 00:24:32.809 --> 00:24:35.230 We definitely understood more that we had a superstar 00:24:35.230 --> 00:24:37.250 there right right from the get -go and he was 00:24:37.250 --> 00:24:39.849 I mean He was still on milk. We got numbers and 00:24:39.849 --> 00:24:42.670 we knew he was a superstar. So it was quite different 00:24:42.670 --> 00:24:47.369 than than Solomon Yeah, and then he was a McCutcheon 00:24:47.369 --> 00:24:53.609 Sorry the dams I'm out of McCutcheon. Yeah And 00:24:53.609 --> 00:24:59.490 now At the time of sidekick being bred and stuff 00:24:59.490 --> 00:25:01.930 you guys still owned her by yourselves. Did you 00:25:01.930 --> 00:25:04.089 not? At that point dave and those guys didn't 00:25:04.089 --> 00:25:06.150 come in to live here. Yeah, we sold her like 00:25:06.150 --> 00:25:08.269 we never owned part of her with them Yeah, they 00:25:08.269 --> 00:25:10.390 sold her short, but I mean, yeah, so when we 00:25:10.390 --> 00:25:12.329 sold I have to remember here in my head how that 00:25:12.329 --> 00:25:15.990 was exactly when we sold summer I uh, sidekick 00:25:15.990 --> 00:25:19.450 was was I think instead like not quite. Oh, it 00:25:19.450 --> 00:25:22.509 was that if I remember correctly. Yes I didn't 00:25:22.509 --> 00:25:25.569 I was trying to go through the time. Yes, I mean 00:25:25.569 --> 00:25:28.150 in you know, they were brought in of course in 00:25:28.150 --> 00:25:30.779 the genomic era and it was their genomics and 00:25:30.779 --> 00:25:33.960 the pedigree that got mixed up to the stud. But 00:25:33.960 --> 00:25:36.539 it is interesting to know, I think, too, that 00:25:36.539 --> 00:25:39.900 they weren't the result of flushes on the virgin 00:25:39.900 --> 00:25:43.099 heifers either. They were damned for milk cows 00:25:43.099 --> 00:25:45.660 when those flushes happened. So that's something 00:25:45.660 --> 00:25:48.700 to keep in mind, too. I don't like the troop 00:25:48.700 --> 00:25:52.740 transmitters. I don't like to move on too fast, 00:25:52.880 --> 00:25:55.039 even maybe if their numbers aren't as high as 00:25:55.039 --> 00:25:57.390 their daughters. We still work them hard because 00:25:57.390 --> 00:25:59.230 we know that they transmit, regardless if their 00:25:59.230 --> 00:26:01.809 numbers maybe aren't quite as high as the newest 00:26:01.809 --> 00:26:04.710 generation. Like right now, I look at our alligator 00:26:04.710 --> 00:26:07.569 briar cow from the Barbie family, and she's that 00:26:07.569 --> 00:26:09.829 cow. She's now in third calf. She's 92 points. 00:26:10.470 --> 00:26:15.109 But she doesn't flush the best, so we have to 00:26:15.109 --> 00:26:16.690 calve her here and there. Otherwise, we'd probably 00:26:16.690 --> 00:26:18.950 have her as a permanent flush cow and flush as 00:26:18.950 --> 00:26:23.269 often as we could. Okay. Yeah. Now, how old was 00:26:23.269 --> 00:26:25.750 Summer when you guys sold her? Was she just a 00:26:25.750 --> 00:26:27.430 two -year -old when Dave and those guys bought 00:26:27.430 --> 00:26:29.849 her? No, she was third calver. Third calver. 00:26:29.910 --> 00:26:31.730 Oh, she was that old. We sold her at the end 00:26:31.730 --> 00:26:34.509 of August, and she had been fresh, I think, since 00:26:34.509 --> 00:26:37.750 May or June with her second calf. Yeah, she was 00:26:37.750 --> 00:26:41.690 a three -year -old. Okay. Yeah. I remember, and 00:26:41.690 --> 00:26:46.109 then David sold her again from there. Yeah. Trying 00:26:46.109 --> 00:26:49.609 to go through the history in my own head. Yeah. 00:26:50.809 --> 00:26:53.890 And I remember at summer show, uh, it's like 00:26:53.890 --> 00:26:57.029 here, one of the high index cows that also is 00:26:57.029 --> 00:27:00.410 competing with the best choke house and that 00:27:00.410 --> 00:27:05.930 quite an achievement. So in there, uh, for sure. 00:27:06.650 --> 00:27:11.450 Uh, sorry, I just was thinking about Dave for 00:27:11.450 --> 00:27:15.250 a second there anyways. And then, so, uh, sidekick 00:27:15.250 --> 00:27:19.579 actually was done quite well. Um, did you guys 00:27:19.579 --> 00:27:21.299 use them a lot yourself as well? Or is it a little 00:27:21.299 --> 00:27:23.079 tricky because you had so much of the bloodline 00:27:23.079 --> 00:27:26.819 in your farm? Uh, yeah, we've used them and actually 00:27:26.819 --> 00:27:29.519 I'm still using them to be honest. So another 00:27:29.519 --> 00:27:32.779 thing that kind of, when we got into the bulls 00:27:32.779 --> 00:27:34.480 and we started putting some of these bulls instead, 00:27:34.720 --> 00:27:38.380 that always, that always warned me, maybe, maybe 00:27:38.380 --> 00:27:40.180 a little different than some people. Cause I've 00:27:40.180 --> 00:27:42.259 heard it said that you always need to look if 00:27:42.259 --> 00:27:44.240 a breeder uses their own bulls to know if you 00:27:44.240 --> 00:27:47.000 should use them or not. And dad always really 00:27:47.000 --> 00:27:49.720 cautioned me against using our own bulls and 00:27:49.720 --> 00:27:52.900 that we can use them, but it's pretty easy when 00:27:52.900 --> 00:27:56.140 you have a homebred bull to get what I would 00:27:56.140 --> 00:27:58.460 call homeritis and you fall in love with them 00:27:58.460 --> 00:28:01.400 a little too much. And so it would be careful. 00:28:01.519 --> 00:28:04.619 Dad always said to me that he believed it's tough 00:28:04.619 --> 00:28:07.880 to move your herd ahead if you use your own bulls 00:28:07.880 --> 00:28:11.059 too heavily because I think partly you do. You 00:28:11.059 --> 00:28:13.819 get a little bit of... a bias towards them because 00:28:13.819 --> 00:28:17.420 you bred them and so we don't really ever use 00:28:17.420 --> 00:28:19.960 any of our bulls heavy like i always have some 00:28:19.960 --> 00:28:23.039 semen in the tank of our own bulls uh here and 00:28:23.039 --> 00:28:26.819 there but i never go heavy so solomon and sidekick 00:28:26.819 --> 00:28:30.500 i've used both um never went super heavy with 00:28:30.500 --> 00:28:33.700 them but sidekick now we're still we're still 00:28:33.700 --> 00:28:36.460 using them a little bit i got some sextant conventional 00:28:36.460 --> 00:28:39.559 doses that when the time comes i need a four 00:28:39.559 --> 00:28:43.829 udder He's kind of the guy to do it. Yeah. Yeah. 00:28:44.069 --> 00:28:46.349 So, yeah, we know, we know so well where to use 00:28:46.349 --> 00:28:48.829 them and we actually got a few excellent sidekicks 00:28:48.829 --> 00:28:54.549 now. And, um, yeah, it's kind of, it's, it's 00:28:54.549 --> 00:28:56.829 definitely fun still to