WEBVTT 00:00:14.189 --> 00:00:20.969 Creeping over fields of green Remembering the 00:00:20.969 --> 00:00:27.269 faces The moments unseen The hands that built 00:00:27.269 --> 00:00:33.590 a dynasty The vision in their eyes Echoes in 00:00:33.590 --> 00:00:38.810 the auction bar Beneath an endless sky This is 00:00:38.810 --> 00:01:04.329 the bull buy Turn the bar Welcome to the Bullvine 00:01:04.329 --> 00:01:07.609 Podcast, where dairy industry insight meets the 00:01:07.609 --> 00:01:10.530 stories that shape the breed. I'm your host, 00:01:10.609 --> 00:01:13.129 and whether you're in the barn at 4 a .m., driving 00:01:13.129 --> 00:01:15.989 between farms, or catching up after evening chores, 00:01:16.329 --> 00:01:19.269 you're in the right place. This is the podcast 00:01:19.269 --> 00:01:21.810 for dairy producers who want more than surface 00:01:21.810 --> 00:01:24.870 -level coverage. We dig into the genetics, the 00:01:24.870 --> 00:01:27.629 economics, the history, and the hard decisions 00:01:27.629 --> 00:01:31.340 that define this industry. No fluff. No corporate 00:01:31.340 --> 00:01:33.920 spin, just real talk for real dairy professionals. 00:01:34.420 --> 00:01:37.019 Let's get into it. You're standing in a packed 00:01:37.019 --> 00:01:41.359 sale ring in 1985. 2 ,500 people press against 00:01:41.359 --> 00:01:44.620 the rails around you. The air is thick with cigarette 00:01:44.620 --> 00:01:47.599 smoke and anticipation, the kind of electric 00:01:47.599 --> 00:01:50.200 tension you only feel when history is about to 00:01:50.200 --> 00:01:53.400 happen. The auctioneer's voice has been climbing 00:01:53.400 --> 00:01:56.159 for 20 minutes. You've watched the number on 00:01:56.159 --> 00:01:58.620 the board pass figures that would buy a decent 00:01:58.620 --> 00:02:01.409 farm in most counties. Five hundred thousand. 00:02:01.689 --> 00:02:05.709 Seven hundred thousand. Eight. And then it crosses 00:02:05.709 --> 00:02:08.389 a million dollars. The crowd goes silent. You 00:02:08.389 --> 00:02:10.449 can hear your own heartbeat. A million dollars. 00:02:10.750 --> 00:02:13.629 For one cow. Then a hand goes up in the back. 00:02:13.889 --> 00:02:17.150 Stephen Roman. The uranium billionaire. The man 00:02:17.150 --> 00:02:20.189 who built Romandale into an empire. His hand 00:02:20.189 --> 00:02:23.610 rises one more time. One million. Four hundred 00:02:23.610 --> 00:02:26.349 fifty thousand dollars. But here's the thing 00:02:26.349 --> 00:02:28.449 you don't know yet, standing in that sale ring. 00:02:28.750 --> 00:02:32.169 This moment. This impossible, absurd, magnificent 00:02:32.169 --> 00:02:35.610 moment didn't start in 1985. It started 60 years 00:02:35.610 --> 00:02:39.270 earlier, in 1926 in a different sale ring, when 00:02:39.270 --> 00:02:42.069 a 69 -year -old insurance executive did something 00:02:42.069 --> 00:02:44.629 that made the entire Holstein world think he'd 00:02:44.629 --> 00:02:47.849 lost his mind. Picture yourself in a different 00:02:47.849 --> 00:02:51.590 scene, a modest office in Quebec. Charts cover 00:02:51.590 --> 00:02:54.569 every wall, milk weights, butterfat percentages, 00:02:54.889 --> 00:02:57.169 daughter comparisons stretching back generations. 00:02:57.819 --> 00:03:00.400 A man sits at a desk, coffee cooling beside him, 00:03:00.479 --> 00:03:03.800 pencil -making notes in margins. TB. Macaulay 00:03:03.800 --> 00:03:07.060 is about to write a check for $15 ,000 for one 00:03:07.060 --> 00:03:10.219 bull. In an economy where farmers are still digging 00:03:10.219 --> 00:03:12.780 out from the Great War, the old -timers will 00:03:12.780 --> 00:03:16.060 call it insanity. They'll be wrong. Because virtually 00:03:16.060 --> 00:03:18.699 every registered Holstein walking the planet 00:03:18.699 --> 00:03:21.879 today, every cow in your barn, every heifer in 00:03:21.879 --> 00:03:24.379 your neighbor's field, every elite donor in every 00:03:24.379 --> 00:03:27.340 embryo program on three continents, carries that 00:03:27.340 --> 00:03:31.280 bull's blood this is the story of four impossible 00:03:31.280 --> 00:03:34.539 bets four breeders who ignored everything their 00:03:34.539 --> 00:03:37.879 era believed four philosophies that built everything 00:03:37.879 --> 00:03:40.840 you're breeding today and the question that might 00:03:40.840 --> 00:03:43.020 change how you think about your own operation 00:03:43.020 --> 00:03:47.099 i'm your host and this is the bullvine podcast 00:03:47.099 --> 00:03:49.719 to understand what these four breeders accomplished 00:03:49.719 --> 00:03:52.379 you need to understand the world they were working 00:03:52.379 --> 00:03:54.860 in and that world looked nothing like the one 00:03:54.860 --> 00:03:59.080 you know Close your eyes and step back. It's 00:03:59.080 --> 00:04:02.740 1920. The Great War has just ended. You're standing 00:04:02.740 --> 00:04:05.919 on a dairy farm in Ontario. Maybe your grandfather's 00:04:05.919 --> 00:04:08.919 farm. Maybe your great -grandfather's. The barn 00:04:08.919 --> 00:04:11.479 smells of hay and manure and the sharp sweetness 00:04:11.479 --> 00:04:14.900 of fresh milk. You're milking by hand. Twice 00:04:14.900 --> 00:04:18.980 a day. Every day. No exceptions. Your hands are 00:04:18.980 --> 00:04:21.480 calloused in that specific way that comes from 00:04:21.480 --> 00:04:24.540 wrapping around udders for hours. You know the 00:04:24.540 --> 00:04:27.720 feel of a good letdown, the subtle signs of mastitis 00:04:27.720 --> 00:04:30.519 before it shows in the bucket. There's no bulk 00:04:30.519 --> 00:04:33.740 tank in your milk house. No pipeline. You pour 00:04:33.740 --> 00:04:36.120 warm milk through a strainer into cans, load 00:04:36.120 --> 00:04:38.579 them onto a wagon, and hope the cheese factory 00:04:38.579 --> 00:04:41.819 down the road gives you a fair price. You have 00:04:41.819 --> 00:04:45.040 no idea what your butterfat percentage is. You 00:04:45.040 --> 00:04:47.160 have no way to measure it even if you cared. 00:04:47.399 --> 00:04:49.800 And here's what matters. You're breeding blind. 