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 --> 00:01:04.180 the bull buy Turn the bar You can feel your heartbeat 00:01:04.180 --> 00:01:06.939 in your throat. The auctioneer's voice cracks 00:01:06.939 --> 00:01:10.340 through the humid September air at the 1972 Hanover 00:01:10.340 --> 00:01:12.659 Hillsale, and you're gripping the auction paddle 00:01:12.659 --> 00:01:16.060 so hard your knuckles have gone white. Three 00:01:16.060 --> 00:01:18.799 bids ago, you blew past your authorized spending 00:01:18.799 --> 00:01:21.959 limit. Two bids ago, you started wondering how 00:01:21.959 --> 00:01:24.540 you'd explain this to your bosses back at American 00:01:24.540 --> 00:01:28.519 Breeders Service. One bid ago, you stopped caring. 00:01:29.640 --> 00:01:33.650 Auctioneer's rhythmic chant. Because in that 00:01:33.650 --> 00:01:36.390 ring, circling on legs that seem too elegant 00:01:36.390 --> 00:01:39.689 for his age, is a calf unlike anything the Holstein 00:01:39.689 --> 00:01:43.189 world has ever seen. His coat isn't the familiar 00:01:43.189 --> 00:01:45.709 black and white that's made this breed the backbone 00:01:45.709 --> 00:01:48.689 of the American dairy industry. It's a vibrant, 00:01:48.810 --> 00:01:52.349 almost copper red, alert eyes, a presence that 00:01:52.349 --> 00:01:54.730 makes experienced cattlemen, men who've spent 00:01:54.730 --> 00:01:57.730 their entire careers avoiding red genetics, lean 00:01:57.730 --> 00:02:00.870 forward in their seats. You raise your paddle 00:02:00.870 --> 00:02:05.209 again. $55 ,000. The room shifts. You feel eyes 00:02:05.209 --> 00:02:08.509 on you now. Curious. Skeptical. A few openly 00:02:08.509 --> 00:02:12.129 hostile. The man three rows back, a breeder who's 00:02:12.129 --> 00:02:13.849 been in this business longer than you've been 00:02:13.849 --> 00:02:16.870 alive, shakes his head slowly. You know what 00:02:16.870 --> 00:02:18.629 he's thinking. You know what they're all thinking. 00:02:18.810 --> 00:02:22.430 That calf is a genetic mistake. A defect. The 00:02:22.430 --> 00:02:24.650 kind of animal serious breeders cull from their 00:02:24.650 --> 00:02:27.629 herds without a second thought. Your paddle rises 00:02:27.629 --> 00:02:31.830 one more time. $60 ,000. The auctioneer's voice 00:02:31.830 --> 00:02:35.849 cuts through the stunned silence. Sold. You've 00:02:35.849 --> 00:02:38.129 just paid a world record price for a red and 00:02:38.129 --> 00:02:41.389 white Holstein. You've just bet your career on 00:02:41.389 --> 00:02:43.789 an animal the entire industry has dismissed. 00:02:44.210 --> 00:02:46.949 And in two days, when you walk into your boss's 00:02:46.949 --> 00:02:49.629 office to explain what you've done, you'll say 00:02:49.629 --> 00:02:51.629 something that will echo through dairy breeding 00:02:51.629 --> 00:02:55.990 lore for the next 50 years. But that's not really 00:02:55.990 --> 00:02:58.610 where this story begins. To understand what just 00:02:58.610 --> 00:03:01.259 happened in this auction barn, and why it matters 00:03:01.259 --> 00:03:03.860 for every Holstein alive today, you need to go 00:03:03.860 --> 00:03:06.740 back further. To a Swiss agricultural graduate 00:03:06.740 --> 00:03:09.800 standing alone in Ontario farmland with nothing 00:03:09.800 --> 00:03:13.319 but conviction and a crazy idea. To a Nebraska 00:03:13.319 --> 00:03:15.979 breeding wizard who died before he ever saw his 00:03:15.979 --> 00:03:19.780 life's work come to fruition. To a Kansas dairy 00:03:19.780 --> 00:03:22.460 farmer who would later become governor and whose 00:03:22.460 --> 00:03:25.539 bull would force an entire industry to confront 00:03:25.539 --> 00:03:29.439 what it means to wield genetic power. This is 00:03:29.439 --> 00:03:31.780 the story of four bulls who built the modern 00:03:31.780 --> 00:03:34.280 Holstein breed and the price we're still paying 00:03:34.280 --> 00:03:37.039 for their legacy. To understand what's coming, 00:03:37.219 --> 00:03:39.620 you need to understand the world of dairy cattle 00:03:39.620 --> 00:03:44.900 breeding in the early 1960s. You're standing 00:03:44.900 --> 00:03:47.960 in a Nebraska pasture, let's say, in the spring 00:03:47.960 --> 00:03:51.759 of 1960. The Eisenhower administration is winding 00:03:51.759 --> 00:03:55.000 down. Kennedy is campaigning on television, a 00:03:55.000 --> 00:03:56.939 technology that's starting to change everything. 00:03:57.370 --> 00:03:59.650 and American agriculture is in the midst of its 00:03:59.650 --> 00:04:02.669 own quiet revolution. If you're a dairy farmer 00:04:02.669 --> 00:04:05.810 in 1960, your grandfather would barely recognize 00:04:05.810 --> 00:04:08.789 your operation. The cows you're milking produce 00:04:08.789 --> 00:04:12.110 twice what his did. The barn you work in has 00:04:12.110 --> 00:04:15.069 electric lights, mechanical milkers, bulk tanks 00:04:15.069 --> 00:04:18.610 that keep milk cold until the truck comes. You're 00:04:18.610 --> 00:04:20.649 not just a farmer anymore. You're a businessman, 00:04:20.910 --> 00:04:23.670 tracking production records, calculating feed 00:04:23.670 --> 00:04:26.509 efficiency, making breeding decisions based on 00:04:26.509 --> 00:04:30.110 data your grandfather never had access to. And 00:04:30.110 --> 00:04:32.589 at the center of this revolution is artificial 00:04:32.589 --> 00:04:35.970 insemination. The AI industry has changed everything. 00:04:36.310 --> 00:04:39.009 Instead of keeping a bull on your farm, expensive, 00:04:39.269 --> 00:04:42.170 dangerous, limited in genetic reach, you can 00:04:42.170 --> 00:04:44.930 now order semen from the best sires in the country. 00:04:45.269 --> 00:04:48.310 One elite bull can father tens of thousands of 00:04:48.310 --> 00:04:51.509 daughters across multiple states. Genetic progress 00:04:51.509 --> 00:04:53.990 that used to take generations can now happen 00:04:53.990 --> 00:04:56.509 in years. But here's what you need to understand. 00:04:56.850 --> 00:05:00.110 In 1960, the Holstein breed has a hierarchy. 00:05:00.449 --> 00:05:03.569 A very clear, very rigid hierarchy. Black and 00:05:03.569 --> 00:05:06.769 white is correct. Black and white is elite. Black 00:05:06.769 --> 00:05:09.889 and white is what serious breeders produce. Red 00:05:09.889 --> 00:05:12.430 and white? That's a recessive gene that surfaces 00:05:12.430 --> 00:05:15.149 occasionally. An embarrassment to be eliminated. 