use them sometimes. And 00:28:56.829 --> 00:28:59.910 it's neat when you look at sidekicks, cause I've 00:28:59.910 --> 00:29:02.829 been, was going through it, especially with her 00:29:02.829 --> 00:29:06.390 winning grand. They've seemed to mature better 00:29:06.390 --> 00:29:10.279 than most other bulls of his. Generation like 00:29:10.279 --> 00:29:12.799 there were some others that maybe had fancier 00:29:12.799 --> 00:29:15.200 or at least more show -winning two -year -olds 00:29:15.200 --> 00:29:19.160 But as they've hit the three and four lactation 00:29:19.160 --> 00:29:24.839 cows They've really come on yes elite level especially 00:29:24.839 --> 00:29:27.799 in the show ring cows so it's learning that they've 00:29:27.799 --> 00:29:31.220 matured that way much more and in my Thought 00:29:31.220 --> 00:29:34.160 on that whether it's accurate I can't say but 00:29:34.160 --> 00:29:36.400 my thinking is it's because there I think he 00:29:36.400 --> 00:29:38.319 leaves he leaves like a really balanced frame 00:29:38.880 --> 00:29:41.880 And so maybe they're not extreme to win as two 00:29:41.880 --> 00:29:44.579 -year -olds, but as they age, it's those cows 00:29:44.579 --> 00:29:48.140 that age so well and they do so well then later 00:29:48.140 --> 00:29:51.259 on. So yeah, that's a trait that's pretty, you 00:29:51.259 --> 00:29:55.019 know, I'm thankful our name's tied onto a bull 00:29:55.019 --> 00:29:57.920 that can do that sort of thing. No, it's really 00:29:57.920 --> 00:30:00.400 cool. And that's how it's in the, with Lovitches 00:30:00.400 --> 00:30:03.599 as well, they comment that if anything, candy 00:30:03.599 --> 00:30:05.900 cane was maybe perceived to be a little immature. 00:30:06.640 --> 00:30:11.259 As a heifer, not immature, but not an extreme. 00:30:11.819 --> 00:30:14.640 And then she just kept developing and developing. 00:30:14.680 --> 00:30:16.460 And there's been about five or six of those ones 00:30:16.460 --> 00:30:18.680 over the past year or two that have really come 00:30:18.680 --> 00:30:22.299 on that maybe weren't headliners as two -year 00:30:22.299 --> 00:30:25.220 -olds, but they've really come on nicely and 00:30:25.220 --> 00:30:29.670 they've matured in there. And so that's kind 00:30:29.670 --> 00:30:30.970 of neat. Cause you're like, you think about it 00:30:30.970 --> 00:30:32.910 cause you got summer who's done quite well at 00:30:32.910 --> 00:30:35.069 Madison herself, maybe not to grand champion 00:30:35.069 --> 00:30:38.630 stage, but to quite well. And then now, uh, her 00:30:38.630 --> 00:30:42.069 son, uh, is carrying on the legacy. What does 00:30:42.069 --> 00:30:44.109 that mean for you guys to kind of, you said about, 00:30:44.170 --> 00:30:46.309 you know, you kind of have a bit on both sides 00:30:46.309 --> 00:30:48.809 of the female and the male side, probably quite 00:30:48.809 --> 00:30:52.349 an achievement for you guys. Yeah. That's something 00:30:52.349 --> 00:30:55.410 that like, I look at, um, like summer because 00:30:55.410 --> 00:30:58.289 there's, Very few cows that are crossover cows 00:30:58.289 --> 00:31:01.630 that are, you know, some are, I mean, we did 00:31:01.630 --> 00:31:05.029 a McCutcheon mating on Sue. I mean, if we're 00:31:05.029 --> 00:31:06.450 all honest, I don't think we thought we were 00:31:06.450 --> 00:31:09.430 going to turn out a big time show cow. You know, 00:31:09.470 --> 00:31:11.589 it wasn't made for that reason. So it's pretty 00:31:11.589 --> 00:31:15.170 neat to have a cow that's been able to do that. 00:31:15.230 --> 00:31:18.750 And I look at then from our Breyer family, of 00:31:18.750 --> 00:31:21.650 course, goes back to Barbie now, Lambda Beyonce 00:31:21.650 --> 00:31:25.160 is another one that's done that. to have two 00:31:25.160 --> 00:31:27.640 cows that have been able to compete at Madison 00:31:27.640 --> 00:31:31.380 and Royal and, and also be cows that can put 00:31:31.380 --> 00:31:33.819 bulls instead just on genetic merit and not, 00:31:33.940 --> 00:31:35.940 you know, they're putting, they're putting bulls 00:31:35.940 --> 00:31:37.420 instead of course, cause the family and all that, 00:31:37.480 --> 00:31:38.960 and they got a dam that can show and everything 00:31:38.960 --> 00:31:40.920 too, but they're not, they're not putting bulls 00:31:40.920 --> 00:31:42.660 instead just cause the dam to show cows, basically 00:31:42.660 --> 00:31:45.259 what I'm saying. So to have two cows like that 00:31:45.259 --> 00:31:48.599 is quite satisfying as well. Yeah. No, and it's 00:31:48.599 --> 00:31:50.339 neat. And you talk about, you talked about like, 00:31:50.359 --> 00:31:52.759 yes, certain cows will be flushed. hundreds of 00:31:52.759 --> 00:31:55.160 times. So they did a potency. And then I think 00:31:55.160 --> 00:31:57.799 about the size and scale of your operation and 00:31:57.799 --> 00:32:00.460 you guys aren't, you know, 300 head, 500 head 00:32:00.460 --> 00:32:02.900 or a thousand head. I believe you're what about 00:32:02.900 --> 00:32:05.960 60 to 70 head you're milking just now? You're 00:32:05.960 --> 00:32:09.440 around 75 now. Yeah. We're slowly expanding here 00:32:09.440 --> 00:32:13.059 in the new barn. Of course it's not fast, but. 00:32:13.660 --> 00:32:20.559 Nope. With that, what I try to really do is, 00:32:20.559 --> 00:32:26.250 um, flush Like we don't we'll flush heifers with 00:32:26.250 --> 00:32:28.089 the genomic era if you want to compete in the 00:32:28.089 --> 00:32:30.849 genomic game yet I suppose you got to do some 00:32:30.849 --> 00:32:33.930 but we don't flush heifers heavily and especially 00:32:33.930 --> 00:32:36.430 if there's a Half of this maybe worse. I think 00:32:36.430 --> 00:32:38.269 all this half is good enough. She's got she looks 00:32:38.269 --> 00:32:40.789 apart She's got good enough numbers. We should 00:32:40.789 --> 00:32:43.369 be flushing her if there's not a bull that really 00:32:43.369 --> 00:32:47.089 matches super well with her I'll usually quite 00:32:47.089 --> 00:32:50.839 often. I won't flush because I only have I can 00:32:50.839 --> 00:32:52.539 really only do so many flushes to make so many 00:32:52.539 --> 00:32:55.680 eggs. Often I will make that where we won't flush 00:32:55.680 --> 00:32:57.880 and I'll breed young and get them calved in. 00:32:58.000 --> 00:33:01.099 I love that we breed young, calve them in, see 00:33:01.099 --> 00:33:04.980 what we got for sure. We don't give that much 00:33:04.980 --> 00:33:09.339 time as long as we do calve them in young. We 00:33:09.339 --> 00:33:11.500 can work with them as two -year -olds if that's 