WEBVTT

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Creeping over fields of green Remembering the

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faces The moments unseen The hands that built

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a dynasty The vision in their eyes Echoes in

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the auction bar Beneath an endless sky This is

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the bull buy Turn the bar So picture this. It

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is a freezing morning in late 1850s Massachusetts.

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Oh man, New England winters are brutal. Right.

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The ground is literally as hard as iron. And

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you have this group of men on horseback riding

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up the lane to Winthrop Chenery's Belmont Farm.

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And I'm guessing they aren't there for a friendly

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visit. No, absolutely not. They walk straight

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past the farmhouse and you can see their breath

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just like... pluming in the winter air. They're

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carrying rifles and they're heading directly

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toward his barn to execute his entire livelihood.

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It is an absolutely chilling scene, especially

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for anyone listening to this who has ever, you

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know, poured their life into a herd of animals.

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Every farmer's worst nightmare. Exactly. The

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reason those men from the Commonwealth were there

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with rifles was this disease called Rinderpest,

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the cattle plague. The cattle plague. Yeah. And

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the state authorities, they were not taking any

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chances. Welcome back to the Bullvine podcast.

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Today, we are sharing a story that honestly,

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it just stopped us in our tracks when we read

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it. Oh, completely. It's wild. We are doing a

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deep dive into some incredible historical source

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material. Primarily, this piece of research titled

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Architects of the Black and White Cow. It's such

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a great title. It really is. And we are going

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on this journey. into the absolute bedrock of

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the dairy industry you know this is the kind

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of conversation that reminds you why you got

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into dairy in the first place yeah for sure it's

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not just um a dry timeline of dates and names

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it is a story about the foundation of literally

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everything we do today on the farm Exactly. We

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are looking at the actual human beings behind

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the braid. Like their crushing setbacks, the

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massive gambles they took. And this is the craziest

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part. The pure sensory intuition that built the

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black and white cows standing in your barn right

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now. It's amazing to think about. But to really

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understand the magnitude of this, we have to

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go back to that freezing morning in Massachusetts

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and those rifles. Right. So Rinderpest is something

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we don't really think about much today. No, not

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at all. Because, well, it was globally eradicated

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in 2011. Right. Back then. It was a guaranteed

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death sentence. What exactly did it do to the

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animals? It was this highly contagious viral

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disease. It caused severe fever, oral erosions,

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diarrhea, and just like massive internal hemorrhaging.

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Oh, that's horrific. It really was. The mortality

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rate in naive populations was just devastating.

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And somehow this virus had managed to slip into

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Winthrop Chenery's prized little group of imported

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Dutch black and white cattle. So the state government

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steps in. Yeah, they realized that if this plague

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got out into the general native cattle population

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of New England, it would basically collapse the

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entire agricultural economy. Right. So they issued

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the order. The whole lot had to be destroyed

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immediately. And out of that entire herd, the

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state spared exactly one animal. Just one young

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bull named Dutchman 37. Just one. Wow. Yeah,

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it was this last desperate attempt to salvage

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something from the wreckage. And we really need

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to focus on the physical and emotional reality

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of Winthrop Chenery in that moment. Put yourself

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in his boots for a second. Exactly. The historical

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accounts describe him as this massive, imposing

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figure. He was 6 foot 4 and 300 pounds. A literal

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giant for the 1850s. A giant. And this giant

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is forced to stand there in the cold, completely

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helpless. He just has to listen to the crack

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of the rifles, watching these incredibly unique

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animals hit the dirt one by one. And the thing

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is, he knew exactly what he was losing. He knew

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their potential. Right. He had already seen enough

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of these Dutch cows to know they were entirely

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different from the native stock everyone else

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was dealing in. How different are we talking?

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Well, to give you an idea of what was bleeding

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out in the snow that morning, one of his cows

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from a later shipment, an animal named Texilar

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51, would go on to produce over 76 pounds of

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milk in a single day in 1865. 76 pounds in 1865.

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I know. So Chinnery wasn't just losing his property.

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He was watching an unprecedented leap in agricultural

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potential being erased right in front of his

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eyes. And here is where the story takes a turn

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that honestly defines the rest of dairy history.