00:05:15.649 --> 00:05:18.389 Red calves are barred from the main herd book. 00:05:18.610 --> 00:05:21.720 They're sold off. bred out, treated as genetic 00:05:21.720 --> 00:05:24.860 noise to be filtered from the signal. You accept 00:05:24.860 --> 00:05:27.420 this because everyone accepts this. Because the 00:05:27.420 --> 00:05:30.120 men who built this industry, the AI companies, 00:05:30.439 --> 00:05:33.120 the breed associations, the university researchers, 00:05:33.339 --> 00:05:36.819 they all agree. Red is a defect. The science 00:05:36.819 --> 00:05:39.980 is settled. Except in Europe, a young Swiss agricultural 00:05:39.980 --> 00:05:42.879 graduate named Jean -Louis Schrago is looking 00:05:42.879 --> 00:05:45.319 at the same science and reaching a very different 00:05:45.319 --> 00:05:48.490 conclusion. Your Jean -Louis Schrago and you've 00:05:48.490 --> 00:05:50.930 just graduated from agricultural college in Switzerland 00:05:50.930 --> 00:05:53.509 with a specialization in dairy cattle genetics. 00:05:54.250 --> 00:05:57.550 You're 23 years old, ambitious, and you've noticed 00:05:57.550 --> 00:05:59.569 something that the North American establishment 00:05:59.569 --> 00:06:03.670 seems determined to ignore. In Europe, there's 00:06:03.670 --> 00:06:06.670 a market for red genetics. Dutch farmers, German 00:06:06.670 --> 00:06:09.490 farmers, Swiss farmers, they don't share North 00:06:09.490 --> 00:06:12.149 America's prejudice against the color. They want 00:06:12.149 --> 00:06:14.550 elite cattle, and they don't care if those cattle 00:06:14.550 --> 00:06:18.439 are red or black or purple with polka dots. They 00:06:18.439 --> 00:06:21.279 care about production. They care about confirmation. 00:06:21.720 --> 00:06:24.879 They care about results. You've done the research. 00:06:25.160 --> 00:06:27.399 You know that red and white Holsteins aren't 00:06:27.399 --> 00:06:30.259 defective. They're just different. The red color 00:06:30.259 --> 00:06:33.279 is a simple recessive trait, nothing more. It 00:06:33.279 --> 00:06:35.699 has no connection to milk production, to health, 00:06:35.860 --> 00:06:39.339 to longevity. The stigma is cultural, not scientific. 00:06:39.660 --> 00:06:42.339 And you've spotted an opportunity. If someone 00:06:42.339 --> 00:06:44.779 could produce elite red and white Holsteins, 00:06:45.129 --> 00:06:47.430 animals with the same genetic quality as the 00:06:47.430 --> 00:06:50.250 best black and whites, there's a market waiting. 00:06:50.529 --> 00:06:53.769 A market that North American breeders are completely 00:06:53.769 --> 00:06:57.930 ignoring. In 1968, you board a ship for North 00:06:57.930 --> 00:07:01.649 America. You have limited funds, limited connections, 00:07:01.949 --> 00:07:04.750 and an idea that makes experienced breeders shake 00:07:04.750 --> 00:07:07.769 their heads in disbelief. You find yourself standing 00:07:07.769 --> 00:07:10.579 in the rolling farmland of Ontario, trying to 00:07:10.579 --> 00:07:13.160 convince Peter Heffering of Hanover Hill Holsteins 00:07:13.160 --> 00:07:15.240 to do something that goes against everything 00:07:15.240 --> 00:07:18.259 the industry believes. Breed one of your finest 00:07:18.259 --> 00:07:21.879 cows, you tell him, to a red factor bull. Heffering 00:07:21.879 --> 00:07:24.019 looks at you the way you've gotten used to being 00:07:24.019 --> 00:07:27.160 looked at. Politely skeptical. Maybe a little 00:07:27.160 --> 00:07:29.959 pitying. He's been in this business for decades. 00:07:30.519 --> 00:07:33.879 He knows how it works. And what you're proposing 00:07:33.879 --> 00:07:37.579 isn't how it works. He says no. Most people would 00:07:37.579 --> 00:07:40.290 go home after that. Most people would accept 00:07:40.290 --> 00:07:43.170 that the establishment knows better, that maybe 00:07:43.170 --> 00:07:46.170 the industry veterans are right. You've crossed 00:07:46.170 --> 00:07:48.970 an ocean for this idea, and the first serious 00:07:48.970 --> 00:07:52.149 breeder you approach has shut you down. But something 00:07:52.149 --> 00:07:56.930 in you refuses to quit. You'll be back. 2 ,000 00:07:56.930 --> 00:07:59.889 miles away, in Central City, Nebraska, another 00:07:59.889 --> 00:08:02.310 kind of dreamer is building something he'll never 00:08:02.310 --> 00:08:05.019 live to see completed. You're standing at the 00:08:05.019 --> 00:08:07.680 fence line of Pawnee Farm, watching Lester Fishler 00:08:07.680 --> 00:08:10.680 walk his herd. There's something different about 00:08:10.680 --> 00:08:14.000 the way he looks at these animals. Other breeders 00:08:14.000 --> 00:08:16.980 select for next year's milk check. Fishler is 00:08:16.980 --> 00:08:19.000 building an architecture that spans decades. 00:08:19.600 --> 00:08:22.660 Fellow breeders call him gifted. Some use the 00:08:22.660 --> 00:08:25.500 word wizard. But there's no magic in what Fishler 00:08:25.500 --> 00:08:28.199 does, just thousands of hours of paying attention 00:08:28.199 --> 00:08:31.500 when others have stopped looking. He can study 00:08:31.500 --> 00:08:34.299 a cow and see not just what she is, but what 00:08:34.299 --> 00:08:36.600 her daughters might become, her granddaughters, 00:08:36.759 --> 00:08:39.779 her great -granddaughters. He maintains what 00:08:39.779 --> 00:08:43.279 he calls a strictly rag -apple herd, tracing 00:08:43.279 --> 00:08:46.039 back to bloodlines he's refined over years of 00:08:46.039 --> 00:08:49.340 careful selection. Every mating decision is deliberate. 00:08:49.679 --> 00:08:52.419 Every calf born is a step toward something only 00:08:52.419 --> 00:08:55.659 he can fully visualize. You watch him pause by 00:08:55.659 --> 00:08:58.460 a pregnant cow named Pawnee Farm Glenview Beauty. 00:08:58.960 --> 00:09:01.179 There's nothing flashy about her. She's not a 00:09:01.179 --> 00:09:03.820 show cow, not a record breaker. But Fishler's 00:09:03.820 --> 00:09:06.519 hand rests on her side for a long moment, and 00:09:06.519 --> 00:09:09.320 you wonder what he sees. He won't live to find 00:09:09.320 --> 00:09:12.139 out. Fishler will die before the calf inside 00:09:12.139 --> 00:09:15.580 this cow, or her own calf, born a few years later, 00:09:15.740 --> 00:09:18.340 ever produces a daughter. All those years of 00:09:18.340 --> 00:09:20.399 patient work, and he'll never see the payoff. 00:09:20.960 --> 00:09:23.019 That's the part of this story that catches in 00:09:23.019 --> 00:09:26.539 the throat. But in April 1962, the architecture 00:09:26.539 --> 00:09:29.230 Fishler built will outlive him. in ways nobody 00:09:29.230 --> 00:09:33.269 imagined. Meanwhile, in Kansas, two partners 00:09:33.269 --> 00:09:35.610 are making breeding decisions that will reshape 00:09:35.610 --> 00:09:38.669 the entire industry, without any idea what they're 00:09:38.669 --> 00:09:41.889 setting in motion. You're John Carlin, a dairy 00:09:41.889 --> 00:09:46.090 farmer in partnership with Lawrence Mayer. You'll 00:09:46.090 --> 00:09:48.850 go on to bigger things. Governor of Kansas from 00:09:48.850 --> 00:09:52.769 1979 to 1987, eventually Archivist of the United 00:09:52.769 --> 00:09:57.019 States. But right now, in the early 1970s, You're 00:09:57.019 --> 00:09:59.179 just trying to build a quality Holstein herd. 00:09:59.740 --> 00:10:02.980 Select Sires has proposed a mating. Your cow, 00:10:03.100 --> 00:10:05.919 Cremel, bred to a bull named Penn State Ivanhoe 00:10:05.919 --> 00:10:08.879 Star. It's a good match on paper. Star is proven. 