00:33:11.500 --> 00:33:15.119 the case. I don't want to be missing too many 00:33:15.119 --> 00:33:18.809 times in virgin heifer flushes. tiny receipts 00:33:18.809 --> 00:33:21.710 that we don't have a lot of uh unless i'm quite 00:33:21.710 --> 00:33:25.049 convinced yeah you have to be careful with that 00:33:25.049 --> 00:33:29.769 yeah and then you've you know you've had a lot 00:33:29.769 --> 00:33:31.609 of success like yourselves but it also probably 00:33:31.609 --> 00:33:33.529 means a lot to see other people's have success 00:33:33.529 --> 00:33:35.829 with the genetics you guys have developed so 00:33:35.829 --> 00:33:40.250 that's cool as well yeah for sure for sure it 00:33:40.250 --> 00:33:42.809 isn't actually like i was thinking about this 00:33:42.809 --> 00:33:46.279 with sidekick and chris with since Candy Cane 00:33:46.279 --> 00:33:49.500 won Madison, but I like even, like, I consider, 00:33:49.619 --> 00:33:52.119 like, across the world. Over in the UK, there's, 00:33:52.119 --> 00:33:56.680 like, the Meg Pandora cow. Pandora. Won some 00:33:56.680 --> 00:33:59.079 big cows there, or big shows, and then evening 00:33:59.079 --> 00:34:01.759 sidekick Jennifer is another one. And they're 00:34:01.759 --> 00:34:05.099 two cows I've never seen, but, like, just incredible 00:34:05.099 --> 00:34:08.059 in the pictures, and so it's pretty neat to think 00:34:08.059 --> 00:34:11.840 that one of our bulls is doing, you know, dominating 00:34:11.840 --> 00:34:15.190 on their side of the world. Pretty neat. I would 00:34:15.190 --> 00:34:19.809 say I've seen Pandora several times. And easily 00:34:19.809 --> 00:34:21.969 a cow that could compete in North America. You 00:34:21.969 --> 00:34:24.590 know, there's a reason. Yeah. Really impressive. 00:34:25.050 --> 00:34:26.829 Yeah. There's a reason Blonde didn't bought in 00:34:26.829 --> 00:34:29.329 and I tease it probably isn't because they're 00:34:29.329 --> 00:34:30.610 going to make a boatload out of her. They just 00:34:30.610 --> 00:34:34.690 appreciated the cow. Yeah. Yeah. That much that 00:34:34.690 --> 00:34:37.469 she was that exceptional. And yeah, I would say 00:34:37.469 --> 00:34:40.639 there's two or three in Europe. most times, maybe 00:34:40.639 --> 00:34:43.059 one or two at times that would compete over here, 00:34:43.139 --> 00:34:47.139 but she's easily one that would put a running 00:34:47.139 --> 00:34:51.199 type on here. She's special. Again, that could 00:34:51.199 --> 00:34:55.039 just might not be even at her peak yet. No, no, 00:34:55.039 --> 00:34:58.519 she'll keep developing. Nope, she will. That's 00:34:58.519 --> 00:35:00.119 what I mean. So you look at the genetics and 00:35:00.119 --> 00:35:03.159 that's, I mean, it's technology these days. It's 00:35:03.159 --> 00:35:05.320 amazing how like you think, okay, I'm here in 00:35:05.320 --> 00:35:07.420 Western Ontario and whatever, whatever, but. 00:35:08.010 --> 00:35:11.090 The genetics are like around the world and that 00:35:11.090 --> 00:35:13.590 kind of, I guess it's humbling at times as well 00:35:13.590 --> 00:35:15.750 too, I guess that. Yeah, for sure. I think for 00:35:15.750 --> 00:35:19.849 sure it is. Yeah. Yeah. In that regards. Uh, 00:35:20.130 --> 00:35:23.730 now you guys have had a lot of achievements, 00:35:23.909 --> 00:35:27.510 uh, over the years. And as we talk about, uh, 00:35:27.730 --> 00:35:31.610 you know, genetics going around the world. Um, 00:35:31.809 --> 00:35:34.349 what do you think your father would say now looking 00:35:34.349 --> 00:35:36.449 at the success and what's happened? What do you 00:35:36.449 --> 00:35:40.469 think he'd say to you? Yeah, I've thought of 00:35:40.469 --> 00:35:42.510 that often because there's a lot of times I like 00:35:42.510 --> 00:35:44.230 to have conversations with him. I like to show 00:35:44.230 --> 00:35:48.449 him the new barn. And obviously, I find with 00:35:48.449 --> 00:35:49.889 him and him and I are really close, I'd like 00:35:49.889 --> 00:35:52.230 to ask him a lot of questions and advice as well. 00:35:52.309 --> 00:35:57.429 But I think he'd be, I think he'd kind of be 00:35:57.429 --> 00:35:59.530 a little bit in awe. He'd probably say, wow, 00:35:59.550 --> 00:36:03.909 that's cool. And he would say, wow, that's cool. 00:36:05.000 --> 00:36:08.000 a way that uh yeah a little bit in awe i think 00:36:08.000 --> 00:36:09.980 he would he'd be he'd be really proud of it i 00:36:09.980 --> 00:36:12.820 know that for sure yeah it's neat your dad at 00:36:12.820 --> 00:36:15.079 least in my interactions never was overly talkative 00:36:15.079 --> 00:36:19.099 but his passion and his desire yeah he he loved 00:36:19.099 --> 00:36:22.619 holstein breeding and yeah and like uh like i 00:36:22.619 --> 00:36:25.820 look back when we had uh raider nectarine like 00:36:25.820 --> 00:36:27.579 when she was nominated she was in the barn he 00:36:27.579 --> 00:36:29.500 looked after and got her ready and all that and 00:36:29.500 --> 00:36:32.440 and he he had he loved it like this had so much 00:36:32.699 --> 00:36:35.000 He was so proud of her. And then also just a 00:36:35.000 --> 00:36:36.900 few years later, we, you know, we sold half of 00:36:36.900 --> 00:36:40.840 apricot to, um, to the past gauge, but he just 00:36:40.840 --> 00:36:43.260 beamed every time he'd see her. He, he, he loved 00:36:43.260 --> 00:36:46.639 it. He loved Holstein breeding. Yeah. Yeah. And 00:36:46.639 --> 00:36:48.719 then I, and I, I looked back and like, yeah, 00:36:48.739 --> 00:36:51.099 I guess that's, that's where I got it from. I, 00:36:51.179 --> 00:36:55.440 I got that same, um, passion as he did. So yeah, 00:36:55.500 --> 00:36:58.199 that's pretty cool. Oh, that's cool. And then 00:36:58.199 --> 00:37:04.260 you look to today. and you have two kids, three 00:37:04.260 --> 00:37:07.699 kids? Three, yeah. Three kids. Do they get the 00:37:07.699 --> 00:37:09.639 passion? Are they wanting to get into the business? 00:37:09.699 --> 00:37:12.380 What do they add in all that? Yeah, so my oldest 00:37:12.380 --> 00:37:16.820 is 17, and so he'll be done in grade 12, and 00:37:16.820 --> 00:37:19.059 actually he's going to be full -time farming 00:37:19.059 --> 00:37:22.119 with me next June, right when he's in high school. 00:37:22.340 --> 00:37:27.179 Okay. He's really, he loves it. I think he loves 00:37:27.179 --> 00:37:31.519 it as much as I do. He doesn't like school either, 00:37:31.599 --> 00:37:33.179 so he's really looking forward to being home 00:37:33.179 --> 00:37:37.300 full time. I'm looking forward to having him 00:37:37.300 --> 00:37:41.820 home. Okay. And then my other two, at this point, 00:37:41.840 --> 00:37:45.079 they don't seem to be as into it. Like my youngest 00:37:45.079 --> 00:37:47.679 son, Easton, he's 12. He loves to build things. 