00:04:50.439 --> 00:04:53.490 You look at a bull. You look at his dam. maybe 00:04:53.490 --> 00:04:56.050 his grandum if someone kept records. You make 00:04:56.050 --> 00:04:58.629 a judgment based on confirmation, how he stands, 00:04:58.970 --> 00:05:01.149 how he's built, whether he looks like a dairy 00:05:01.149 --> 00:05:04.810 animal. And you hope. That's it. That's the entire 00:05:04.810 --> 00:05:08.370 science of genetic improvement in 1920. Hope. 00:05:08.649 --> 00:05:11.269 You've heard rumors of something called progeny 00:05:11.269 --> 00:05:14.129 testing, the idea that you could evaluate a bull 00:05:14.129 --> 00:05:16.709 by studying how his daughters actually perform 00:05:16.709 --> 00:05:19.629 rather than how he looks. But it sounds like 00:05:19.629 --> 00:05:23.089 theory. Academic nonsense. the kind of thing 00:05:23.089 --> 00:05:25.470 professors talk about at agricultural colleges 00:05:25.470 --> 00:05:28.730 while real farmers do real work. The Holstein 00:05:28.730 --> 00:05:31.430 -Friesian Association won't formalize progeny 00:05:31.430 --> 00:05:34.750 testing for another decade. DHIA record -keeping 00:05:34.750 --> 00:05:38.129 exists, but it's scattered, inconsistent, nothing 00:05:38.129 --> 00:05:40.509 like the comprehensive databases you take for 00:05:40.509 --> 00:05:43.689 granted today. You read in the farm papers about 00:05:43.689 --> 00:05:45.810 breeding operations in the United States and 00:05:45.810 --> 00:05:49.579 Canada, names you've heard at cattle sales, Wealthy 00:05:49.579 --> 00:05:52.060 men dabbling in dairy cattle the way other wealthy 00:05:52.060 --> 00:05:55.500 men dabble in racehorses. You're not sure what 00:05:55.500 --> 00:05:59.160 to make of them. And you're chasing volume. Everyone's 00:05:59.160 --> 00:06:02.000 chasing volume. More milk, more milk, more milk. 00:06:02.540 --> 00:06:05.459 That's the measure of a good cow. That's what 00:06:05.459 --> 00:06:08.779 the factories want. That's what pays. You don't 00:06:08.779 --> 00:06:11.220 think much about components, butterfat, protein, 00:06:11.500 --> 00:06:14.279 solids. The pricing systems won't catch up to 00:06:14.279 --> 00:06:17.779 that reality for decades. GLP -1 drugs and protein 00:06:17.779 --> 00:06:20.120 premiums are science fiction that hasn't been 00:06:20.120 --> 00:06:23.019 written yet. But somewhere, in a modest farm 00:06:23.019 --> 00:06:25.279 in Quebec, a man who made his fortune calculating 00:06:25.279 --> 00:06:28.579 insurance risks is looking at numbers. Running 00:06:28.579 --> 00:06:31.579 probabilities. Treating cattle breeding like 00:06:31.579 --> 00:06:34.720 the actuarial problem it actually is. And he's 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:36.720 about to do something that will change everything. 00:06:37.240 --> 00:06:40.860 The world is changing fast in the 1920s. You 00:06:40.860 --> 00:06:43.680 feel it even on your farm. Tractors are replacing 00:06:43.680 --> 00:06:46.860 horses on some operations. Electricity is reaching 00:06:46.860 --> 00:06:50.180 rural areas. The Model T has made the trip to 00:06:50.180 --> 00:06:52.220 town something you can do in an afternoon instead 00:06:52.220 --> 00:06:55.560 of a full day. But cattle breeding? That's still 00:06:55.560 --> 00:06:58.620 stuck in the old ways. Intuition. Tradition. 00:06:58.779 --> 00:07:02.600 His grandsire threw nice calves. You don't know 00:07:02.600 --> 00:07:05.660 it yet, but four men are about to drag the industry, 00:07:05.819 --> 00:07:08.360 kicking and screaming, into a different era. 00:07:08.779 --> 00:07:11.959 An insurance executive who treats cows like probability 00:07:11.959 --> 00:07:15.139 tables. An immigrant billionaire. who understands 00:07:15.139 --> 00:07:17.819 that genetics without marketing is wasted potential, 00:07:18.139 --> 00:07:21.459 a Holstein fieldman who believes one cow family 00:07:21.459 --> 00:07:24.160 can change the world, and a partnership that 00:07:24.160 --> 00:07:26.720 will prove the right collaboration multiplies 00:07:26.720 --> 00:07:29.680 everything. Their philosophies will conflict, 00:07:29.879 --> 00:07:32.759 their methods will diverge, but their genetics 00:07:32.759 --> 00:07:35.199 will converge into something none of them could 00:07:35.199 --> 00:07:38.000 have predicted. Every registered Holstein alive 00:07:38.000 --> 00:07:41.939 today, including the ones in your barn. You're 00:07:41.939 --> 00:07:44.339 walking the grounds of Mount Victoria Farm on 00:07:44.339 --> 00:07:48.839 a spring morning in 1926. The land is unremarkable. 00:07:49.199 --> 00:07:52.399 Historical accounts describe it as a sandy plot 00:07:52.399 --> 00:07:55.540 that nobody expected much from. The buildings 00:07:55.540 --> 00:07:58.279 are functional, nothing fancy. This doesn't look 00:07:58.279 --> 00:08:00.360 like a breeding operation that's about to change 00:08:00.360 --> 00:08:02.959 history. But you notice something different when 00:08:02.959 --> 00:08:05.959 you step into the main house. The walls are covered 00:08:05.959 --> 00:08:10.139 in charts. Milk weights going back years. Butterfat 00:08:10.139 --> 00:08:13.100 percentages tracked across generations. Daughter 00:08:13.100 --> 00:08:16.120 comparisons organized by sire. Cross -references 00:08:16.120 --> 00:08:18.899 you've never seen anyone bother to compile. It 00:08:18.899 --> 00:08:21.040 looks less like a farm office and more like an 00:08:21.040 --> 00:08:23.779 insurance company's actuarial department, which 00:08:23.779 --> 00:08:25.680 when you think about it, makes perfect sense. 00:08:26.459 --> 00:08:30.120 Thomas Bassett. McCauley didn't grow up in cattle. 00:08:30.240 --> 00:08:33.419 No family farm. No inherited wisdom about which 00:08:33.419 --> 00:08:37.360 bloodlines nick well together. According to Sun 00:08:37.360 --> 00:08:39.940 Life Corporate Histories, he built one of Canada's 00:08:39.940 --> 00:08:42.340 largest insurance companies through rigorous 00:08:42.340 --> 00:08:46.559 statistical analysis. Risk assessment. Probability 00:08:46.559 --> 00:08:49.799 calculation. The mathematics of predicting outcomes 00:08:49.799 --> 00:08:53.340 from incomplete data. And now he's applied that 00:08:53.340 --> 00:08:56.519 same methodology to Holstein's. You watch him 00:08:56.519 --> 00:08:59.460 work. He's 69 years old, but his mind is sharp 00:08:59.460 --> 00:09:02.399 as a tack. He pulls a chart from the wall, traces 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:04.860 a lineage with his finger, makes a note in the 00:09:04.860 --> 00:09:07.370 margin. You ask him what he's looking for. He 00:09:07.370 --> 00:09:09.409 explains that he's solving for a specific value, 00:09:09.669 --> 00:09:13.370 4 % butterfat. You almost laugh. Nobody's chasing 00:09:13.370 --> 00:09:16.629 butterfat. Every farmer you know chases volume. 00:09:16.970 --> 00:09:20.090 More milk equals more money. It's simple arithmetic. 00:09:20.669 --> 00:09:23.929 But Macaulay shakes his head. He's run the numbers. 00:09:24.129 --> 00:09:26.629 He's studied the pricing trends. He's looked 00:09:26.629 --> 00:09:28.710 at where the market is heading, not where it's 00:09:28.710 --> 00:09:31.509 been. And he believes component value will matter 00:09:31.509 --> 00:09:35.019 more than total volume within a generation. You 00:09:35.019 --> 00:09:37.360 think about this now, standing in your barn in 00:09:37.360 --> 00:09:41.419 2025. With GLP -1 weight loss drugs shifting 00:09:41.419 --> 00:09:44.120 consumer demand toward protein, with component 00:09:44.120 --> 00:09:47.159 pricing dominating your milk check, with everyone 00:09:47.159 --> 00:09:49.299 suddenly thinking about what's in the milk, not 00:09:49.299 --> 00:09:52.340 just how much there is. Macaulay saw it coming. 