00:10:09.299 --> 00:10:12.320 Cremel has potential. You sign off on it the 00:10:12.320 --> 00:10:14.600 way you sign off on dozens of breeding decisions, 00:10:14.960 --> 00:10:18.340 with instinct, with pedigree analysis, with the 00:10:18.340 --> 00:10:21.879 best information available. You have no way of 00:10:21.879 --> 00:10:24.159 knowing that the calf that results from this 00:10:24.159 --> 00:10:26.929 mating will revolutionize milk production across 00:10:26.929 --> 00:10:30.370 the entire breed. Or that decades later, researchers 00:10:30.370 --> 00:10:33.110 will trace two separate lethal genetic disorders 00:10:33.110 --> 00:10:36.769 back to him. Or that his name, Carlin M. Ivanhoe 00:10:36.769 --> 00:10:39.669 Bell, will become synonymous with both the promise 00:10:39.669 --> 00:10:42.850 and the peril of genetic power. You're just making 00:10:42.850 --> 00:10:45.730 a breeding decision. The same way farmers have 00:10:45.730 --> 00:10:48.850 made breeding decisions for centuries. The difference 00:10:48.850 --> 00:10:51.870 is, the tools have changed, and nobody's fully 00:10:51.870 --> 00:10:55.419 reckoned with what that means. You're Jean -Louis 00:10:55.419 --> 00:10:58.259 Schrago, and you've spent three years being told 00:10:58.259 --> 00:11:01.440 no. Three years of industry veterans suggesting, 00:11:01.840 --> 00:11:04.679 politely and not so politely, that you're wasting 00:11:04.679 --> 00:11:08.480 your time. Three years of doors closing. Three 00:11:08.480 --> 00:11:11.940 years of those 3 a .m. moments that anyone who's 00:11:11.940 --> 00:11:14.480 ever chased an unpopular idea knows intimately. 00:11:14.899 --> 00:11:17.860 Lying awake, staring at the ceiling, wondering 00:11:17.860 --> 00:11:20.000 if everyone else is right, and you're the fool. 00:11:20.639 --> 00:11:22.840 You've taken a job with American Breeders Service 00:11:22.840 --> 00:11:25.460 as a sales representative, working your way into 00:11:25.460 --> 00:11:28.039 the industry from the inside. You've learned 00:11:28.039 --> 00:11:30.639 the business, you've built relationships, and 00:11:30.639 --> 00:11:32.600 you've never stopped looking for a way to make 00:11:32.600 --> 00:11:37.220 your vision reality. Then, in 1971, you find 00:11:37.220 --> 00:11:39.879 it. Roybrooke Telstar, a Canadian superstar, 00:11:40.240 --> 00:11:43.120 celebrated for refinement and exceptional udders. 00:11:43.220 --> 00:11:46.320 Everything the show ring values, Telstar delivers. 00:11:46.700 --> 00:11:48.740 But what most people don't know... What you've 00:11:48.740 --> 00:11:51.299 discovered through careful research is that Telstar 00:11:51.299 --> 00:11:54.919 carries the rare, black -red gene. There's just 00:11:54.919 --> 00:11:58.379 one problem. Telstar has been exported to Japan. 00:11:58.779 --> 00:12:01.360 You start making phone calls, you write letters, 00:12:01.559 --> 00:12:04.100 you work contacts on the other side of the Pacific, 00:12:04.419 --> 00:12:06.980 trying to locate something that might not even 00:12:06.980 --> 00:12:10.159 exist anymore. Frozen semen from a bull that's 00:12:10.159 --> 00:12:13.279 been out of North America for years. And then, 00:12:13.399 --> 00:12:16.679 against all probability, you find it. Two units. 00:12:17.389 --> 00:12:19.909 Two precious units of Telstar semen preserved 00:12:19.909 --> 00:12:22.929 in a tank somewhere in Japan. The price for importing 00:12:22.929 --> 00:12:27.929 them? $2 ,500. In 1971, that's serious money. 00:12:28.070 --> 00:12:30.269 That's rent for months. That's a down payment 00:12:30.269 --> 00:12:33.570 on land for two units of semen from a bull nobody 00:12:33.570 --> 00:12:36.929 in North America is thinking about anymore. You 00:12:36.929 --> 00:12:39.090 pay it. Now you go back to Peter Heffering at 00:12:39.090 --> 00:12:41.649 Hanover Hill. You have something concrete this 00:12:41.649 --> 00:12:44.929 time. You have a plan. Telstar's black -red gene. 00:12:45.309 --> 00:12:47.409 combined with the true recessive red gene carried 00:12:47.409 --> 00:12:50.750 by the right cow, will produce a red calf. Not 00:12:50.750 --> 00:12:54.250 just any red calf. An elite red calf, with Telstar's 00:12:54.250 --> 00:12:57.289 refinement and Hanover Hill's quality. Heffering 00:12:57.289 --> 00:13:00.409 agrees to try. The cow you select is Tara Hill's 00:13:00.409 --> 00:13:03.269 pride lucky barb, a phenomenal animal who happens 00:13:03.269 --> 00:13:05.950 to carry the red recessive. The genetic math 00:13:05.950 --> 00:13:08.789 is elegant. The odds are right. Now you wait. 00:13:09.230 --> 00:13:11.549 You're Wally Linskoog, and you've driven from 00:13:11.549 --> 00:13:14.799 California to Nebraska. for the Pawnee Farm dispersal 00:13:14.799 --> 00:13:17.779 sale. Lester Fishler's herd is being sold off, 00:13:17.960 --> 00:13:20.659 and buyers from seven states have gathered in 00:13:20.659 --> 00:13:24.440 Central City. The mood is strange. Fishler was 00:13:24.440 --> 00:13:27.919 respected, more than respected, revered by those 00:13:27.919 --> 00:13:30.600 who understood what he was building. And now 00:13:30.600 --> 00:13:32.899 his life's work is being parceled out to the 00:13:32.899 --> 00:13:35.700 highest bidders. You've come with instructions 00:13:35.700 --> 00:13:38.500 from Arlinda Farms. You've got a spending limit, 00:13:38.679 --> 00:13:40.659 and you've got a feeling, something you can't 00:13:40.659 --> 00:13:43.620 quite articulate. about a pregnant cow named 00:13:43.620 --> 00:13:47.080 Pawnee Farm Glenview Beauty. Other buyers see 00:13:47.080 --> 00:13:49.639 a good cow. You're trying to see what Fishler 00:13:49.639 --> 00:13:52.039 saw when he bred her. You're betting that whatever 00:13:52.039 --> 00:13:54.580 architecture he was building, some of it lives 00:13:54.580 --> 00:13:57.600 in this animal. The bidding starts. Your paddle 00:13:57.600 --> 00:14:03.259 keeps rising. $3 ,000. $3 ,500. $4 ,000. The 00:14:03.259 --> 00:14:05.980 man next to you drops out. Someone across the 00:14:05.980 --> 00:14:11.049 barn shakes his head and stops. $4 ,300. You've 00:14:11.049 --> 00:14:13.269 just bought a pregnant cow for more than some 00:14:13.269 --> 00:14:16.210 of these farmers paid for their land. Your bosses 00:14:16.210 --> 00:14:18.470 back in California are going to want an explanation. 