00:37:47.739 --> 00:37:50.079 He spends more time in the shop than he does 00:37:50.079 --> 00:37:53.820 the barn. And my daughter, Regan, she helps me 00:37:53.820 --> 00:37:56.199 three nights a week in the barn. It's not that 00:37:56.199 --> 00:37:58.880 she necessarily wants to. Let's put it that way. 00:38:00.739 --> 00:38:03.119 Now, which one's the junior hockey player? That'd 00:38:03.119 --> 00:38:06.340 be the oldest one, would it not? Yeah, he's still 00:38:06.340 --> 00:38:08.500 minor hockey. He's with the junior Braves. Junior 00:38:08.500 --> 00:38:11.139 Braves, yeah. Sorry. Yeah, that's my oldest, 00:38:11.300 --> 00:38:14.539 yeah. That's the oldest, so. Yeah. I've always 00:38:14.539 --> 00:38:17.639 had a real passion for hockey. Growing up, mom 00:38:17.639 --> 00:38:19.260 and dad used to always say the only thing Adam 00:38:19.260 --> 00:38:20.900 cares about, and he needs to expand a little 00:38:20.900 --> 00:38:22.780 bit, but all he cares about is hockey and cows. 00:38:23.579 --> 00:38:26.579 It's kind of still what occupies me quite a bit. 00:38:27.090 --> 00:38:31.090 So big hockey fan big Leafs fan That's something 00:38:31.090 --> 00:38:34.170 that's been that it's around here like you're 00:38:34.170 --> 00:38:36.550 you're not really allowed to be anything else 00:38:36.550 --> 00:38:38.949 other than a Leafs fan we're we're hugely fans 00:38:38.949 --> 00:38:42.010 like Like the Jays run here is kind of exciting 00:38:42.010 --> 00:38:44.250 for us, but I'm like I watch it. I'm like I can't 00:38:44.250 --> 00:38:48.489 the Leafs do this It's kind of a secondary thing 00:38:48.489 --> 00:38:50.570 like it's it's all about the Leafs here actually 00:38:50.570 --> 00:38:55.940 funny story my when Blake was was young like 00:38:55.940 --> 00:38:58.079 he he he was a sharks fan he'd say when he was 00:38:58.079 --> 00:39:00.280 like four and five because it was only because 00:39:00.280 --> 00:39:03.420 a shark was cooler than a leaf and uh we got 00:39:03.420 --> 00:39:05.840 given we got given to they just drove that my 00:39:05.840 --> 00:39:08.860 dad does because he was a huge leaf fan too and 00:39:08.860 --> 00:39:11.659 he told he we got given leaf tickets we were 00:39:11.659 --> 00:39:14.820 talking about cool goals the farm got them given 00:39:14.820 --> 00:39:17.460 and then uh i was saying well i can chore if 00:39:17.460 --> 00:39:18.920 you and mom want to go and he goes you know you 00:39:18.920 --> 00:39:21.440 know what he goes this drives me crazy you need 00:39:21.440 --> 00:39:23.840 to go and take blake and turn him into a leaf 00:39:23.840 --> 00:39:29.530 fan So he ran, he was five. He went to the Leafs 00:39:29.530 --> 00:39:31.170 and Flyers game with me. And ever since then, 00:39:31.170 --> 00:39:34.389 he's been a Leaf fan. So it worked. Mission accomplished. 00:39:34.570 --> 00:39:39.710 So there you go. It worked. So you got the kids 00:39:39.710 --> 00:39:41.929 coming on. So what is next? Like you've got the 00:39:41.929 --> 00:39:43.949 one coming home. You said, what is the next plans 00:39:43.949 --> 00:39:47.909 for Walnut on then? I would say there's not, 00:39:48.010 --> 00:39:50.329 it's kind of, it's honestly a little bit status 00:39:50.329 --> 00:39:54.599 quo. We're like, We're buying Corda to expand, 00:39:54.820 --> 00:39:58.440 but of course that's very slow. I think our management 00:39:58.440 --> 00:40:01.480 and genetics can almost keep up as fast as we're 00:40:01.480 --> 00:40:05.739 buying Corda. I don't ever intend to get big. 00:40:06.219 --> 00:40:09.920 We built the barn for 110 cows, two robots, and 00:40:09.920 --> 00:40:11.360 I don't want to be bigger than that. That would 00:40:11.360 --> 00:40:13.900 be up to the kids if they want to go more than 00:40:13.900 --> 00:40:16.719 that. Obviously, I don't know for sure how many 00:40:16.719 --> 00:40:18.260 will want to farm, but it looks now like they'll 00:40:18.260 --> 00:40:23.099 probably just be Blake. Basically, I would say 00:40:23.099 --> 00:40:26.559 it's kind of just keep on trying to keep expanding 00:40:26.559 --> 00:40:29.739 our families and breeding from our best families 00:40:29.739 --> 00:40:32.380 and just kind of continue doing what we're doing. 00:40:32.440 --> 00:40:35.460 I don't think there's a lot of change. When I 00:40:35.460 --> 00:40:39.719 look back, I do see as in breeding, I think things 00:40:39.719 --> 00:40:43.400 are changing. What the industry wants is changing 00:40:43.400 --> 00:40:47.159 all the time. And I guess I've been... breeding 00:40:47.159 --> 00:40:49.579 cows long enough i can see that i'm sure it's 00:40:49.579 --> 00:40:51.960 been like this forever but of course when you're 00:40:51.960 --> 00:40:54.239 when you're young you haven't seen as many changes 00:40:54.239 --> 00:40:56.960 and i look back and think of the way what our 00:40:56.960 --> 00:41:00.380 goals are and the way we perceive the best type 00:41:00.380 --> 00:41:03.780 cow to be um changes and i assume that will keep 00:41:03.780 --> 00:41:07.800 changing and um aside from that i don't know 00:41:07.800 --> 00:41:11.719 like as far as management goes some things that 00:41:11.719 --> 00:41:15.440 that i see changing in for the future I refer 00:41:15.440 --> 00:41:18.940 to what I call a cow the future. And for me, 00:41:18.960 --> 00:41:21.360 that's a cow that's going to milk like 700 day 00:41:21.360 --> 00:41:26.440 lactations. I think I already see it now with 00:41:26.440 --> 00:41:30.440 the, I guess quite a few of my viewers have changed 00:41:30.440 --> 00:41:32.360 just in the last five years because going to 00:41:32.360 --> 00:41:34.300 it from a freestyle or tie stall to freestyle 00:41:34.300 --> 00:41:39.300 has a lot of change. And then that added, you 00:41:39.300 --> 00:41:41.159 know, we're more precise in our feeding than 00:41:41.159 --> 00:41:42.739 we used to be. We have better environment for 00:41:42.739 --> 00:41:45.539 the cows than we used to be. Everything's just 00:41:45.539 --> 00:41:48.980 management is up because of the technology and 00:41:48.980 --> 00:41:51.619 the environment that the housing is given. So 00:41:51.619 --> 00:41:56.519 I see very much that the 305 day lactation we've 00:41:56.519 --> 00:41:58.539 always traditionally talked about, like me now 00:41:58.539 --> 00:42:01.820 that's really old school and we should be extending 