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This is the crazy part. Nobody actually wrote

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down what Chinri said while those rifles were

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firing. We don't have a record of his exact words.

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Probably a lot of cursing. I mean, you would

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assume. But the official records show us something

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even more powerful. On the exact same day that

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his cattle were condemned and shot, he sent word

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back across the Atlantic Ocean to Holland. To

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order another shipment. Yes. On the same day.

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That one action tells you everything you need

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to know about the mentality of the people who

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built this breed. Okay, wait. Let's look at this

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critically, though. Because when I read that

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in the sources, my first reaction wasn't like

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admiration. What was it? My first reaction was...

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Is this guy insane? I mean, is that actually

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grit or is that just reckless gambling? It sounds

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reckless for sure. Right. He just watched an

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incurable, highly contagious plague wipe out

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an astronomical investment. The state literally

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just executed his property. And he throws more

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money at it. Throwing more money across the ocean

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that exact same afternoon sounds financially

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suicidal. Why double down right then and there?

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It looks suicidal until you look at the macroeconomics

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of the mid -19th century American farm economy.

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Okay, break that down for me. Well, Chenery wasn't

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crazy. He was actually one of the few people

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who clearly saw the writing on the wall. Up until

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the mid -1800s, the East Coast, specifically

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places like New York State, was the birdbasket.

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Right, because of the Erie Canal. Exactly. The

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canal had essentially turned New York into this

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massive grain corridor. But as the frontier pushed

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westward toward Ohio and the Midwest, farmers

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out there had this deep virgin topsoil. So they

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could grow cheaper. Vastly cheaper. They could

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produce grain way cheaper than the farmers in

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the East, whose soils were already starting to

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deplete after generations of farming. This is

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the post -Civil War grain crash, right? Yep.

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After the Civil War, eastern grain prices just

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sagged heavily. Suddenly you have this entire

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region of farmers realizing that growing wheat

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and oats just isn't going to pay the bills anymore.

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They couldn't compete. They couldn't compete

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with the West on grain at all. So dairying was

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starting to look like the only viable frontier

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for survival in the East. But there was a problem

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with that. A massive biological hurdle. The American

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dairy cow of that era was fundamentally a compromise.

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A compromise. I love how the sources put that.

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Break that down biologically, because I think

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we take for granted what a specialized dairy

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cow actually is today. Oh, totally. What were

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these farmers actually milking in the 1850s and

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60s? The typical animal on an American farm back

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then was a shorthorn or, you know, some local

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muddy mix of native breeds. It's a mutt, basically.

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Pretty much. They were what we call dual purpose

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animals. The expectation of the era was that

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a cow had to be a generalist. She had to do a

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bit of everything. Right. She had to be heavy

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and blocky enough so that her steer calves could

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be yoked up to pull a heavy wagon through the

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mud. Wow. Pulling wagons. Yeah. And she needed

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to carry enough flesh so that when her productive

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life was over, she had significant butcher value.

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And oh, by the way. She needed to give enough

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milk to fill a pail for the family. Maybe make

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a little butter to trade at the mercantile. Exactly.

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So she's a biological jack of all trades, but

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a master of none. If we look at the metabolism

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of a dual -purpose shorthorn, it's a biological

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compromise. It's a split system. If a farmer

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puts high -energy feed into that native cow,

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her body doesn't know exactly what to do with

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it. Half that energy gets shunted into building

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muscle and laying down fat on her back. Right,

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and maybe only half of it goes toward milk synthesis

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in the udder. Exactly. As the markets changed

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and grain farming collapsed, eastern farmers

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couldn't survive on a cow that split her energy

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50 -50. They needed a specialized metabolic engine.

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A machine. They needed an animal that if you

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fed her a pound of high -quality grain, she shunted

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almost 100 % of that energy directly to the udder.

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The sources describe what they needed so vividly.

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They were looking for a big, true dairy cow with

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a stomach like a cement mixer. And an udder to

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match. Yes. They didn't need a do -everything

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ox anymore. They needed a fermentation vat. on

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four legs that could convert massive amounts

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of rough forage into milk at a commercial scale.

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And Winthrop Chenery knew that the Dutch had

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already built her. Right, over in Europe. For

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centuries, over in the low -lying regions of

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Friesland and North Holland, Dutch farmers had

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been dealing with very different economics. They

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weren't pulling wagons through the frontier.