00:09:52.440 --> 00:09:56.080 In 1926, the word comes through the dairy papers 00:09:56.080 --> 00:09:58.919 that Macaulay is looking at a bull. Johanna Rag, 00:09:59.139 --> 00:10:02.059 Apple Pabst. People are calling him Old Joe. 00:10:02.779 --> 00:10:05.659 The pedigree is impressive, but pedigrees alone 00:10:05.659 --> 00:10:08.860 don't justify what Macaulay is considering. You 00:10:08.860 --> 00:10:11.000 hear the rumored price, and you don't believe 00:10:11.000 --> 00:10:15.320 it. $15 ,000. Let that sink in for a moment. 00:10:15.539 --> 00:10:18.960 You're standing in 1926. The economy is shaky. 00:10:19.200 --> 00:10:21.500 Farmers are still recovering from the post -war 00:10:21.500 --> 00:10:24.080 crash. According to Bank of Canada inflation 00:10:24.080 --> 00:10:30.559 calculations, $15 ,926 equals roughly $260 ,000 00:10:30.559 --> 00:10:33.379 in today's money. For one bull, the old -timers 00:10:33.379 --> 00:10:36.000 don't hold back. You hear them in the sale barn, 00:10:36.159 --> 00:10:38.379 at the feed store, wherever cattlemen gather. 00:10:39.279 --> 00:10:42.059 Macaulay's lost his mind. That insurance money 00:10:42.059 --> 00:10:44.779 went to his head. No animal's worth that kind 00:10:44.779 --> 00:10:47.940 of money. But Macaulay has done something none 00:10:47.940 --> 00:10:50.580 of them bothered to do. He traced the butterfat 00:10:50.580 --> 00:10:53.460 genetics through the pedigree. He analyzed Old 00:10:53.460 --> 00:10:56.419 Joe's dam and grandum records. He calculated, 00:10:56.659 --> 00:10:59.700 actually calculated, with the actuarial precision 00:10:59.700 --> 00:11:02.610 that made him rich. The probability that this 00:11:02.610 --> 00:11:05.509 bull would sire daughters hitting his 4 % target. 00:11:07.509 --> 00:11:11.169 You watch him write the check. $15 ,000. His 00:11:11.169 --> 00:11:14.509 hand doesn't shake. The results take time. You 00:11:14.509 --> 00:11:17.129 have to wait for daughters to mature, to calve, 00:11:17.149 --> 00:11:20.149 to complete lactations. This is before genomics. 00:11:20.330 --> 00:11:23.070 Before you can test a calf at two weeks old and 00:11:23.070 --> 00:11:25.450 know her potential. You're waiting years for 00:11:25.450 --> 00:11:28.789 data. But the data comes. Holstein Canada production 00:11:28.789 --> 00:11:31.940 records from the era tell the story. Old Joe's 00:11:31.940 --> 00:11:34.500 daughters hit the 4 % butterfat target, consistently, 00:11:34.879 --> 00:11:37.899 generation after generation. The concentrated 00:11:37.899 --> 00:11:40.679 genetics Macaulay banked on are transmitting 00:11:40.679 --> 00:11:43.000 exactly as his probability tables predicted. 00:11:43.440 --> 00:11:46.559 And something else is happening, something even 00:11:46.559 --> 00:11:49.840 Macaulay might not have fully anticipated. Old 00:11:49.840 --> 00:11:52.340 Joe's genetics are spreading, his daughters breed 00:11:52.340 --> 00:11:55.960 on, his sons enter service. The influence compounds 00:11:55.960 --> 00:11:58.830 with each generation. spreading through the registered 00:11:58.830 --> 00:12:01.750 Holstein population like ripples from a stone 00:12:01.750 --> 00:12:04.710 dropped in still water. You think about your 00:12:04.710 --> 00:12:07.610 herd today. Pull up any pedigree in your computer. 00:12:07.889 --> 00:12:11.250 Go back far enough and you'll find him. Johanna 00:12:11.250 --> 00:12:14.809 Rag, Apple Pabst, Old Joe, the bull everyone 00:12:14.809 --> 00:12:18.169 said was too expensive. Holstein Canada pedigree 00:12:18.169 --> 00:12:20.450 records confirm it. He appears in the ancestry 00:12:20.450 --> 00:12:23.169 of essentially every animal in the modern registered 00:12:23.169 --> 00:12:27.679 population. Every. Single. One. Next time you're 00:12:27.679 --> 00:12:29.759 scrolling through bull proofs, remember what 00:12:29.759 --> 00:12:32.019 you're actually looking at, not just numbers 00:12:32.019 --> 00:12:35.759 on a screen. The echoes of a 69 -year -old insurance 00:12:35.759 --> 00:12:38.620 executive who had the audacity to treat cattle 00:12:38.620 --> 00:12:41.340 breeding like a math problem and got the answer 00:12:41.340 --> 00:12:44.600 right. But Macaulay's data -driven approach was 00:12:44.600 --> 00:12:47.659 just one philosophy, one way to build a breeding 00:12:47.659 --> 00:12:50.460 program. While he was running his probability 00:12:50.460 --> 00:12:53.419 tables in Quebec, other visions were taking shape, 00:12:53.559 --> 00:12:56.210 different methods, different beliefs. The same 00:12:56.210 --> 00:12:59.370 goal, building something that would last. Two 00:12:59.370 --> 00:13:02.590 men, opposite approaches. One bought everything. 00:13:02.850 --> 00:13:07.649 One bought one cow for $750. Both changed the 00:13:07.649 --> 00:13:10.389 breed forever, just in completely different ways. 00:13:10.970 --> 00:13:12.950 Let's talk about the one who bought everything 00:13:12.950 --> 00:13:15.950 first. You're standing on a dock, watching ships 00:13:15.950 --> 00:13:19.350 unload. It's the 1930s. Immigrants are pouring 00:13:19.350 --> 00:13:22.409 into Canada, fleeing the chaos of Europe, seeking 00:13:22.409 --> 00:13:25.210 opportunity in a new world. Most of them have 00:13:25.210 --> 00:13:29.289 nothing. A few dollars, a suitcase, hope. One 00:13:29.289 --> 00:13:31.690 of them is a young man from Slovakia named Stephen 00:13:31.690 --> 00:13:34.590 Roman. You see him years later on an assembly 00:13:34.590 --> 00:13:37.690 line at General Motors. Hands black with grease, 00:13:37.889 --> 00:13:40.549 building cars for wages that barely cover rent. 00:13:40.970 --> 00:13:43.289 Nothing about this moment suggests he'll become 00:13:43.289 --> 00:13:45.970 one of Canada's richest men. Nothing suggests 00:13:45.970 --> 00:13:49.070 he'll reshape the Holstein breed. But Stephen 00:13:49.070 --> 00:13:51.250 Roman has something you can't see from the outside. 00:13:51.950 --> 00:13:55.919 Ambition that burns like uranium. Uranium. That's 00:13:55.919 --> 00:13:58.299 the key. Through a combination of opportunity, 00:13:58.679 --> 00:14:01.559 risk tolerance, and maybe some luck, Roman gets 00:14:01.559 --> 00:14:05.100 into mining at exactly the right moment. Denison 00:14:05.100 --> 00:14:07.500 Mines becomes one of the largest uranium producers 00:14:07.500 --> 00:14:10.519 in the world. And the immigrant who arrived with 00:14:10.519 --> 00:14:14.340 nothing becomes a billionaire. Now imagine you're 00:14:14.340 --> 00:14:17.779 a Holstein breeder in the 1960s. You've spent 00:14:17.779 --> 00:14:21.000 your whole life building a herd cow by cow. You 00:14:21.000 --> 00:14:23.750 know every bloodline. every cow family, every 00:14:23.750 --> 00:14:26.529 subtle genetic quirk in your animals. And then 00:14:26.529 --> 00:14:29.809 you hear about Romandale Farms. Stephen Roman 00:14:29.809 --> 00:14:32.029 doesn't want to breed good cattle. He wants to 00:14:32.029 --> 00:14:34.850 build an empire. He has the capital to buy the 00:14:34.850 --> 00:14:38.690 best cattle in North America. And he does. Aggressively. 