00:14:19.250 --> 00:14:22.909 25 days later, Beauty arrives at Arlinda Farms 00:14:22.909 --> 00:14:26.129 by train. She's exhausted from the journey. She's 00:14:26.129 --> 00:14:31.269 also very, very pregnant. On May 9, 1962, she 00:14:31.269 --> 00:14:34.009 gives birth to a bull calf. You don't know it 00:14:34.009 --> 00:14:36.580 yet. But you're looking at an animal whose genetics 00:14:36.580 --> 00:14:39.000 will eventually flow through nearly one -sixth 00:14:39.000 --> 00:14:41.980 of every Holstein alive, whose influence will 00:14:41.980 --> 00:14:44.059 help double the milk production of the entire 00:14:44.059 --> 00:14:47.039 breed, whose name, Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief, 00:14:47.240 --> 00:14:49.360 will become the most genetically dominant sire 00:14:49.360 --> 00:14:52.419 in the history of any livestock species. Right 00:14:52.419 --> 00:14:55.480 now, he's just a calf, finding his legs, blinking 00:14:55.480 --> 00:14:58.000 in the California sunshine. And eight months 00:14:58.000 --> 00:15:01.299 from now, he'll almost die. To understand what 00:15:01.299 --> 00:15:03.799 happens next, you need to understand what artificial 00:15:03.799 --> 00:15:06.879 insemination did to the cattle industry. Before 00:15:06.879 --> 00:15:10.159 AI, genetic progress moved at the pace of a single 00:15:10.159 --> 00:15:13.399 bull serving a single herd. A great sire might 00:15:13.399 --> 00:15:15.519 father a few hundred offspring in his lifetime, 00:15:15.759 --> 00:15:18.100 all within a few miles of wherever he lived. 00:15:18.320 --> 00:15:20.860 His genetics would spread slowly, generation 00:15:20.860 --> 00:15:24.220 by generation, limited by geography and time. 00:15:24.600 --> 00:15:29.009 AI shattered those limitations. By the 1960s, 00:15:29.029 --> 00:15:31.590 a single elite bull could father tens of thousands 00:15:31.590 --> 00:15:34.549 of daughters across the entire continent. His 00:15:34.549 --> 00:15:37.230 semen could be frozen, stored, shipped anywhere. 00:15:37.970 --> 00:15:40.370 Farmers who'd never seen the animal, who lived 00:15:40.370 --> 00:15:42.809 thousands of miles from his home farm, could 00:15:42.809 --> 00:15:45.169 access his genetics for the price of a breeding 00:15:45.169 --> 00:15:49.029 fee. The benefits were obvious. Genetic progress 00:15:49.029 --> 00:15:52.250 accelerated dramatically. Milk production climbed. 00:15:52.789 --> 00:15:55.470 The best genetics were no longer reserved for 00:15:55.470 --> 00:15:58.350 the wealthy few. Any farmer could access them. 00:15:58.529 --> 00:16:01.330 But there was a cost that nobody fully reckoned 00:16:01.330 --> 00:16:04.470 with. When one bull could father so many daughters, 00:16:04.610 --> 00:16:07.389 and when everyone wanted the best genetics, something 00:16:07.389 --> 00:16:09.389 happened that the industry didn't see coming. 00:16:10.070 --> 00:16:13.710 Genetic concentration. Imagine a funnel. At the 00:16:13.710 --> 00:16:16.610 top, thousands of farms, millions of cattle. 00:16:16.750 --> 00:16:19.649 At the bottom, a handful of elite sires whose 00:16:19.649 --> 00:16:22.470 genetics flow through everything. Each generation, 00:16:22.769 --> 00:16:26.009 the funnel narrows. Each generation, more animals 00:16:26.009 --> 00:16:29.610 trace back to the same few bulls. In 1960, this 00:16:29.610 --> 00:16:32.250 seemed like progress. The best genetics spreading 00:16:32.250 --> 00:16:34.889 faster than ever before. What could possibly 00:16:34.889 --> 00:16:38.070 go wrong? You're the herdsman at Arlinda Farms, 00:16:38.070 --> 00:16:41.149 and the chief calf is dying. He's eight months 00:16:41.149 --> 00:16:43.830 old, and bloat has hit him hard, the kind of 00:16:43.830 --> 00:16:46.470 severe case that kills calves in hours if you 00:16:46.470 --> 00:16:50.289 don't act fast. You've seen it before. The abdomen 00:16:50.289 --> 00:16:53.820 distends as gas builds up in the rumen. The animal 00:16:53.820 --> 00:16:56.279 can't breathe properly. Without intervention, 00:16:56.620 --> 00:16:58.820 pressure on the lungs and heart will finish him. 00:16:59.000 --> 00:17:01.720 You work through the night. Trocar insertion. 00:17:01.919 --> 00:17:05.980 Careful decompression. Watching. Waiting. Praying 00:17:05.980 --> 00:17:08.339 to whatever deity looks after cattle and the 00:17:08.339 --> 00:17:11.000 people who depend on them. The hours stretch. 00:17:11.400 --> 00:17:15.059 The calf's breathing stabilizes. Then strengthens. 00:17:15.319 --> 00:17:18.720 Chief survives. You watch him recover over the 00:17:18.720 --> 00:17:21.720 following weeks. He develops into a deep -bodied 00:17:21.720 --> 00:17:24.980 bull with a trademark ravenous appetite, the 00:17:24.980 --> 00:17:27.079 kind of animal who attacks the feed bunk like 00:17:27.079 --> 00:17:29.619 he's got somewhere important to be. Something 00:17:29.619 --> 00:17:31.920 about the way he carries himself suggests what's 00:17:31.920 --> 00:17:34.599 coming. You're watching Chief's first daughters 00:17:34.599 --> 00:17:36.619 freshen, and something is happening that you've 00:17:36.619 --> 00:17:39.660 never seen before. Four daughters. That's all 00:17:39.660 --> 00:17:42.460 you've got so far. But what you see in those 00:17:42.460 --> 00:17:45.619 four animals, the depth of body, the capacity, 00:17:46.250 --> 00:17:48.329 The way they hit the feed bunk hard and then 00:17:48.329 --> 00:17:50.410 walk to the parlor like they're ready to work. 00:17:50.670 --> 00:17:53.950 This isn't normal. These aren't just good cows. 00:17:54.210 --> 00:17:58.170 These are a different kind of cow. You pull the 00:17:58.170 --> 00:18:00.930 production records. You run the numbers twice 00:18:00.930 --> 00:18:02.829 because the first time must have been an error. 00:18:02.950 --> 00:18:06.609 It's not an error. One of the great milk bulls 00:18:06.609 --> 00:18:09.829 of all time, you say aloud. After just four daughters, 00:18:10.049 --> 00:18:12.809 you've seen enough. You're Jean -Louis Schrago, 00:18:12.990 --> 00:18:15.049 and you're standing in the Hanover Hill barn. 00:18:15.420 --> 00:18:18.319 watching a calf being born. The genetic math 00:18:18.319 --> 00:18:21.720 worked. Telstar's black -red gene, plus Lucky 00:18:21.720 --> 00:18:24.960 Barb's recessive red, plus whatever divine intervention 00:18:24.960 --> 00:18:28.140 guides moments like this. It all came together. 