00:42:01.820 --> 00:42:05.320 our lactations much longer. And I have a goal. 00:42:06.900 --> 00:42:09.039 Of course, I want to continue to breed some like 00:42:09.039 --> 00:42:12.679 influential bulls and females if we can as well. 00:42:14.329 --> 00:42:16.230 I'd like to hopefully be able to continue doing 00:42:16.230 --> 00:42:18.809 that, but as far as like for the herd, I have 00:42:18.809 --> 00:42:23.710 a goal of a 20 ,000 kg lactation average. And 00:42:23.710 --> 00:42:26.469 like, we're definitely, we don't, we can't be 00:42:26.469 --> 00:42:28.510 doing that right now, but I think in the future 00:42:28.510 --> 00:42:32.809 it's doable with long lactations. And I've had 00:42:32.809 --> 00:42:35.889 people ask me like, what, well, how many days, 00:42:35.949 --> 00:42:37.510 like, what are you talking about? What if it 00:42:37.510 --> 00:42:40.159 takes a lot of days? And for me, With the robots 00:42:40.159 --> 00:42:43.000 and the cows, if the cows are persistent and 00:42:43.000 --> 00:42:45.579 the cows go to the robot a lot and they'll continue 00:42:45.579 --> 00:42:47.860 going to the robot when there's 300 and 400 days 00:42:47.860 --> 00:42:51.340 of milk, I don't really know that it matters 00:42:51.340 --> 00:42:53.239 how long the lactation is because I think the 00:42:53.239 --> 00:42:57.019 sky's the limit for what the cows can do. And 00:42:57.019 --> 00:42:59.880 I think we can get there with long lactations 00:42:59.880 --> 00:43:02.639 and lengthen them out and get a lot higher volume 00:43:02.639 --> 00:43:04.940 than we have traditionally. And with the robots, 00:43:05.079 --> 00:43:06.860 you'll have all the data on their milk flow and 00:43:06.860 --> 00:43:09.719 how much milk they're given. So you know if they're 00:43:09.719 --> 00:43:13.539 still pumping out. You have a lot of data. And 00:43:13.539 --> 00:43:17.639 I mean, the cows that, you know, we obviously 00:43:17.639 --> 00:43:20.260 have some cows that aren't bred as much milk 00:43:20.260 --> 00:43:21.860 as others, but the cows that have a lot of milk 00:43:21.860 --> 00:43:24.360 bred into them and are keen to go to the robot 00:43:24.360 --> 00:43:27.719 and still visit three plus times a day when they're 00:43:27.719 --> 00:43:30.880 300 and 400 days of milk, they don't really slow 00:43:30.880 --> 00:43:34.809 down. Like they keep milking. And so we've already 00:43:34.809 --> 00:43:37.349 lengthened their lactations, especially on our 00:43:37.349 --> 00:43:41.150 best cows. We're lengthening them out. And like 00:43:41.150 --> 00:43:45.050 a bull like Delta, I'm convinced pretty much 00:43:45.050 --> 00:43:46.869 all of them, I wouldn't say all of them, but 00:43:46.869 --> 00:43:49.050 almost all of our old Delta daughters, they can 00:43:49.050 --> 00:43:52.050 milk two -year lactations now already. And so 00:43:52.050 --> 00:43:54.690 I see more of that coming in the future. Well, 00:43:54.730 --> 00:43:57.070 it's interesting because, and I work at Differnet's 00:43:57.070 --> 00:43:59.539 commercial. Pedigree the whole likes, but especially 00:43:59.539 --> 00:44:01.199 when you get into the robots, a lot of them just 00:44:01.199 --> 00:44:03.980 kind of, if you're really optimizing for profitability, 00:44:04.059 --> 00:44:06.400 not from genetics, but just from the milk check, 00:44:06.559 --> 00:44:10.420 uh, it's the, how many liters or how much milk 00:44:10.420 --> 00:44:13.719 per minute type thing. Yeah. And that's not always 00:44:13.719 --> 00:44:18.619 tied to young cows, old cows, whatever. It's 00:44:18.619 --> 00:44:22.300 the, I know guys that use that as their breed 00:44:22.300 --> 00:44:25.360 or dry off metric. It doesn't matter what. stage 00:44:25.360 --> 00:44:27.760 they're at if they're still giving above x amount 00:44:27.760 --> 00:44:30.619 of liters per amount of whatever time they want 00:44:30.619 --> 00:44:33.800 to use they are like i will keep them milking 00:44:33.800 --> 00:44:35.800 or i'll keep them going i'm not worried about 00:44:35.800 --> 00:44:37.800 it it's not a i have to have them bred back by 00:44:37.800 --> 00:44:40.840 x day um because if a cow is milking hard enough 00:44:40.840 --> 00:44:43.639 and going hard enough i just want to get as much 00:44:43.639 --> 00:44:48.179 milk per hour as i can get type thing And that 00:44:48.179 --> 00:44:50.079 doesn't mean that they all have to be first fresh 00:44:50.079 --> 00:44:52.900 cows, or sometimes that means I have more, as 00:44:52.900 --> 00:44:54.900 you say, maybe older cows who are given a lot 00:44:54.900 --> 00:44:58.380 of milk versus a bunch of young cows who aren't 00:44:58.380 --> 00:45:01.320 sometimes. And that's where they use that metric 00:45:01.320 --> 00:45:04.940 versus the others. Yeah, I mean, we're not, with 00:45:04.940 --> 00:45:08.719 our barn being not full due to our quota, where 00:45:08.719 --> 00:45:11.179 our quota's at, we're not really restricted to 00:45:11.179 --> 00:45:13.739 that kind of metric because the robots aren't 00:45:13.739 --> 00:45:16.360 near full. We'd actually been quite poorly done. 00:45:16.829 --> 00:45:18.409 On robot efficiency and that, because we're not 00:45:18.409 --> 00:45:21.329 milking, we don't have them full. But, yeah, 00:45:21.550 --> 00:45:23.250 I think there's a lot of changes coming in that. 00:45:23.329 --> 00:45:25.349 Like, we were in the robot barn here not that 00:45:25.349 --> 00:45:27.809 long, and I had a two -year -old, and she had 00:45:27.809 --> 00:45:31.050 to be dried off, and she was milking 40 kgs still. 00:45:31.610 --> 00:45:34.769 And I look at it and, like, well, most cows at 00:45:34.769 --> 00:45:37.630 300 days of milk, they're probably at their highest 00:45:37.630 --> 00:45:40.570 component percentage. She's milking 40, and, 00:45:40.610 --> 00:45:43.570 like, to me, that's just, to me, it's bad management 00:45:43.570 --> 00:45:45.909 if I'm drying a cow off that's at 40 kgs of milk. 00:45:46.110 --> 00:45:48.510 Yeah. And I might as well just let her roll. 00:45:48.650 --> 00:45:53.630 And so, of course, the tricky part is there is 00:45:53.630 --> 00:45:57.110 sometimes you get them pregnant, you'll leave 00:45:57.110 --> 00:45:59.230 them there longer, and you get them pregnant 00:45:59.230 --> 00:46:00.309 and all of a sudden they decide they don't have 00:46:00.309 --> 00:46:01.710 to throw the robot as often or they slow down 00:46:01.710 --> 00:46:03.929 and milk. You still get that, so that has to 00:46:03.929 --> 00:46:06.090 all be balanced along the way. But I think that's 00:46:06.090 --> 00:46:07.909 kind of where we're headed in the