00:14:39.169 --> 00:14:41.590 Relentlessly. The kind of checkbook breeding 00:14:41.590 --> 00:14:43.289 that makes established breeders uncomfortable. 00:14:44.149 --> 00:14:46.809 But Roman is smart enough to know his limitations. 00:14:47.490 --> 00:14:49.789 You're walking through Romandale's show barn. 00:14:50.210 --> 00:14:53.220 The cattle are immaculate. fitted and groomed 00:14:53.220 --> 00:14:55.419 to perfection. But what catches your attention 00:14:55.419 --> 00:14:57.919 is the man evaluating a heifer in the back pen. 00:14:58.559 --> 00:15:01.879 Dave Houck, herd superintendent. You've heard 00:15:01.879 --> 00:15:04.600 his name in Ontario breeding circles. People 00:15:04.600 --> 00:15:07.059 describe him as having an almost spiritual connection 00:15:07.059 --> 00:15:10.279 to Holsteins. You watch him work. He doesn't 00:15:10.279 --> 00:15:14.679 say much, just looks, studies, moves around the 00:15:14.679 --> 00:15:16.740 animal with a kind of focused intensity that 00:15:16.740 --> 00:15:19.590 makes you hold your breath. An old -timer once 00:15:19.590 --> 00:15:22.129 told you that watching Hauk evaluate a heifer 00:15:22.129 --> 00:15:24.769 was like watching a sculptor see the statue inside 00:15:24.769 --> 00:15:27.529 the marble. Now you understand what he meant. 00:15:27.950 --> 00:15:31.669 Money plus cow sense. Roman brought the capital. 00:15:31.850 --> 00:15:35.029 Hauk brought the eye. That combination is almost 00:15:35.029 --> 00:15:38.190 unbeatable. You're standing at the Royal Winterfair. 00:15:38.350 --> 00:15:40.730 The supreme champion has just been announced. 00:15:41.149 --> 00:15:44.190 Romandale cattle again. Another banner. Another 00:15:44.190 --> 00:15:46.710 victory. But you notice something about Roman 00:15:46.710 --> 00:15:49.240 as he accepts the honors. He's not celebrating 00:15:49.240 --> 00:15:51.820 the win itself. He's watching the crowd's reaction. 00:15:52.080 --> 00:15:54.320 He's clocking which buyers are paying attention. 00:15:54.659 --> 00:15:57.379 He's calculating the impact on his next sale. 00:15:57.639 --> 00:16:00.399 The show ring isn't about ribbons. It's marketing. 00:16:00.539 --> 00:16:02.960 You hear him explain it to a group of breeders. 00:16:03.379 --> 00:16:06.039 Through the show ring, he says, lay the path 00:16:06.039 --> 00:16:09.620 to the Holstein mountaintop. Every supreme champion 00:16:09.620 --> 00:16:12.799 is brand equity. Every Royal Winterfair banner 00:16:12.799 --> 00:16:16.500 builds the Romandale mystique, and mystique drives 00:16:16.500 --> 00:16:20.299 demand. Perception becomes reality. And his sale 00:16:20.299 --> 00:16:22.580 tactics? You've seen them copied ever since. 00:16:23.100 --> 00:16:26.059 Elite females sold in pairs on choice. Highest 00:16:26.059 --> 00:16:28.360 bidder picks one, Romandale keeps the other. 00:16:28.480 --> 00:16:32.120 He gets record prices and retains genetics. The 00:16:32.120 --> 00:16:34.480 man understands both sides of the sale ring in 00:16:34.480 --> 00:16:37.360 a way that seems unfair. The crown jewel enters 00:16:37.360 --> 00:16:41.259 the ring in 1964. Romandale reflection marquee. 00:16:41.399 --> 00:16:43.759 You've heard him described as the white male 00:16:43.759 --> 00:16:47.179 monster. Not affection, exactly. More like grudging 00:16:47.179 --> 00:16:50.320 respect mixed with a little fear. He's massive. 00:16:50.759 --> 00:16:53.220 Powerful. Something about him commands attention 00:16:53.220 --> 00:16:56.019 in a way that's hard to articulate. The bidding 00:16:56.019 --> 00:16:58.779 climbs. You watch the numbers pass. Figures that 00:16:58.779 --> 00:17:04.000 would buy a good farm. $20 ,000. $25 ,000. $30 00:17:04.000 --> 00:17:09.200 ,000. $37 ,000. Curtis Breeding Service. Final 00:17:09.200 --> 00:17:12.720 bid. Someone near you describes watching Marquis 00:17:12.720 --> 00:17:15.109 enter the ring. said, you could feel the air 00:17:15.109 --> 00:17:17.410 change in the building. Everyone knew they were 00:17:17.410 --> 00:17:20.009 seeing something special. His genetics will spread 00:17:20.009 --> 00:17:22.849 across North America. His influence will echo 00:17:22.849 --> 00:17:25.849 for generations. But here's what Roman teaches 00:17:25.849 --> 00:17:28.190 you that matters beyond the sale prices and the 00:17:28.190 --> 00:17:31.109 show banners. Great genetics need great marketing. 00:17:32.170 --> 00:17:35.390 You think about this now, about successful embryo 00:17:35.390 --> 00:17:38.509 programs with strong social media presence, about 00:17:38.509 --> 00:17:40.750 breeders who understand that perception drives 00:17:40.750 --> 00:17:43.849 demand. about live -streamed sales reaching three 00:17:43.849 --> 00:17:47.809 continents. Roman figured this out in the 1960s. 00:17:47.849 --> 00:17:50.349 The rest of the industry is still catching up. 00:17:50.650 --> 00:17:53.210 But while Roman was building his empire through 00:17:53.210 --> 00:17:55.789 acquisitions and marketing brilliance, another 00:17:55.789 --> 00:17:58.430 man was proving that you didn't need millions. 00:17:58.750 --> 00:18:01.690 You didn't need to buy the best. You just needed 00:18:01.690 --> 00:18:04.829 to find one cow, the right cow, and have the 00:18:04.829 --> 00:18:08.049 patience to build everything from her. They called 00:18:08.049 --> 00:18:11.490 him the Holstein Man's Holstein Man. And if you 00:18:11.490 --> 00:18:14.210 spent time around Ontario dairy circles mid -century, 00:18:14.349 --> 00:18:17.690 you understood why. Roy Ormiston didn't have 00:18:17.690 --> 00:18:20.509 Stephen Roman's billions. He didn't have T .B. 00:18:20.529 --> 00:18:23.890 McCauley's actuarial tables. What he had was 00:18:23.890 --> 00:18:26.809 30 years of walking through other people's barns. 00:18:26.809 --> 00:18:29.549 You're following Ormiston on his rounds as a 00:18:29.549 --> 00:18:33.029 Holstein Canada field man. This is the job, visiting 00:18:33.029 --> 00:18:36.410 farms, evaluating cattle, helping breeders understand 00:18:36.410 --> 00:18:39.970 conformation and type. Hundreds of herds. Thousands 00:18:39.970 --> 00:18:43.329 of cattle. Year after year. You watch him work. 00:18:43.549 --> 00:18:46.549 He doesn't use a scorecard, not really. He looks 00:18:46.549 --> 00:18:48.730 at an animal and something happens behind his 00:18:48.730 --> 00:18:51.369 eyes. An assessment that integrates confirmation, 00:18:51.869 --> 00:18:54.549 structure, constitution, and something else. 00:18:54.950 --> 00:18:58.410 Something you can't quite name. I like to compare 00:18:58.410 --> 00:19:00.849 a dairy cow to a building, he explains to you 00:19:00.849 --> 00:19:03.390 during a long drive between farms. If you don't 00:19:03.390 --> 00:19:05.410 have a very good foundation, then it isn't going 00:19:05.410 --> 00:19:09.619 to stand up too long. You think about this. Foundation. 