00:18:28.400 --> 00:18:31.180 A vibrant red calf slides into the world. You 00:18:31.180 --> 00:18:33.920 watch him find his legs, shaky at first, then 00:18:33.920 --> 00:18:37.019 steadier. He's small, delicate, not the massive, 00:18:37.099 --> 00:18:39.019 powerful frame you see in the black and white 00:18:39.019 --> 00:18:41.279 bulls that dominate the breed. He's something 00:18:41.279 --> 00:18:44.480 else entirely. He looked like a small deer, you'll 00:18:44.480 --> 00:18:47.519 tell people later. Delicate, alert, unmistakably 00:18:47.519 --> 00:18:51.200 special. Three years. Three years of being told 00:18:51.200 --> 00:18:55.160 no. Continents crossed. Skeptics ignored. $2 00:18:55.160 --> 00:18:58.720 ,500 for two units of semen from Japan. And now 00:18:58.720 --> 00:19:01.180 this small creature, blinking in the light of 00:19:01.180 --> 00:19:03.700 an Ontario barn, carrying the genetic blueprint 00:19:03.700 --> 00:19:07.420 for a revolution nobody sees coming. They name 00:19:07.420 --> 00:19:11.200 him Hanover Hill Triple Threat. Five months from 00:19:11.200 --> 00:19:14.259 now, he'll walk into an auction ring, and everything 00:19:14.259 --> 00:19:17.900 will change. You're Ken Young, representing American 00:19:17.900 --> 00:19:20.460 Breeders Service, and you've come to the Hanover 00:19:20.460 --> 00:19:22.480 Hills sale with instructions you're about to 00:19:22.480 --> 00:19:25.599 ignore. The triple threat calf enters the ring, 00:19:25.759 --> 00:19:28.380 and something happens that you won't fully understand 00:19:28.380 --> 00:19:31.779 until years later. The rest of the crowd sees 00:19:31.779 --> 00:19:35.059 a red calf, a genetic curiosity, maybe worth 00:19:35.059 --> 00:19:37.359 a few thousand dollars to someone who wants to 00:19:37.359 --> 00:19:40.200 experiment with color breeding. You see something 00:19:40.200 --> 00:19:43.000 else entirely. Maybe it's the refinement in his 00:19:43.000 --> 00:19:45.640 movement. Maybe it's the same thing Schrago saw 00:19:45.640 --> 00:19:48.940 in that barn five months ago. Maybe it's nothing 00:19:48.940 --> 00:19:51.900 you can articulate, just a bone -deep conviction 00:19:51.900 --> 00:19:55.299 that this animal matters. The bidding starts 00:19:55.299 --> 00:19:58.519 low. It doesn't stay low. You push past $20 ,000, 00:19:58.640 --> 00:20:01.380 past $30 ,000, past $40 ,000. Every bid, you're 00:20:01.380 --> 00:20:04.019 further past your authorized limit. Every bid, 00:20:04.140 --> 00:20:06.500 you're betting your career on a red calf the 00:20:06.500 --> 00:20:09.920 industry calls a defect. $50 ,000. $55 ,000. 00:20:10.279 --> 00:20:14.920 Your paddle rises one last time, $60 ,000. The 00:20:14.920 --> 00:20:17.700 auction barn goes silent, then erupts in murmurs. 00:20:17.759 --> 00:20:20.099 You've just set a world record for a red and 00:20:20.099 --> 00:20:22.660 white Holstein. You've just done something nobody 00:20:22.660 --> 00:20:26.160 expected, and many think is insane. When you 00:20:26.160 --> 00:20:28.319 face your bosses at American Breeders Service, 00:20:28.539 --> 00:20:32.539 you'll have one defense prepared. One sentence 00:20:32.539 --> 00:20:35.460 that captures everything about this moment, about 00:20:35.460 --> 00:20:38.359 risk -taking and conviction. and the sometimes 00:20:38.359 --> 00:20:40.799 unreasonable courage that progress requires. 00:20:41.440 --> 00:20:44.339 It was easier to ask for forgiveness than to 00:20:44.339 --> 00:20:48.039 ask for permission. They forgive you. History 00:20:48.039 --> 00:20:50.779 will prove you right, but that same history will 00:20:50.779 --> 00:20:53.839 teach a harder lesson, too, about what happens 00:20:53.839 --> 00:20:57.079 when conviction becomes concentration, when success 00:20:57.079 --> 00:21:00.220 breeds overuse, when the tools grow more powerful 00:21:00.220 --> 00:21:03.779 than the wisdom to wield them. You're a dairy 00:21:03.779 --> 00:21:06.660 farmer in the late 1970s, and everywhere you 00:21:06.660 --> 00:21:09.420 look, The bulls from this story are reshaping 00:21:09.420 --> 00:21:12.000 your industry. Chief's daughters are legendary 00:21:12.000 --> 00:21:15.799 now. The will to milk, breeders call it. That 00:21:15.799 --> 00:21:18.519 relentless drive to produce that seems to pulse 00:21:18.519 --> 00:21:21.859 through every animal carrying his genetics. Your 00:21:21.859 --> 00:21:24.700 neighbor's herd uses Chief heavily. So does the 00:21:24.700 --> 00:21:27.960 operation two counties over. So does almost everyone 00:21:27.960 --> 00:21:31.079 you talk to at the county fair. Bell's daughters 00:21:31.079 --> 00:21:33.900 are pouring milk at rates nobody thought possible. 00:21:34.410 --> 00:21:36.769 The production numbers seem almost impossible, 00:21:37.049 --> 00:21:39.529 gains in a single generation that used to take 00:21:39.529 --> 00:21:42.509 decades. And triple threat? His daughters are 00:21:42.509 --> 00:21:46.089 winning shows. Tall, angular, with the refinement 00:21:46.089 --> 00:21:48.430 and utter quality that European breeders have 00:21:48.430 --> 00:21:51.390 been starving for. The red and white population, 00:21:51.789 --> 00:21:54.589 dismissed as defective for generations, is suddenly 00:21:54.589 --> 00:21:57.170 producing elite animals that can compete with 00:21:57.170 --> 00:21:59.940 anything in the black and white world. In July 00:21:59.940 --> 00:22:03.740 1978, a new proof report arrives that stops conversations 00:22:03.740 --> 00:22:06.240 in dairy co -ops from Wisconsin to California. 00:22:07.119 --> 00:22:10.599 SWD Valiant. Son of Chief. His first daughters 00:22:10.599 --> 00:22:13.579 have just been evaluated. Plus 1 ,000 food 41 00:22:13.579 --> 00:22:17.380 pounds of milk. Plus 44 pounds of fat. And top 00:22:17.380 --> 00:22:19.920 type scores. You read it twice. You've never 00:22:19.920 --> 00:22:22.740 seen numbers like this. Bulls give you either 00:22:22.740 --> 00:22:25.839 high production or elite type. Valiant is giving 00:22:25.839 --> 00:22:29.220 you both. The total package. The kind of sire 00:22:29.220 --> 00:22:31.779 that comes along once in a generation, if you're 00:22:31.779 --> 00:22:34.759 lucky. The industry goes into a frenzy. Everyone 00:22:34.759 --> 00:22:37.779 wants valiant semen. Everyone wants to ride this 00:22:37.779 --> 00:22:41.039 wave. His son, Fisher Place Mandingo, will reportedly 00:22:41.039 --> 00:22:43.819 become the first bull in history to sell a million 00:22:43.819 --> 00:22:48.759 doses. The 1980s become the valiant decade. Subtle 00:22:48.759 --> 00:22:52.019 shift. Triumph beginning to darken. But something 00:22:52.019 --> 00:22:54.740 else is happening too. Something that won't become 00:22:54.740 --> 00:22:58.490 visible for years. The funnel is narrowing. By 00:22:58.490 --> 00:23:02.069 January 1987, you pull up the TPI rankings, Total 00:23:02.069 --> 00:23:04.670 Performance Index, the industry's gold standard 00:23:04.670 --> 00:23:08.250 for comparing sires. 