future. Now, 00:46:07.989 --> 00:46:11.070 you mentioned earlier about your dad, you know, 00:46:11.110 --> 00:46:13.449 wanted to be a master breeder, then he ended 00:46:13.449 --> 00:46:16.440 up being a two -time master breeder. I wanted 00:46:16.440 --> 00:46:20.539 to have all Canadian nominations and stuff. Do 00:46:20.539 --> 00:46:22.260 you have goals that way? Do you still, like, 00:46:22.300 --> 00:46:24.920 you've had a lot of success as a group, but do 00:46:24.920 --> 00:46:26.760 you set goals still that way? Is that still in 00:46:26.760 --> 00:46:29.960 your goal setting when you think about it? Yeah, 00:46:29.980 --> 00:46:32.639 I still have things I want to achieve. And, well, 00:46:33.199 --> 00:46:36.179 one of them is that, like, when I decided, of 00:46:36.179 --> 00:46:38.119 course, like I said, we've both been tight breeders, 00:46:38.119 --> 00:46:40.159 and we decided we want to put a bull in the stud. 00:46:40.219 --> 00:46:42.800 I mean, that time I was like, I want to breed 00:46:42.800 --> 00:46:46.159 a bull that dominates the show ring. it's still 00:46:46.159 --> 00:46:50.559 a goal of mine to have um premier um premier 00:46:50.559 --> 00:46:52.980 cider at madison or royal we've never got that 00:46:52.980 --> 00:46:55.099 and it's pretty cool when sidekick and solomon 00:46:55.099 --> 00:46:57.019 were second third of madison a few years back 00:46:57.019 --> 00:46:59.280 but i still haven't met that goal and i still 00:46:59.280 --> 00:47:02.559 want to get that one and there's there's some 00:47:02.559 --> 00:47:05.599 other ones like as i said with the herd there 00:47:05.599 --> 00:47:10.360 um i want to get a 20 000 lactation average isn't 00:47:10.360 --> 00:47:13.940 there a goal i'd like to meet um i'd also just 00:47:13.940 --> 00:47:16.090 kind of just for the I guess kind of for the 00:47:16.090 --> 00:47:19.510 fun of it, when I was younger, I've always loved 00:47:19.510 --> 00:47:21.469 the shows. When I was younger, I always thought 00:47:21.469 --> 00:47:24.530 that'd be cool if you're leading the grand champion 00:47:24.530 --> 00:47:28.429 at the Royal. And now I don't have that same 00:47:28.429 --> 00:47:32.630 desire to show, but I love seeing... Well, I 00:47:32.630 --> 00:47:34.050 don't have the desire and I don't have the know 00:47:34.050 --> 00:47:36.269 -how to get the cows at the level the best guys 00:47:36.269 --> 00:47:39.489 do. So I look at it that I'm so much better off 00:47:39.489 --> 00:47:43.789 to sell the best cows. the experts do what the 00:47:43.789 --> 00:47:46.489 experts do and not try to compete with them because 00:47:46.489 --> 00:47:50.690 I can't do it as well as they do. But I really 00:47:50.690 --> 00:47:54.190 think it'd be neat to walk into Madison or Royal 00:47:54.190 --> 00:47:56.550 sometime with a breeder's herd. I think it'd 00:47:56.550 --> 00:48:00.730 be pretty neat. I think I'd be satisfied if we 00:48:00.730 --> 00:48:02.769 were last. If we could just have two that competed 00:48:02.769 --> 00:48:08.050 in the same year, that'd be quite an achievement, 00:48:08.250 --> 00:48:12.230 I think. that bring out breeders heard that those 00:48:12.230 --> 00:48:15.030 national shows like every year are that i have 00:48:15.030 --> 00:48:17.289 a lot of respect for them that's that's impressive 00:48:17.289 --> 00:48:20.250 when i think about because that's one thing that 00:48:20.250 --> 00:48:23.769 like maybe it'll change in the future like blake 00:48:23.769 --> 00:48:26.030 we used to show more like our county show and 00:48:26.030 --> 00:48:29.050 stuff since we've been the freestyle we've only 00:48:29.050 --> 00:48:31.449 shown heifers yeah probably because we i'm not 00:48:31.449 --> 00:48:33.610 quite sure how to like i can get them ready for 00:48:33.610 --> 00:48:36.590 a county show i can't compete with the best that's 00:48:36.590 --> 00:48:39.489 why i figure the best like our best cows if i 00:48:39.489 --> 00:48:41.760 can sell them i sell them to the guys that can 00:48:41.760 --> 00:48:46.420 get them ready but um blake he's he gets a little 00:48:46.420 --> 00:48:48.340 more of an edge to take some cows out to the 00:48:48.340 --> 00:48:51.920 county show and whatnot and i i i guess i'm not 00:48:51.920 --> 00:48:54.840 i'm not against it because i'm like but i do 00:48:54.840 --> 00:48:57.960 have to remind him it's a lot of work and we 00:48:57.960 --> 00:48:59.480 can't compete with the best because we don't 00:48:59.480 --> 00:49:01.119 have to know how to compete with the very best 00:49:01.119 --> 00:49:04.219 and i i kind of really like what we're doing 00:49:04.219 --> 00:49:06.219 now with the genomic breeding i enjoy it and 00:49:06.219 --> 00:49:10.260 i feel like the show herds and exhibitors, they 00:49:10.260 --> 00:49:12.539 just must have to deal with a lot of stress because 00:49:12.539 --> 00:49:15.440 I look back and think when we were showing a 00:49:15.440 --> 00:49:17.519 little more and like your best cow puts a little 00:49:17.519 --> 00:49:19.239 bit of weight on or she's not pregnant right 00:49:19.239 --> 00:49:22.079 when she needs to be. It's a big deal where now 00:49:22.079 --> 00:49:27.159 I just feel it's just a lot less stress. My best 00:49:27.159 --> 00:49:29.340 cow puts a little weight on, so what? It doesn't 00:49:29.340 --> 00:49:31.860 hurt nothing. I like when they carry some condition. 00:49:32.900 --> 00:49:36.219 That sort of thing makes it a little more forgiving. 00:49:36.730 --> 00:49:38.829 I can remember, I can remember, I used to call 00:49:38.829 --> 00:49:41.590 it the Woodstock International Show because that 00:49:41.590 --> 00:49:44.250 show was always the, it seemed like everyone 00:49:44.250 --> 00:49:46.809 was going gung -ho with Martin and a bunch of 00:49:46.809 --> 00:49:50.750 John Martin. I still refer to it as the one, 00:49:50.789 --> 00:49:54.110 it's the O -N -E, the Oxford National Exhibition. 00:49:55.259 --> 00:49:58.099 Yeah. So it's one of the steamier, I should say, 00:49:58.139 --> 00:50:00.920 it's one of the steamier county shows. That's 00:50:00.920 --> 00:50:02.260 what I like. I'm like, well, I don't know if 00:50:02.260 --> 00:50:04.059 your county show is even the easiest of all the 00:50:04.059 --> 00:50:07.039 county shows. In my memory, we always called 00:50:07.039 --> 00:50:10.820 it the international. But it still was a county 00:50:10.820 --> 00:50:14.159 show. Yeah, it is. It is. I'm just teasing. There's 00:50:14.159 --> 00:50:17.559 a lot of guys that went pretty hardcore in the 00:50:17.559 --> 00:50:21.659 region there for sure. For sure. I always chuckle 00:50:21.659 --> 00:50:24.389 about that show. Um, what would you say to like, 00:50:24.510 --> 00:50:26.570 you got your young son coming up or you got your, 00:50:26.570 --> 00:50:29.110 some of the young breeders kind of getting going. 