00:19:09.859 --> 00:19:12.839 The base everything else builds on. He's not 00:19:12.839 --> 00:19:15.039 talking about confirmation scores or classification 00:19:15.039 --> 00:19:18.319 points. Not exactly. He's talking about something 00:19:18.319 --> 00:19:21.380 deeper. The genetic core that transmits across 00:19:21.380 --> 00:19:24.140 generations. The invisible architecture that 00:19:24.140 --> 00:19:26.539 determines whether a cow family rises or fades. 00:19:27.220 --> 00:19:29.740 Most breeders, Ormiston tells you, chase the 00:19:29.740 --> 00:19:33.720 latest thing. The hot new sire. The trendy bloodline. 00:19:33.839 --> 00:19:36.319 They're always looking outside their own herds 00:19:36.319 --> 00:19:38.869 for the next great improvement. He's going to 00:19:38.869 --> 00:19:41.210 do something different. He's going to find one 00:19:41.210 --> 00:19:44.730 cow, the right cow, and build everything from 00:19:44.730 --> 00:19:49.849 her. It's 1956. You're at a modest sale. Nothing 00:19:49.849 --> 00:19:52.789 like the grand Romandale spectacles. The cattle 00:19:52.789 --> 00:19:55.490 coming through are decent, nothing special. You're 00:19:55.490 --> 00:19:57.750 about ready to head home. Then you see Ormiston 00:19:57.750 --> 00:20:00.849 pause at a pen in the back. Balsam Bray, Pluto 00:20:00.849 --> 00:20:04.170 Sovereign. The sale catalog lists her at $750. 00:20:04.710 --> 00:20:07.990 An afterthought price. She's not the cow everyone's 00:20:07.990 --> 00:20:11.130 talking about. She's not flashy. She's not commanding 00:20:11.130 --> 00:20:13.710 attention. But Ormiston is staring at her like 00:20:13.710 --> 00:20:16.470 he's found something precious. You look at the 00:20:16.470 --> 00:20:19.509 cow. You try to see what he sees. She's put together 00:20:19.509 --> 00:20:22.269 well, sure, good structure, sound constitution, 00:20:22.609 --> 00:20:25.230 but so are dozens of other cows in this sale. 00:20:25.769 --> 00:20:28.789 What is it about this one? Ormiston doesn't fully 00:20:28.789 --> 00:20:32.269 explain. Some combination, he says, of structure 00:20:32.269 --> 00:20:35.619 and constitution and something else. Call it 00:20:35.619 --> 00:20:38.640 transmitting ability. Call it prepotency. The 00:20:38.640 --> 00:20:41.059 ability to stamp daughters with quality regardless 00:20:41.059 --> 00:20:44.380 of the sire. Whatever it is, he believes the 00:20:44.380 --> 00:20:49.640 white cow has it. $750. He takes her home. You're 00:20:49.640 --> 00:20:51.880 watching the Roibrook program develop over years. 00:20:52.240 --> 00:20:54.640 This is the part most people don't have patience 00:20:54.640 --> 00:20:57.299 for. The long wait between genetic decisions 00:20:57.299 --> 00:21:00.400 and visible results. Ormiston breeds the white 00:21:00.400 --> 00:21:03.039 cow to different bulls across several calvings. 00:21:03.079 --> 00:21:06.019 He watches daughters develop. studies how they 00:21:06.019 --> 00:21:08.839 mature, tracks their production, notes their 00:21:08.839 --> 00:21:12.539 confirmation, and something becomes clear. It 00:21:12.539 --> 00:21:15.200 was then I realized, he tells you one evening 00:21:15.200 --> 00:21:17.799 in his kitchen, that no matter what she was bred 00:21:17.799 --> 00:21:20.460 to, the white cow would always produce a good 00:21:20.460 --> 00:21:23.019 daughter. That's when I knew I could line breed 00:21:23.019 --> 00:21:26.059 on her. The words hit you like a revelation. 00:21:26.440 --> 00:21:29.059 If she throws excellence regardless of the sire, 00:21:29.200 --> 00:21:31.799 you can concentrate her genetics without fear. 00:21:32.299 --> 00:21:34.880 You can build on what you have instead of constantly 00:21:34.880 --> 00:21:38.299 chasing what you don't. That insight is the Roybrook 00:21:38.299 --> 00:21:41.380 program. The names start appearing in sale catalogs 00:21:41.380 --> 00:21:44.420 and breed publications. Roybrook Doralee Doreen. 00:21:44.700 --> 00:21:48.299 Roybrook Doralee Dorame. Daughters. Granddaughters. 00:21:48.460 --> 00:21:51.660 The family tree branching and flourishing. And 00:21:51.660 --> 00:21:54.059 then the sons. The bulls that will carry the 00:21:54.059 --> 00:21:56.680 white cow's genetics across the world. Telstar. 00:21:56.880 --> 00:21:59.519 Starlight. Tempo. You see their names everywhere. 00:22:00.089 --> 00:22:03.130 semen catalogs, show pedigrees, production records. 00:22:03.609 --> 00:22:06.769 The influence spreads across North America, then 00:22:06.769 --> 00:22:09.190 across the Atlantic, then across the Pacific. 00:22:10.049 --> 00:22:12.769 Telstar's impact in Japan is so profound that 00:22:12.769 --> 00:22:16.650 something unprecedented happens. Japanese breeders 00:22:16.650 --> 00:22:19.109 erect a life -size bronze statue in his honor, 00:22:19.230 --> 00:22:23.309 a statue for a Canadian bull, built on the foundation 00:22:23.309 --> 00:22:28.150 of a $750 cow that nobody at that 1956 sale thought 00:22:28.150 --> 00:22:31.869 twice about. The statue still stands today. You 00:22:31.869 --> 00:22:34.150 think about this in the context of your own operation. 00:22:34.710 --> 00:22:37.589 The genomic age offers more tools than Ormiston 00:22:37.589 --> 00:22:40.430 could have imagined. You can sort embryos by 00:22:40.430 --> 00:22:43.730 sex, screen for dozens of recessives, select 00:22:43.730 --> 00:22:46.130 for indexes that didn't exist five years ago. 00:22:46.730 --> 00:22:50.089 The technology is miraculous. But Ormiston's 00:22:50.089 --> 00:22:52.869 lesson wasn't about tools. It was about conviction. 00:22:53.210 --> 00:22:56.069 Find the cow family that works. Have patience 00:22:56.069 --> 00:22:58.630 to build on it. Stick with what works. and it 00:22:58.630 --> 00:23:01.049 keeps working. Some of the most successful programs 00:23:01.049 --> 00:23:04.329 you see today do exactly that. Not chasing every 00:23:04.329 --> 00:23:07.250 new sire topping the rankings. Not abandoning 00:23:07.250 --> 00:23:09.369 maternal lines when the next hot trend appears. 00:23:09.910 --> 00:23:12.430 Developing, building, generation after generation. 00:23:12.670 --> 00:23:15.390 The way Ormiston built everything from one cow. 00:23:15.630 --> 00:23:19.029 Three philosophies now. Data, marketing, conviction. 