31 of the top 100 bulls 00:23:08.250 --> 00:23:12.009 are valiant sons. 98 of the top 400 carry his 00:23:12.009 --> 00:23:15.029 genetics. Let that sink in. Nearly a quarter 00:23:15.029 --> 00:23:17.710 of the breed's genetic elite, all connected to 00:23:17.710 --> 00:23:21.009 one sire. The eggs are all in one basket. And 00:23:21.009 --> 00:23:23.250 nobody's asking what happens if some of those 00:23:23.250 --> 00:23:25.650 eggs are cracked. You're sitting at your kitchen 00:23:25.650 --> 00:23:28.910 table. flipping through AI catalogs, making the 00:23:28.910 --> 00:23:31.289 same breeding decisions that farmers have made 00:23:31.289 --> 00:23:34.269 for generations. But you're not thinking about 00:23:34.269 --> 00:23:36.809 genetic concentration. You're thinking about 00:23:36.809 --> 00:23:40.029 your herd, your bottom line. Which bulls will 00:23:40.029 --> 00:23:42.430 improve your cows, increase your production, 00:23:42.670 --> 00:23:45.150 keep you competitive in a market that gets tighter 00:23:45.150 --> 00:23:48.190 every year? The names in these catalogs have 00:23:48.190 --> 00:23:51.789 become familiar. Bell, Chief, Valiant. You've 00:23:51.789 --> 00:23:54.150 used them all. Your neighbors have used them. 00:23:54.619 --> 00:23:57.160 The university extension agents recommend them. 00:23:57.440 --> 00:24:01.319 The AI companies promote them. The science, or 00:24:01.319 --> 00:24:03.779 what passes for science, says these are the best 00:24:03.779 --> 00:24:07.079 genetics available. And they are. You've seen 00:24:07.079 --> 00:24:09.700 it in your herd. The chief daughters that eat 00:24:09.700 --> 00:24:11.660 like they're starving and milk like machines. 00:24:12.200 --> 00:24:14.599 The bell daughters that set production records 00:24:14.599 --> 00:24:18.180 you didn't think were possible. The valiant granddaughters 00:24:18.180 --> 00:24:21.220 that look good and perform. You're not being 00:24:21.220 --> 00:24:23.819 reckless. You're not cutting corners. You're 00:24:23.819 --> 00:24:26.099 making the best decisions you can with the information 00:24:26.099 --> 00:24:29.519 you have. But somewhere, in a way you can't see, 00:24:29.759 --> 00:24:32.960 every mating decision you make is adding to a 00:24:32.960 --> 00:24:36.079 concentration that nobody's measuring. Every 00:24:36.079 --> 00:24:38.220 farmer making the same smart choice you're making 00:24:38.220 --> 00:24:41.339 is narrowing the genetic funnel another fraction 00:24:41.339 --> 00:24:45.759 of a degree. Years pass. The technology improves. 00:24:46.099 --> 00:24:49.279 Your production numbers climb. The industry celebrates 00:24:49.279 --> 00:24:51.720 its progress. And in a laboratory in Denmark, 00:24:52.170 --> 00:24:53.950 researchers are starting to notice something 00:24:53.950 --> 00:24:56.990 troubling in the pedigrees. You're a researcher 00:24:56.990 --> 00:24:59.369 in Denmark, and you've been tracking a pattern 00:24:59.369 --> 00:25:03.250 that doesn't make sense. Calf mortality. Specifically, 00:25:03.549 --> 00:25:06.750 calves that die in utero or shortly after birth 00:25:06.750 --> 00:25:09.910 with a specific cluster of vertebral abnormalities. 00:25:10.349 --> 00:25:12.849 It's not common enough to raise immediate alarms, 00:25:13.009 --> 00:25:15.390 but it's consistent enough to warrant investigation. 00:25:16.089 --> 00:25:19.380 You start mapping pedigrees. Tracing ancestry, 00:25:19.759 --> 00:25:21.920 looking for the common thread that connects these 00:25:21.920 --> 00:25:24.839 affected calves. The pattern emerges slowly at 00:25:24.839 --> 00:25:27.880 first, then faster, then with a certainty that 00:25:27.880 --> 00:25:30.539 makes your stomach drop. Every affected calf. 00:25:30.839 --> 00:25:34.099 Every single one. When you trace the pedigree 00:25:34.099 --> 00:25:36.579 back far enough, they all connect to a single 00:25:36.579 --> 00:25:40.200 animal. Carlin M. Ivanhoe Bell. The bull who 00:25:40.200 --> 00:25:42.700 revolutionized milk production. The bull whose 00:25:42.700 --> 00:25:45.039 genetics flow through thousands of herds across 00:25:45.039 --> 00:25:48.079 the globe. The bull. who represents progress 00:25:48.079 --> 00:25:50.859 itself. He's been carrying a lethal recessive 00:25:50.859 --> 00:25:53.960 gene this entire time. The phone calls you're 00:25:53.960 --> 00:25:56.880 about to make will change an industry. You're 00:25:56.880 --> 00:25:59.279 a breeder in Wisconsin, and the facts that just 00:25:59.279 --> 00:26:01.799 came through has changed everything. Complex 00:26:01.799 --> 00:26:05.180 vertebral malformation, CVM, a lethal genetic 00:26:05.180 --> 00:26:07.980 disorder traced back to Carlin M. Ivanhoe Bell. 00:26:08.319 --> 00:26:12.039 And that's not all. He also carried BLAD, bovine 00:26:12.039 --> 00:26:15.539 leukocyte adhesion deficiency, two lethal recessives 00:26:15.539 --> 00:26:18.319 in one bull. The most influential sire in modern 00:26:18.319 --> 00:26:20.759 Holstein history was a carrier for two separate 00:26:20.759 --> 00:26:23.640 ways to kill his own descendants. You set down 00:26:23.640 --> 00:26:26.319 the facts and stare at the wall. Your mind is 00:26:26.319 --> 00:26:27.960 already running through your breeding records. 00:26:28.259 --> 00:26:31.019 The bell daughters you bought. The matings you 00:26:31.019 --> 00:26:33.380 made. The calves you lost over the years that 00:26:33.380 --> 00:26:36.140 nobody could explain. The guilt doesn't arrive 00:26:36.140 --> 00:26:39.460 all at once. It comes in waves. That heifer you 00:26:39.460 --> 00:26:42.039 lost three years ago. The one the vet couldn't 00:26:42.039 --> 00:26:45.839 figure out. The stillborn calf last spring. The 00:26:45.839 --> 00:26:47.720 neighbor's troubles that you chalked up to bad 00:26:47.720 --> 00:26:52.380 luck. Were those Bell? Were those CVM? Were you 00:26:52.380 --> 00:26:55.140 unknowingly producing calves destined to die, 00:26:55.299 --> 00:26:58.779 trusting the system, trusting the science? You 00:26:58.779 --> 00:27:01.519 want to be angry. At the AI companies, at the 00:27:01.519 --> 00:27:05.160 researchers, at someone. But who? Everyone was 00:27:05.160 --> 00:27:07.000 operating with the best information available. 00:27:07.539 --> 00:27:09.839 Everyone was making the same smart decisions 00:27:09.839 --> 00:27:13.359 you were. We weren't careless, you'll tell someone 00:27:13.359 --> 00:27:16.269 later. at a conference over drinks when the wounds 00:27:16.269 --> 00:27:18.769 have started to heal. We just didn't know what 00:27:18.769 --> 00:27:21.730 we didn't know. You're watching an industry forced 00:27:21.730 --> 00:27:24.309 to grow up overnight. The breed associations 00:27:24.309 --> 00:27:28.190 move fast, faster than you've ever seen bureaucracies 00:27:28.190 --> 00:27:31.529 move. Testing protocols are developed. Carrier 00:27:31.529 --> 00:27:34.630 status designations are created. Mandatory disclosure 00:27:34.630 --> 00:27:37.250 requirements are implemented. If you want to 00:27:37.250 --> 00:27:39.690 sell semen now, you have to know your bull's 00:27:39.690 --> 00:27:42.490 carrier status. If you're marketing an animal, 00:27:42.799 --> 00:27:45.819 you have to disclose genetic risks. The age of 00:27:45.819 --> 00:27:48.599 blind trust is over. Some breeders want to abandon 00:27:48.599 --> 00:27:51.480 Belle's line entirely. Burn it down. Start fresh. 