00:50:29.349 --> 00:50:31.170 What advice would you give them? What kind of 00:50:31.170 --> 00:50:32.889 worked for you guys that you think that they 00:50:32.889 --> 00:50:34.889 should, uh, think through? What do you tell your 00:50:34.889 --> 00:50:41.309 son when he's coming into it? Um, like I so firmly 00:50:41.309 --> 00:50:44.030 believe in, in the power of, of cow families 00:50:44.030 --> 00:50:49.949 is, is one thing that you, your, your odds are 00:50:49.949 --> 00:50:52.619 just like, like in breeding nothing's ever i 00:50:52.619 --> 00:50:55.239 look at nothing's ever certain nothing's ever 00:50:55.239 --> 00:50:58.300 certain in breeding you can do a cross that you're 00:50:58.300 --> 00:51:00.420 convinced is going to work we use all the data 00:51:00.420 --> 00:51:04.219 we have but still god puts the dna together and 00:51:04.219 --> 00:51:07.559 and and he decides how the genes fall so we don't 00:51:07.559 --> 00:51:09.800 know how it's going to go but you can stack the 00:51:09.800 --> 00:51:11.980 odds so highly much more highly in your favor 00:51:11.980 --> 00:51:17.400 with really strong families um if if and so in 00:51:17.400 --> 00:51:20.639 my opinion i would I would, if I was going to 00:51:20.639 --> 00:51:26.480 start trying to really, um, breed like elite 00:51:26.480 --> 00:51:30.119 genomics or whatever, I would kind of target 00:51:30.119 --> 00:51:32.800 what I want to, what's my goal? Like, what am 00:51:32.800 --> 00:51:36.199 I aiming for? Like, um, if you're, if you're 00:51:36.199 --> 00:51:40.059 aiming to breed an all Canadian, um, you're probably 00:51:40.059 --> 00:51:42.920 going to focus a little bit different than on 00:51:42.920 --> 00:51:45.619 what you're going to, or to put a bull in the 00:51:45.619 --> 00:51:49.900 stud. But the really special families, to me, 00:51:49.940 --> 00:51:52.420 have it all. They have the production. They have 00:51:52.420 --> 00:51:56.920 reproduction. They flush. They got the deep pedigree. 00:51:57.559 --> 00:52:04.260 I look at our three families we're working with 00:52:04.260 --> 00:52:06.500 the most are, like I think I said earlier, the 00:52:06.500 --> 00:52:08.519 Lurie Sheik. It goes back to the Lurie Sheik 00:52:08.519 --> 00:52:11.059 family. It goes back to Barbie. It goes back 00:52:11.059 --> 00:52:14.400 to Splendor and Shower. Those families have been 00:52:14.400 --> 00:52:17.289 around and have been... famous families for longer 00:52:17.289 --> 00:52:20.889 than i've been around and so you know they're 00:52:20.889 --> 00:52:23.829 and they're still they're still hot and so when 00:52:23.829 --> 00:52:27.050 you get an elite one from those families so i 00:52:27.050 --> 00:52:29.050 guess what i'm kind of trying to say is if you 00:52:29.050 --> 00:52:32.050 really want to be in the elite side of it you 00:52:32.050 --> 00:52:35.050 can try to build your own family into that but 00:52:35.050 --> 00:52:36.889 i think you might be ready to retire by the time 00:52:36.889 --> 00:52:40.409 you get there more times than not so you're better 00:52:40.409 --> 00:52:42.909 off to make an investment on something that you 00:52:42.909 --> 00:52:46.260 think you can you can breed from And the next 00:52:46.260 --> 00:52:50.960 thing I would say is honesty and integrity. I 00:52:50.960 --> 00:52:55.719 look at it that we score everything. This last 00:52:55.719 --> 00:52:57.480 round, we scored a couple two -year -olds that 00:52:57.480 --> 00:53:00.980 I'd rather maybe didn't have scores on them. 00:53:01.320 --> 00:53:07.079 But I want our bulls and our females, but especially 00:53:07.079 --> 00:53:09.280 because, of course, the bulls are being marketed 00:53:09.280 --> 00:53:12.039 to people more. I want the numbers to be accurate, 00:53:12.119 --> 00:53:16.909 and I want people to trust them. To me, I'll 00:53:16.909 --> 00:53:19.210 put the reliability in there. If a cow's standing 00:53:19.210 --> 00:53:21.409 in the barn, maybe I've sold her, but if she's 00:53:21.409 --> 00:53:23.989 still in the barn and she's from one of our best 00:53:23.989 --> 00:53:27.929 cows and I know she's not going to be one of 00:53:27.929 --> 00:53:29.349 our top scoring two -year -olds or whatever, 00:53:29.909 --> 00:53:33.150 you should be scoring no matter what. And being 00:53:33.150 --> 00:53:36.050 honest with people and being real with people. 00:53:36.670 --> 00:53:41.650 Obviously, we hope every female is born and every 00:53:41.650 --> 00:53:43.409 bull that goes to stud is going to be the next 00:53:43.409 --> 00:53:46.949 superstar. We also know that they're not going 00:53:46.949 --> 00:53:48.829 they're not going to be but hopefully we can 00:53:48.829 --> 00:53:52.250 hit with you many as possible and Be honest with 00:53:52.250 --> 00:53:54.829 people don't tell them everything's Everything's 00:53:54.829 --> 00:53:57.329 great. And I always try to I usually leave a 00:53:57.329 --> 00:54:00.150 border least I try to do a Facebook post on the 00:54:00.150 --> 00:54:04.489 bull you know and I'll be honest like if Where 00:54:04.489 --> 00:54:06.909 I see the bull and I like for instance, we have 00:54:06.909 --> 00:54:09.289 a bull lobster is just released and I think he's 00:54:09.289 --> 00:54:11.590 really tremendous bull I'm when we are using 00:54:11.590 --> 00:54:14.679 him some in our own herd I don't personally think 00:54:14.679 --> 00:54:17.920 he's likely going to be a show bull, though. 