00:23:19.529 --> 00:23:22.430 But there's one more piece. One more bet that 00:23:22.430 --> 00:23:24.950 will complete the picture. And it will prove 00:23:24.950 --> 00:23:27.420 something the others couldn't. That the right 00:23:27.420 --> 00:23:31.119 partnership doesn't just add skills, it multiplies 00:23:31.119 --> 00:23:34.619 them. You're watching a convoy pull into a 300 00:23:34.619 --> 00:23:38.420 -acre farm in Port Perry, Ontario. Cattle trailers 00:23:38.420 --> 00:23:42.000 from New York, equipment trucks, two men supervising 00:23:42.000 --> 00:23:44.640 the unload with the focused intensity of people 00:23:44.640 --> 00:23:46.680 starting something they intend to be permanent. 00:23:47.140 --> 00:23:50.359 Peter Heffering, Ken Trevina. They've already 00:23:50.359 --> 00:23:53.220 built reputations south of the border, but they're 00:23:53.220 --> 00:23:56.670 moving north, starting fresh. Building something 00:23:56.670 --> 00:24:00.450 new. Hanover Hill Holsteins. We didn't set out 00:24:00.450 --> 00:24:02.470 to create a dynasty, Heffering will say later. 00:24:02.650 --> 00:24:05.670 Our aim was simple. Breed the best Holsteins 00:24:05.670 --> 00:24:09.329 in the world. Simple. Just breed the best Holsteins 00:24:09.329 --> 00:24:11.710 in the world. Nothing complicated about that. 00:24:12.250 --> 00:24:15.670 Rye acknowledgement of the audacity. Daily operations 00:24:15.670 --> 00:24:19.430 at Hanover Hill. SFX. Pre -dawn barn sounds. 00:24:19.730 --> 00:24:22.750 Cattle stirring. Equipment starting. You're standing 00:24:22.750 --> 00:24:25.849 in the Hanover Hill barn at 1am. the first milking 00:24:25.849 --> 00:24:29.650 shift. Ken Trevina is already there. This is 00:24:29.650 --> 00:24:32.930 his domain, the hands -on work, the daily evaluation. 00:24:33.549 --> 00:24:35.950 He's watching heifers move through the parlor, 00:24:36.049 --> 00:24:38.970 noting how they carry themselves, which ones 00:24:38.970 --> 00:24:41.410 have that something extra in their stride and 00:24:41.410 --> 00:24:44.450 their presence. By the time Peter Heffering arrives 00:24:44.450 --> 00:24:47.470 with the day's marketing strategy, Trevina already 00:24:47.470 --> 00:24:50.029 knows which animals are ready for their next 00:24:50.029 --> 00:24:53.210 photo shoot, which ones are developing into show 00:24:53.210 --> 00:24:56.819 prospects. Which ones have the it factor that 00:24:56.819 --> 00:24:59.480 translates into demand? They meet over coffee. 00:24:59.839 --> 00:25:02.640 Decisions get made. Neither man holds the other 00:25:02.640 --> 00:25:05.640 back. You've seen partnerships collapse over 00:25:05.640 --> 00:25:08.940 the years. Egos clash. Visions diverge. Someone 00:25:08.940 --> 00:25:12.019 feels undervalued or overruled. The best breeding 00:25:12.019 --> 00:25:14.180 programs splinter and scatter when the people 00:25:14.180 --> 00:25:16.660 behind them can't stay aligned. This one just 00:25:16.660 --> 00:25:19.940 works. But here's what really sets Hanover Hill 00:25:19.940 --> 00:25:23.940 apart. By the early 1970s, American geneticists 00:25:23.940 --> 00:25:26.140 are pushing hard toward index -based evaluation. 00:25:26.640 --> 00:25:29.720 Production numbers above all else. The computerization 00:25:29.720 --> 00:25:32.220 of breeding decisions. If a bull's daughters 00:25:32.220 --> 00:25:35.460 produce more milk, he's better. Simple as that. 00:25:35.819 --> 00:25:38.480 Heffering calls it out publicly. You hear him 00:25:38.480 --> 00:25:40.680 arguing with breeders and geneticists at industry 00:25:40.680 --> 00:25:43.579 events. The indexes ignore what actually keeps 00:25:43.579 --> 00:25:46.799 a herd profitable over time, he insists. Cow 00:25:46.799 --> 00:25:50.329 families. Type. longevity, the ability to breed 00:25:50.329 --> 00:25:52.730 on generation after generation without falling 00:25:52.730 --> 00:25:56.390 apart. Sound familiar? The tension between index 00:25:56.390 --> 00:25:58.930 chasing and holistic evaluation hasn't gone away. 00:25:59.210 --> 00:26:02.549 It's just moved to genomic proofs. Same argument, 00:26:02.750 --> 00:26:05.430 different decade. And Hanover Hill is betting 00:26:05.430 --> 00:26:08.710 on the holistic side. The 1980s belonged to Hanover 00:26:08.710 --> 00:26:11.470 Hill. You see them everywhere. Every major show. 00:26:11.670 --> 00:26:15.069 Every elite sale. The consistency is almost unnerving. 00:26:15.250 --> 00:26:19.609 140 All -American nominations. 87 all -Canadian 00:26:19.609 --> 00:26:22.589 nominations. Numbers that nobody else comes close 00:26:22.589 --> 00:26:26.549 to matching. From 1983 to 1988, they're premier 00:26:26.549 --> 00:26:29.269 breeders at both the Royal Winterfair and World 00:26:29.269 --> 00:26:33.390 Dairy Expo. Simultaneously. Consistently. Year 00:26:33.390 --> 00:26:36.470 after year. Their marketing is relentless. But 00:26:36.470 --> 00:26:38.970 it's not marketing for its own sake. It's marketing 00:26:38.970 --> 00:26:41.309 backed by cattle that justify the promotion. 00:26:41.769 --> 00:26:44.470 The Hanover Hill name becomes a brand that commands 00:26:44.470 --> 00:26:47.450 premium prices because buyers have learned to 00:26:47.450 --> 00:26:50.630 trust what it represents. And then comes 1985. 00:26:51.230 --> 00:26:54.430 You're in the sale ring. 2 ,500 people packed 00:26:54.430 --> 00:26:57.769 around you. Every seat filled. Every rail lined 00:26:57.769 --> 00:27:00.250 with bodies. You've never seen a sale like this. 00:27:00.869 --> 00:27:03.650 Brookview Tony Charity enters the ring. The bidding 00:27:03.650 --> 00:27:07.289 starts. Climbs. Keeps climbing. You watch the 00:27:07.289 --> 00:27:09.710 numbers pass figures that would buy a good farm. 00:27:09.849 --> 00:27:15.200 A great farm. A whole operation. $500 ,000. 700 00:27:15.200 --> 00:27:18.880 ,000. Eight. And then it crosses a million. The 00:27:18.880 --> 00:27:21.519 crowd goes silent. You can hear your own breathing. 00:27:21.740 --> 00:27:25.180 A million dollars. For one cow. You're witnessing 00:27:25.180 --> 00:27:27.819 something that's never happened before in Holstein 00:27:27.819 --> 00:27:30.819 history. Then a hand goes up in the back. Stephen 00:27:30.819 --> 00:27:33.720 Roman. The empire builder. The man who understood 00:27:33.720 --> 00:27:36.460 that perception drives demand. His hand rises 00:27:36.460 --> 00:27:40.680 one more time. One million. 450 ,000 dollars. 00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:44.759 Two Holstein legends converging in a single moment. 