00:27:51.839 --> 00:27:54.720 But the voices of reason prevail. Belle's genetics 00:27:54.720 --> 00:27:57.460 are too valuable, too deeply embedded to simply 00:27:57.460 --> 00:28:00.759 discard. The answer isn't elimination. It's management. 00:28:01.059 --> 00:28:04.180 Test before you mate. Avoid carrier -to -carrier 00:28:04.180 --> 00:28:06.920 breedings. Use the information. Don't run from 00:28:06.920 --> 00:28:10.759 it. In 2016, 17 years after the CVM discovery, 00:28:11.160 --> 00:28:14.000 a cow named Chicnall Durham Arrow walks into 00:28:14.000 --> 00:28:17.220 the ring at World Dairy Expo. She's a Bell descendant. 00:28:17.240 --> 00:28:19.839 Through Regan Crest Elton Durham, through generations 00:28:19.839 --> 00:28:23.339 of careful, tested, managed breeding, she wins 00:28:23.339 --> 00:28:25.660 Grand Champion of the International Holstein 00:28:25.660 --> 00:28:28.940 Show, proof that even a complicated legacy can 00:28:28.940 --> 00:28:31.640 produce champions, if you have the wisdom to 00:28:31.640 --> 00:28:35.579 manage it. You're a dairy farmer in 2024, and 00:28:35.579 --> 00:28:38.420 the lessons from Bell and Chief and Valiant are 00:28:38.420 --> 00:28:42.619 built into every decision you make. Before you 00:28:42.619 --> 00:28:45.660 order a single dose of semen, you check the inbreeding 00:28:45.660 --> 00:28:48.259 coefficient. You look at the genetic diversity 00:28:48.259 --> 00:28:51.180 metrics. You consider not just what this mating 00:28:51.180 --> 00:28:53.799 will produce, but what it means for your herd's 00:28:53.799 --> 00:28:56.299 long -term resilience. The tools you have access 00:28:56.299 --> 00:28:59.039 to would seem like science fiction to the farmers 00:28:59.039 --> 00:29:02.700 who used Chief in the 1960s. Genomic testing 00:29:02.700 --> 00:29:05.279 that can predict a calf's potential before she's 00:29:05.279 --> 00:29:08.420 weaned. Mating programs that flag compatibility 00:29:08.420 --> 00:29:12.160 issues automatically. Databases that track carrier 00:29:12.160 --> 00:29:15.619 status for dozens of genetic conditions. You 00:29:15.619 --> 00:29:17.839 pull up the genomic profile on a heifer you're 00:29:17.839 --> 00:29:20.660 planning to breed. The software suggests three 00:29:20.660 --> 00:29:24.299 sires. All have strong production indexes. All 00:29:24.299 --> 00:29:26.700 are compatible with her genetic profile. All 00:29:26.700 --> 00:29:29.460 show acceptable inbreeding coefficients. But 00:29:29.460 --> 00:29:32.140 here's the thing. The temptation toward concentration 00:29:32.140 --> 00:29:35.259 hasn't diminished. If anything, it's accelerated. 00:29:35.759 --> 00:29:38.759 Young bulls can achieve widespread use faster 00:29:38.759 --> 00:29:42.180 than Chief or Valiant ever did. A hot sire can 00:29:42.180 --> 00:29:44.599 go from sampling to dominating the proof sheets 00:29:44.599 --> 00:29:47.759 in two years. The same forces that created the 00:29:47.759 --> 00:29:50.759 Bell Crisis, everybody wanting the best genetics, 00:29:51.000 --> 00:29:53.980 everybody making the same smart choice, are still 00:29:53.980 --> 00:29:56.940 at work. You pause over the top -ranked bull 00:29:56.940 --> 00:29:59.960 in the catalog. His numbers are phenomenal. His 00:29:59.960 --> 00:30:02.539 daughters are already setting records. Everyone's 00:30:02.539 --> 00:30:05.039 talking about him. And you remember the question 00:30:05.039 --> 00:30:07.279 that Bell and Chief and Valiant taught you to 00:30:07.279 --> 00:30:11.640 ask. Is this wise or just popular? You're having 00:30:11.640 --> 00:30:14.700 coffee with a fellow breeder after a show, talking 00:30:14.700 --> 00:30:17.720 about mating philosophy. He's third -generation 00:30:17.720 --> 00:30:20.759 dairy. You've known him for years. Every mating 00:30:20.759 --> 00:30:23.779 decision I make, he says, stirring his coffee, 00:30:23.920 --> 00:30:26.519 I think about what happened with Bell and Valiant. 00:30:26.599 --> 00:30:29.759 That history isn't academic for us. It's operational. 00:30:30.119 --> 00:30:32.680 It's why I check inbreeding coefficients before 00:30:32.680 --> 00:30:36.259 I check anything else. He pauses, looks out the 00:30:36.259 --> 00:30:38.980 window at the passing trucks, then adds something 00:30:38.980 --> 00:30:42.599 that sticks with you. Those bulls taught us what 00:30:42.599 --> 00:30:45.000 happens when we get careless with concentration. 00:30:45.480 --> 00:30:48.220 The lesson cost the breed. I'd rather learn from 00:30:48.220 --> 00:30:51.660 their mistakes than make my own. You nod. You 00:30:51.660 --> 00:30:53.819 get it. Everyone who's been in this business 00:30:53.819 --> 00:30:56.789 long enough gets it. The power to reshape genetics 00:30:56.789 --> 00:30:59.470 comes with the responsibility to wield it wisely. 00:30:59.809 --> 00:31:03.309 Every tool that amplifies your reach also amplifies 00:31:03.309 --> 00:31:06.130 your risk. Every shortcut that promises faster 00:31:06.130 --> 00:31:09.250 progress also promises faster consequences if 00:31:09.250 --> 00:31:12.529 you're wrong. You're at a show, watching a breeder 00:31:12.529 --> 00:31:16.009 prep a gorgeous red heifer. The copper coat gleams 00:31:16.009 --> 00:31:18.690 under the barn lights. The refinement in her 00:31:18.690 --> 00:31:21.450 frame is unmistakable. Echoes of triple threat, 00:31:21.630 --> 00:31:25.220 50 years removed but still visible. You ask what 00:31:25.220 --> 00:31:27.059 the red and white breed means to her program. 00:31:27.359 --> 00:31:30.680 She doesn't hesitate. When I lead a red cow into 00:31:30.680 --> 00:31:33.259 the ring, I'm leading 50 years of people refusing 00:31:33.259 --> 00:31:36.259 to quit. That's Triple Threat's real legacy. 