00:54:18.239 --> 00:54:21.559 So I'll say that so people will use that bull 00:54:21.559 --> 00:54:23.500 for what they're aiming for. If they're aiming 00:54:23.500 --> 00:54:26.360 for... If they're going to use him, in my opinion, 00:54:26.519 --> 00:54:28.739 they're going to use him trying to breed an all 00:54:28.739 --> 00:54:31.119 -Canadian March calf, and he doesn't do it, they're 00:54:31.119 --> 00:54:32.719 going to be disappointed. So I'm better off to 00:54:32.719 --> 00:54:35.380 say this is where I think he is. Of course, I 00:54:35.380 --> 00:54:37.920 don't know for sure, but where I think he is, 00:54:37.980 --> 00:54:39.500 and then hopefully more people are satisfied 00:54:39.500 --> 00:54:41.670 with what they... with what they get because 00:54:41.670 --> 00:54:44.690 they deliver what they're hoping for. Okay. And 00:54:44.690 --> 00:54:46.530 so that connects to one of my other questions 00:54:46.530 --> 00:54:49.489 is years from now, you know, when things are 00:54:49.489 --> 00:54:52.110 all said and done or when people see the name 00:54:52.110 --> 00:54:54.989 Walnut Lawn or think about Walnut Lawn, how would 00:54:54.989 --> 00:54:56.769 you like them to perceive or what would you like 00:54:56.769 --> 00:54:58.150 them to think about when they think about the 00:54:58.150 --> 00:54:59.929 name Walnut Lawn and the prefects and what you 00:54:59.929 --> 00:55:05.690 guys have done? Yeah, I hope they think, like, 00:55:05.769 --> 00:55:09.599 again, I hope they see that we, strive for integrity 00:55:09.599 --> 00:55:14.679 and honesty as an operation. And then also that 00:55:14.679 --> 00:55:16.860 our genetics delivered, I hope, what they're 00:55:16.860 --> 00:55:21.099 looking for and delivered cows that farmers like 00:55:21.099 --> 00:55:25.000 is basically what I hopefully deliver and that 00:55:25.000 --> 00:55:30.000 are reliable. And yeah, hopefully there's just 00:55:30.000 --> 00:55:32.340 some steadiness there, I guess I should say, 00:55:32.380 --> 00:55:36.659 to the name and the genetics that are... that 00:55:36.659 --> 00:55:41.480 our bulls and the females possess. Okay. So yeah, 00:55:41.519 --> 00:55:45.320 I hope they see a liability there as well. Now 00:55:45.320 --> 00:55:47.059 you've been through a lot, you've had a lot of 00:55:47.059 --> 00:55:49.199 accomplishments, but you've also been through 00:55:49.199 --> 00:55:51.139 a lot. So when you're sitting in the barn and 00:55:51.139 --> 00:55:53.099 it's just you standing in the barn and everything's 00:55:53.099 --> 00:55:55.599 quiet and you're looking at the cows, you know, 00:55:55.619 --> 00:55:56.980 what do you like to think about? What goes through 00:55:56.980 --> 00:55:58.699 your mind when you're just sitting there looking 00:55:58.699 --> 00:56:00.820 at what you've achieved, but also where you're 00:56:00.820 --> 00:56:06.420 at? Hey, I read this question. And my first thought 00:56:06.420 --> 00:56:11.519 was, it all depends on how the day goes. But 00:56:11.519 --> 00:56:14.099 as I read it, I thought, if I'm standing in the 00:56:14.099 --> 00:56:16.280 barn, more often than not, as I'm about to turn 00:56:16.280 --> 00:56:18.659 the lights off, I think, I hope you guys don't 00:56:18.659 --> 00:56:24.920 do something stupid tonight. Honestly, that's 00:56:24.920 --> 00:56:30.059 what's most common. No, no, I get it. That's 00:56:30.059 --> 00:56:35.780 the most common one. If I think about our breeding 00:56:35.780 --> 00:56:38.780 and I think about what some of the sidekicks 00:56:38.780 --> 00:56:45.239 and Solomon daughters have done, yeah, I'm really 00:56:45.239 --> 00:56:48.539 thankful. Put it that way. Really thankful that 00:56:48.539 --> 00:56:51.519 breeders have given our bulls a chance and that 00:56:51.519 --> 00:56:56.920 God's given me an opportunity to farm and breed 00:56:56.920 --> 00:57:00.159 cows. I look at the breeding side of what we 00:57:00.159 --> 00:57:02.679 do as... It's definitely not business, but also 00:57:02.679 --> 00:57:04.900 it's like a hobby. And so it's pretty neat that 00:57:04.900 --> 00:57:08.079 I've been able to have a business out of what 00:57:08.079 --> 00:57:11.019 I also consider a hobby. So, yeah, I'm thankful. 00:57:11.099 --> 00:57:15.239 And, yeah, for that, that people have given our 00:57:15.239 --> 00:57:19.599 bulls an opportunity and that they've also delivered. 00:57:19.699 --> 00:57:23.079 And not just that it's an accomplishment to get 00:57:23.079 --> 00:57:25.420 the bull to stud, but it's also been that a few 00:57:25.420 --> 00:57:28.000 of our bulls have really made a real impact and 00:57:28.000 --> 00:57:31.360 it's really satisfying. And I guess to kind of 00:57:31.360 --> 00:57:34.219 tie into that as well, so last year I went to 00:57:34.219 --> 00:57:37.099 Madison for the first time in a few years. And 00:57:37.099 --> 00:57:41.539 then, of course, Footloose was the first, well, 00:57:41.619 --> 00:57:44.320 Solomon's daughter's world champion, of course. 00:57:44.400 --> 00:57:48.639 That was pretty neat to think that. When I really 00:57:48.639 --> 00:57:52.219 think about it, wow, when I kind of, I really 00:57:52.219 --> 00:57:53.599 think about it, it hits me a little bit that, 00:57:53.619 --> 00:57:57.219 oh, one of our bulls got a world champion. That's 00:57:57.219 --> 00:58:00.719 kind of hard to believe, to be honest. And last 00:58:00.719 --> 00:58:03.000 year when she was in the docket string, I'd never 00:58:03.000 --> 00:58:05.400 actually seen her other than pictures until last 00:58:05.400 --> 00:58:09.760 year. And to stand there and look at that cow, 00:58:09.840 --> 00:58:12.820 think she's world champion, and then on her name 00:58:12.820 --> 00:58:15.539 card to see Walnut Lawn Solomon and see her prefix 00:58:15.539 --> 00:58:18.719 there was, yeah, it was really rewarding. It 00:58:18.719 --> 00:58:22.300 was really cool. Wow. What an incredible journey 00:58:22.300 --> 00:58:24.860 from those six Goldwyn sisters to consecutive 00:58:24.860 --> 00:58:27.909 Madison championships. The walnut lawn story 00:58:27.909 --> 00:58:30.250 isn't just about breeding great cattle. It's 00:58:30.250 --> 00:58:32.969 about proving that in 2025, with genomics validated 00:58:32.969 --> 00:58:36.050 and cow families proven, the advantage has shifted 00:58:36.050 --> 00:58:39.329 back to those who really pay attention. To every 00:58:39.329 --> 00:58:43.170 cow, every mating, every embryo. Adam Zier and 00:58:43.170 --> 00:58:46.389 his 75 cows just showed the entire Holstein world 00:58:46.389 --> 00:58:48.949 that it's not about the size of your operation. 00:58:49.510 --> 00:58:52.150 It's about the intelligence of your approach. 00:58:52.969 --> 00:58:55.070 If you want to read the full feature article 00:58:55.070 --> 00:58:57.610 with all the details, photos, and Adam's complete 00:58:57.610 --> 00:59:00.929 breeding strategy, head over to thebullvine .com. 00:59:01.469 --> 00:59:03.670 And if you're inspired by what you heard today, 00:59:03.829 --> 00:59:07.190 share this episode with another breeder who needs 00:59:07.190 --> 00:59:10.730 to hear that David can still beat Goliath. I'm 00:59:10.730 --> 00:59:12.710 your host at The Bullvine, reminding you that 00:59:12.710 --> 00:59:15.110 sometimes the best genetics come from the most 00:59:15.110 --> 00:59:18.230 unexpected places, like a number three embryo 00:59:18.230 --> 00:59:22.559 from a 75 -cow farm in Ontario. Until next time, 00:59:22.599 --> 00:59:24.440 keep challenging the status quo.