00:27:45.400 --> 00:27:49.420 Roman, the empire builder. Hanover Hill, the 00:27:49.420 --> 00:27:52.420 partnership that rejected the numbers game. The 00:27:52.420 --> 00:27:54.539 immigrant billionaire and the two men who moved 00:27:54.539 --> 00:27:56.859 from New York to prove something about how cattle 00:27:56.859 --> 00:27:59.960 should be bred. Charity changes hands. History 00:27:59.960 --> 00:28:02.880 is made. But the crowning achievement isn't a 00:28:02.880 --> 00:28:06.039 sale price. It's a bull. Hanover Hill's Starbuck, 00:28:06.180 --> 00:28:08.859 a son of Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation, out of 00:28:08.859 --> 00:28:11.900 Anachris Astronaut Ivanhoe. He combines everything 00:28:11.900 --> 00:28:15.279 Heffering and Trevina demanded. Production, type, 00:28:15.480 --> 00:28:18.460 cow family depth, the ability to transmit quality 00:28:18.460 --> 00:28:21.339 generation after generation. His daughters milk. 00:28:21.579 --> 00:28:25.079 They last. They breed on. Some breeders argue 00:28:25.079 --> 00:28:27.660 he's the most influential Holstein sire in modern 00:28:27.660 --> 00:28:30.519 history. The genetics flowing from Hanover Hill 00:28:30.519 --> 00:28:32.839 through Starbucks descendants touch virtually 00:28:32.839 --> 00:28:36.259 every major breeding program on the planet. Nine 00:28:36.259 --> 00:28:39.730 class extra sires from one operation. a concentration 00:28:39.730 --> 00:28:42.950 of top -tier bloodlines that no other single 00:28:42.950 --> 00:28:46.089 program has matched. And it all traces back to 00:28:46.089 --> 00:28:48.990 a partnership that worked because two men divided 00:28:48.990 --> 00:28:51.269 their labor right and neither held the other 00:28:51.269 --> 00:28:54.470 back. You're standing in your barn in late 2025. 00:28:55.009 --> 00:28:57.609 The equipment around you would be unrecognizable 00:28:57.609 --> 00:29:00.869 to T .B. McCauley, to Stephen Roman, to Roy Ormiston, 00:29:01.069 --> 00:29:03.450 to Heffering and Trevina in their early years. 00:29:03.910 --> 00:29:07.009 Robotic milkers, automated feeding, activity 00:29:07.009 --> 00:29:09.779 monitors on every cow, Genomic testing that can 00:29:09.779 --> 00:29:12.099 evaluate a calf's potential at two weeks old. 00:29:12.220 --> 00:29:15.400 The technology is miraculous, but pull up any 00:29:15.400 --> 00:29:18.000 pedigree on your computer, trace the bloodlines 00:29:18.000 --> 00:29:21.579 back, and you'll find them. Old Joe. The $15 00:29:21.579 --> 00:29:25.099 ,000 bull Macaulay bet everything on. Romandale 00:29:25.099 --> 00:29:28.019 Genetics. The empire Roman built through capital 00:29:28.019 --> 00:29:30.660 and marketing genius. The white cow's descendants. 00:29:31.559 --> 00:29:34.039 Ormiston's patient development of one family 00:29:34.039 --> 00:29:37.650 over decades. Starbuck, the Hanover Hill Partnership's 00:29:37.650 --> 00:29:40.430 crowning achievement. Every registered Holstein 00:29:40.430 --> 00:29:43.289 in your barn carries pieces of all four philosophies. 00:29:43.410 --> 00:29:46.630 Every heifer, every cow, every bull you've ever 00:29:46.630 --> 00:29:49.769 used. They're all downstream of decisions made 00:29:49.769 --> 00:29:52.289 by breeders who ignored what everyone else believed. 00:29:53.509 --> 00:29:55.990 You're reviewing your breeding program, looking 00:29:55.990 --> 00:29:58.950 at the numbers, the indexes, the genomic evaluations 00:29:58.950 --> 00:30:02.390 that guide your decisions. And you start to see 00:30:02.390 --> 00:30:05.230 the four philosophies everywhere. The Macaulay 00:30:05.230 --> 00:30:08.170 approach, data -driven selection. You're running 00:30:08.170 --> 00:30:10.869 numbers, tracking metrics, using herd management 00:30:10.869 --> 00:30:14.009 software to optimize every decision. Rigorous 00:30:14.009 --> 00:30:17.150 analysis, probability calculation. If the numbers 00:30:17.150 --> 00:30:20.089 don't support it, you don't do it. The Roman 00:30:20.089 --> 00:30:22.970 approach, great genetics need great marketing. 00:30:23.170 --> 00:30:25.930 You think about your social media presence, your 00:30:25.930 --> 00:30:28.670 sale listings, the perception your operation 00:30:28.670 --> 00:30:31.900 projects to potential buyers. You know that genetics 00:30:31.900 --> 00:30:35.400 without visibility is potential wasted. The Ormiston 00:30:35.400 --> 00:30:38.680 approach. Find your cow family and commit. You 00:30:38.680 --> 00:30:40.619 look at the maternal lines you've been developing, 00:30:40.759 --> 00:30:43.039 the cow families you've stuck with through multiple 00:30:43.039 --> 00:30:46.079 generations, the patience to build rather than 00:30:46.079 --> 00:30:48.819 constantly chase. The Hanover Hill approach. 00:30:49.420 --> 00:30:51.759 Partnerships and holistic thinking. You think 00:30:51.759 --> 00:30:54.400 about who you work with, your nutritionist, your 00:30:54.400 --> 00:30:57.029 veterinarian, your breeding advisors. the way 00:30:57.029 --> 00:30:59.990 you divide labor and trust others to handle what 00:30:59.990 --> 00:31:04.109 they handle best. Four philosophies still shaping 00:31:04.109 --> 00:31:08.029 who succeeds. The tools are different. The principles 00:31:08.029 --> 00:31:10.369 haven't changed. You walk through your barn at 00:31:10.369 --> 00:31:13.210 evening chores. The cows are settled, chewing 00:31:13.210 --> 00:31:16.710 cud, doing what cows do. Generations of careful 00:31:16.710 --> 00:31:19.690 selection are embodied in these animals. And 00:31:19.690 --> 00:31:22.069 you ask yourself the question, which combination 00:31:22.069 --> 00:31:25.049 are you building? Because the producers you see 00:31:25.049 --> 00:31:27.779 succeeding right now pull from all four approaches. 00:31:28.160 --> 00:31:30.839 Data -driven decisions, marketing awareness, 00:31:31.220 --> 00:31:34.440 commitment to maternal lines, strategic partnerships, 00:31:34.779 --> 00:31:37.380 willingness to reject conventional wisdom when 00:31:37.380 --> 00:31:40.400 it doesn't serve the cow. No single philosophy 00:31:40.400 --> 00:31:43.839 is enough. The breed was built by breeders who 00:31:43.839 --> 00:31:46.180 found their own synthesis. The question is what 00:31:46.180 --> 00:31:49.359 synthesis you're creating. Let's be direct about 00:31:49.359 --> 00:31:52.099 what these four bets teach us, not as history, 00:31:52.220 --> 00:31:56.349 as operating principles. First, data beats intuition. 00:31:56.750 --> 00:31:59.369 You think about Macaulay in his chart -covered 00:31:59.369 --> 00:32:02.109 office, running probabilities, tracking daughter 00:32:02.109 --> 00:32:04.650 comparisons, refusing to make decisions based 00:32:04.650 --> 00:32:07.589 on his grandsire through nice calves. He was 00:32:07.589 --> 00:32:10.250 right. The data was right. And his willingness 00:32:10.250 --> 00:32:12.569 to trust the numbers over conventional wisdom 00:32:12.569 --> 00:32:15.269 created influence that touches every Holstein 00:32:15.269 --> 00:32:18.349 alive. If you're not using herd management software 00:32:18.349 --> 00:32:20.970 to drive breeding decisions, you're leaving money 00:32:20.970 --> 00:32:23.700 on the table. The tools Macaulay would have killed 00:32:23.700 --> 00:32:26.299 for are sitting in your pocket right now. Use 00:32:26.299 --> 00:32:30.519 them. Second, genetics without marketing is wasted 00:32:30.519 --> 00:32:33.900 potential. Roman treated the show ring as advertising, 00:32:34.119 --> 00:32:37.200 