00:31:36.480 --> 00:31:39.759 Not just the color, the stubbornness. Something 00:31:39.759 --> 00:31:42.740 about the way she says it, matter of fact, like 00:31:42.740 --> 00:31:46.039 she's stating the obvious, strikes you. She's 00:31:46.039 --> 00:31:49.519 not being sentimental. She's being precise. Shrago's 00:31:49.519 --> 00:31:52.500 dream, passed down through generations. Ken Young's 00:31:52.500 --> 00:31:54.900 unauthorized bid vindicated a thousand times 00:31:54.900 --> 00:31:57.940 over. The industry that called red a defect forced 00:31:57.940 --> 00:32:01.500 to admit they were wrong. In 2025, Golden Oak's 00:32:01.500 --> 00:32:03.740 Temptress Red will walk away as grand champion 00:32:03.740 --> 00:32:06.319 at the National Red and White Show, then go on 00:32:06.319 --> 00:32:08.900 to claim supreme champion at World Dairy Expo. 00:32:09.480 --> 00:32:12.839 Another link in the chain. Another proof that 00:32:12.839 --> 00:32:15.579 vision matters. Another reminder that what the 00:32:15.579 --> 00:32:18.519 industry calls a defect, a dreamer might call 00:32:18.519 --> 00:32:21.269 an opportunity. you step back and look at what 00:32:21.269 --> 00:32:24.710 these four bulls built. Hanover Hill Triple Threat 00:32:24.710 --> 00:32:27.410 took a color the industry called defective and 00:32:27.410 --> 00:32:30.490 turned it into a global market. Every elite red 00:32:30.490 --> 00:32:32.809 and white Holstein alive today traces back to 00:32:32.809 --> 00:32:35.710 him, through Apple Red, through Jubilant, through 00:32:35.710 --> 00:32:38.609 dozens of pathways that all converge on one copper 00:32:38.609 --> 00:32:42.269 red calf in an Ontario barn. He proved that what 00:32:42.269 --> 00:32:45.170 the establishment dismisses, the visionary might 00:32:45.170 --> 00:32:49.700 embrace. delivered the milk production revolution 00:32:49.700 --> 00:32:52.579 the industry wanted and the genetic accountability 00:32:52.579 --> 00:32:56.140 crisis it needed. His legacy flows through your 00:32:56.140 --> 00:32:59.400 bulk tank every morning. It also flows through 00:32:59.400 --> 00:33:02.279 every genetic test you run, every carrier screening 00:33:02.279 --> 00:33:05.299 you check, every transparent disclosure that 00:33:05.299 --> 00:33:07.700 protects the breed from repeating his hidden 00:33:07.700 --> 00:33:11.309 mistakes. He taught you that power and responsibility 00:33:11.309 --> 00:33:14.549 are inseparable. Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief put 00:33:14.549 --> 00:33:17.289 his stamp on nearly one -sixth of every Holstein 00:33:17.289 --> 00:33:20.369 alive. His genetics helped double the breed's 00:33:20.369 --> 00:33:23.170 milk production. His concentration taught you 00:33:23.170 --> 00:33:25.430 that dominance unchecked becomes vulnerability. 00:33:26.170 --> 00:33:29.269 15 % of the genome in one bull's descendants, 00:33:29.549 --> 00:33:32.170 a staggering achievement and a staggering warning, 00:33:32.390 --> 00:33:35.990 inseparable. SWD Valiant delivered the total 00:33:35.990 --> 00:33:39.109 package. Production and type together, the dream 00:33:39.109 --> 00:33:42.230 every breeder chases. Then he became the textbook 00:33:42.230 --> 00:33:44.710 example of what happens when everyone chases 00:33:44.710 --> 00:33:48.450 the same dream at once. His sons dominated the 00:33:48.450 --> 00:33:51.230 rankings so completely that the breed had to 00:33:51.230 --> 00:33:53.970 confront what popularity without restraint really 00:33:53.970 --> 00:33:57.150 costs. You're standing in the genomic age they 00:33:57.150 --> 00:34:00.650 made possible. You have tools Schrago and Fischler 00:34:00.650 --> 00:34:03.670 couldn't have imagined. The ability to map potential 00:34:03.670 --> 00:34:06.440 before a calf takes her first breath. You have 00:34:06.440 --> 00:34:08.579 responsibilities they couldn't have foreseen. 00:34:08.659 --> 00:34:11.139 The knowledge that your reach exceeds anything 00:34:11.139 --> 00:34:13.960 their generation dealt with. And you have their 00:34:13.960 --> 00:34:17.539 lessons. Written in the breed's DNA. Written 00:34:17.539 --> 00:34:19.960 in the testing protocols you follow. Written 00:34:19.960 --> 00:34:22.300 in the question you ask before using the hottest 00:34:22.300 --> 00:34:26.219 bull in the lineup. Is this wise or just popular? 00:34:26.820 --> 00:34:29.579 You're standing in your barn at dawn, watching 00:34:29.579 --> 00:34:32.480 a calf find his legs. The genetics are solid. 00:34:32.639 --> 00:34:35.139 You've done your homework. checked the coefficients, 00:34:35.480 --> 00:34:37.900 reviewed the carrier status for a dozen conditions. 00:34:39.059 --> 00:34:41.179 But that's not what you're thinking about right 00:34:41.179 --> 00:34:44.239 now. You're thinking about Schrago, crossing 00:34:44.239 --> 00:34:47.420 oceans for two units of semen, refusing to accept 00:34:47.420 --> 00:34:49.960 that the industry knew better than his own vision. 00:34:50.579 --> 00:34:53.559 You're thinking about Ken Young, paddle rising 00:34:53.559 --> 00:34:56.739 past all reason, betting his career on a red 00:34:56.739 --> 00:35:00.139 calf everyone called defective. You're thinking 00:35:00.139 --> 00:35:02.579 about Fischler, building an architecture he'd 00:35:02.579 --> 00:35:05.750 never see completed. about the unnamed breeder 00:35:05.750 --> 00:35:08.349 who mated chief to a cow with a questionable 00:35:08.349 --> 00:35:11.309 udder, rolling dice that no spreadsheet would 00:35:11.309 --> 00:35:13.849 have recommended. They weren't reckless people. 00:35:14.130 --> 00:35:16.769 They were people who understood that the safest 00:35:16.769 --> 00:35:20.409 path rarely leads anywhere worth going, and that 00:35:20.409 --> 00:35:23.090 the price of never risking anything is never 00:35:23.090 --> 00:35:26.210 building anything either. But they also learned, 00:35:26.349 --> 00:35:29.690 sometimes painfully, that risk without responsibility 00:35:29.690 --> 00:35:33.579 is just gambling. That power without accountability 00:35:33.579 --> 00:35:36.599 leaves wreckage. That the greatest gift you can 00:35:36.599 --> 00:35:39.599 give the next generation isn't just better genetics, 00:35:39.699 --> 00:35:42.900 but the wisdom to use them well. The next bull 00:35:42.900 --> 00:35:44.860 who builds the breed is being born somewhere 00:35:44.860 --> 00:35:47.900 today. Maybe in a barn like yours. Maybe from 00:35:47.900 --> 00:35:50.679 a mating that seems risky on paper. Maybe from 00:35:50.679 --> 00:35:53.539 a color or a line that the industry currently 00:35:53.539 --> 00:35:55.820 dismisses. The question isn't whether you'll 00:35:55.820 --> 00:35:58.079 find him. The question is whether you'll have 00:35:58.079 --> 00:36:01.960 the wisdom to use him well. This has been the 00:36:01.960 --> 00:36:04.840 Bullvine Podcast, the bulls who built the breed. 00:36:05.559 --> 00:36:08.099 This episode was based on historical records 00:36:08.099 --> 00:36:11.039 from American Breeders Service, ABC Genetics, 00:36:11.239 --> 00:36:14.239 Select Sires, and archival materials from the 00:36:14.239 --> 00:36:17.340 Holstein Breed Associations. Special acknowledgement 00:36:17.340 --> 00:36:20.559 to the breeders, past and present, whose decisions 00:36:20.559 --> 00:36:23.119 and courage shaped the breed we work with today. 00:36:23.300 --> 00:36:25.360 If you're making breeding decisions, remember 00:36:25.360 --> 00:36:28.320 what these bulls taught us. Test before you trust. 00:36:28.539 --> 00:36:31.659 Balance power with diversity. Ask the harder 00:36:31.659 --> 00:36:34.840 questions earlier. For The Bullvine, thank you 00:36:34.840 --> 00:36:37.340 for joining us. Until next time, keep building 00:36:37.340 --> 00:37:15.389 something that lasts. The legends live here.