not trophies. He understood that perception drives 00:32:37.200 --> 00:32:40.759 demand, that visibility multiplies value. In 00:32:40.759 --> 00:32:43.880 2025, that's Instagram, live -streamed embryo 00:32:43.880 --> 00:32:46.799 sales, social media presence, the ability to 00:32:46.799 --> 00:32:48.859 tell your story to buyers on three continents 00:32:48.859 --> 00:32:51.339 before they ever set foot on your farm. Great 00:32:51.339 --> 00:32:54.059 genetics need great marketing. If you're breeding 00:32:54.059 --> 00:32:56.380 elite cattle and nobody knows about it, you're 00:32:56.380 --> 00:33:00.660 leaving value on the table. Third, one cow family, 00:33:00.799 --> 00:33:04.599 total commitment. Ormiston bought a $750 cow 00:33:04.599 --> 00:33:08.180 nobody wanted, built everything from her, earned 00:33:08.180 --> 00:33:11.299 a bronze statue in Japan. Find your foundation, 00:33:11.579 --> 00:33:14.180 the cow family that works for your operation, 00:33:14.460 --> 00:33:17.599 your climate, your management style, and stop 00:33:17.599 --> 00:33:20.079 chasing every shiny new sire topping the rankings. 00:33:20.599 --> 00:33:23.259 Patience compounds. Conviction compounds. The 00:33:23.259 --> 00:33:25.539 best programs you see develop maternal lines 00:33:25.539 --> 00:33:28.160 generation after generation rather than constantly 00:33:28.160 --> 00:33:31.779 starting over. Fourth, partnerships multiply 00:33:31.779 --> 00:33:34.779 when you divide right. Trevina worked the 1 a 00:33:34.779 --> 00:33:37.880 .m. milkings. Heffering ran strategy. Neither 00:33:37.880 --> 00:33:40.480 held the other back. Think about your own operation. 00:33:40.859 --> 00:33:43.599 Who handles what? Where are you trying to do 00:33:43.599 --> 00:33:45.900 everything yourself when you should be trusting 00:33:45.900 --> 00:33:49.349 someone else's expertise? Where is ego getting 00:33:49.349 --> 00:33:52.390 in the way of effectiveness? The right partnership 00:33:52.390 --> 00:33:55.470 doesn't just add skills, it multiplies them. 00:33:56.109 --> 00:33:59.069 Fifth, and maybe most important, these aren't 00:33:59.069 --> 00:34:02.210 history lessons, they're choices. Every breeding 00:34:02.210 --> 00:34:05.190 decision you make reflects one of these philosophies, 00:34:05.190 --> 00:34:08.250 or some combination, or none of them. The producers 00:34:08.250 --> 00:34:11.030 struggling right now often have no clear philosophy 00:34:11.030 --> 00:34:14.889 at all. They're reactive, chasing trends, making 00:34:14.889 --> 00:34:17.090 decisions based on whoever talked to them last. 00:34:17.739 --> 00:34:20.079 The producers succeeding have figured out their 00:34:20.079 --> 00:34:22.679 synthesis. They know what they believe and why 00:34:22.679 --> 00:34:26.119 they believe it. Same four choices. Different 00:34:26.119 --> 00:34:28.880 tools. The philosophies that built the breed 00:34:28.880 --> 00:34:31.480 are the philosophies that'll carry your operation 00:34:31.480 --> 00:34:34.559 forward. Which combination are you building? 00:34:34.940 --> 00:34:37.599 It's early morning. You're standing outside your 00:34:37.599 --> 00:34:40.400 barn, coffee in hand, watching the sun come up 00:34:40.400 --> 00:34:43.260 over your fields. Another day of decisions ahead. 00:34:43.940 --> 00:34:47.289 Breeding choices. Marketing decisions. partnership 00:34:47.289 --> 00:34:50.630 dynamics, data to analyze. Somewhere in your 00:34:50.630 --> 00:34:53.170 herd, there's genetic material that traces back 00:34:53.170 --> 00:34:56.349 to a 69 -year -old insurance executive who paid 00:34:56.349 --> 00:34:59.489 $15 ,000 for a bull when everyone called him 00:34:59.489 --> 00:35:02.690 crazy. Somewhere in those pedigrees, there's 00:35:02.690 --> 00:35:05.590 influence from an immigrant billionaire who understood 00:35:05.590 --> 00:35:08.929 that perception drives demand before anyone used 00:35:08.929 --> 00:35:12.989 words like brand equity. Somewhere in those cow 00:35:12.989 --> 00:35:16.250 families, there are echoes of a $750 purchase 00:35:16.250 --> 00:35:19.489 that nobody thought twice about, except the man 00:35:19.489 --> 00:35:22.969 who saw something nobody else could see. And 00:35:22.969 --> 00:35:25.590 somewhere in the way you work, in the partnerships 00:35:25.590 --> 00:35:28.010 you've built, there are lessons from two men 00:35:28.010 --> 00:35:30.570 who moved from New York to Ontario and proved 00:35:30.570 --> 00:35:32.650 that dividing labor right multiplies everything. 00:35:33.070 --> 00:35:37.030 The legends left us the playbook. Four philosophies. 00:35:37.050 --> 00:35:40.869 Four impossible bets. Every Holstein alive today. 00:35:41.670 --> 00:35:44.389 The question isn't which one is right. They're 00:35:44.389 --> 00:35:47.190 all right. They're all still valid. The breed 00:35:47.190 --> 00:35:49.829 was built by breeders who found their own synthesis 00:35:49.829 --> 00:35:53.110 of these approaches. The question is which combination 00:35:53.110 --> 00:35:55.829 you're building. Because another generation of 00:35:55.829 --> 00:35:58.329 breeders is waiting to inherit what we build. 00:35:58.489 --> 00:36:01.429 And 50 years from now, someone might look back 00:36:01.429 --> 00:36:03.929 at the decisions you're making today the way 00:36:03.929 --> 00:36:06.369 we look back at Macaulay's impossible purchase, 00:36:06.829 --> 00:36:09.809 Ormiston's patient conviction, Roman's marketing 00:36:09.809 --> 00:36:12.489 mastery, Hanover Hills Multiplied Partnership. 00:36:12.909 --> 00:36:16.570 What will they see? What will they learn? The 00:36:16.570 --> 00:36:20.130 legends left us the playbook. Now it's your turn 00:36:20.130 --> 00:36:22.769 to write the next chapter. Today's episode is 00:36:22.769 --> 00:36:25.989 called Four Bets. The impossible gambles that 00:36:25.989 --> 00:36:30.909 built every Holstein alive. In 1926, a 69 -year 00:36:30.909 --> 00:36:33.610 -old insurance executive wrote a check for $15 00:36:33.610 --> 00:36:37.530 ,000 for a single bull. Everyone called him crazy. 00:36:38.300 --> 00:36:40.619 Today, that bull's genetics run through every 00:36:40.619 --> 00:36:43.199 registered Holstein on the planet. This is the 00:36:43.199 --> 00:36:45.460 story of four breeders who ignored what everyone 00:36:45.460 --> 00:36:48.840 else believed. Four philosophies that still shape 00:36:48.840 --> 00:36:51.539 who succeeds in this industry. And a question 00:36:51.539 --> 00:36:53.440 that might change how you think about your own 00:36:53.440 --> 00:36:57.360 operation. Four bets, five legends. Everything 00:36:57.360 --> 00:37:17.269 you're breeding today. Here we go. The quiet 00:37:17.269 --> 00:37:23.889 strength they knew Hear their stories now Coming 00:37:23.889 --> 00:37:30.110 right on through Oh tell the tale, tell the tale 00:37:30.110 --> 00:37:33.610 The Beaumont legends lived here