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Exactly. They had lush, wet pastures, and they

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had been selectively breeding big, deep -bodied

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black and white cows that were just absolute

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milk factories. They only cared about cheese

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and butter. Those Dutch cows could absolutely

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obliterate anything in America when it came to

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pounds of milk on a 7 or 30 day test. Yeah. That

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is why Chenery... doubled down. He saw the pivot.

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He knew the American agricultural economy was

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pivoting to dairy and he knew he had the sole

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biological key to unlocking that new economy.

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Which brings us to one of the most. quirky, almost

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unbelievable historical accidents I have ever

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come across. Oh, this is my favorite part. It's

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a detail that changed the branding of the entire

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global dairy industry. It really is a fascinating

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testament to how fragile history can be. So Chenery

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gets his new shipment in 1861. The one he ordered

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on the day of the massacre. Yep. A bull and four

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cows that managed to escape disease and make

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it across the ocean. He anchors his new herd

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with that surviving bull from the executed herd,

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Dutchman 37. Now, In all of his own personal

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catalogs, in his letters to other farmers, Chenery

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always referred to his animals as Dutch cattle.

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Which makes sense. They were from North Holland.

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Right. But in 1864, he writes this long, detailed

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article for the U .S. Department of Agriculture

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to promote the breed. Just doing some marketing.

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And in that manuscript, he quotes an academic,

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a professor, T. Lowe, who had written about the

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Dutch. or Holstein breed of cattle in Europe.

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So the word Holstein was literally just buried

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in a quote he was referencing. Exactly. It was

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just in quotation marks. He sends this handwritten

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manuscript off to Washington, D .C. Oh no. And

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somewhere in the depths of a government editing

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room, a bureaucrat is reviewing the text. Somehow,

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through a total editing typo, the word Holstein

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drifts out of the quotation marks. It's capitalized.

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It gets capitalized and it gets slapped right

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into the main heading of the official government

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document. I just have to pause and marvel at

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that. I mean, imagine dedicating your entire

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life to this. It's wild. You risk your family

00:11:57.289 --> 00:12:00.210
fortune. You suffer the absolute trauma of the

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state literally executing your herd in the snow.

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You double down. You double down. You import

00:12:05.309 --> 00:12:07.570
and champion these Dutch cattle, only to have

00:12:07.570 --> 00:12:09.789
some random Washington bureaucrat with a heavy

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pen accidentally rename your entire life's work.

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And the crazy part is, it stuck. By the time

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the first official herd book was printed in 1872,

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the name Holstein had become the accepted American

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terminology. Did the Dutch know about this? Oh,

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they found out. Back in Europe, a prominent Dutch

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agricultural scientist named G .H. Hengeveld

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got wind of this. I bet he was thrilled. He actually

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fired off an angry letter to the Americans pointing

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out that true Holstein cattle, which originated

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in the Schleswig -Holstein region of what is

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now Germany, were a completely different type

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of animal. So he was insulted? Deeply offended.

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He hated that these superior Friesland and North

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Holland animals were being credited to a German

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region. How did Chanry react to the Dutch getting

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so angry at him? He tried to defend himself.

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He wrote back saying that he used the word Dutch

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in his original draft and blamed the Washington

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officials entirely for the blunder. But he didn't

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fix it. No, crucially, he never actually went

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to war to change it back. It was just too late.

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The literature had already been printed. Because

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of that one casual typo in a government report,

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the word Holstein ended up on millions and millions

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of ear tags. On milk cartons. In dictionaries

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around the world today. It's almost comical.

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It is. But, you know, while the name was a historical

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accident, the genetic impact was highly intentional.

00:13:32.730 --> 00:13:35.370
Jennery proved the concept. He proved they could

00:13:35.370 --> 00:13:38.450
survive here. He proved these massive Dutch cattle

00:13:38.450 --> 00:13:41.370
could survive the harsh New England winters,

00:13:41.370 --> 00:13:44.230
that they could adapt to American forage, and

00:13:44.230 --> 00:13:46.409
that they wouldn't just drop dead from the climate.

00:13:46.549 --> 00:13:49.409
Which was a real fear back then. By 1870, you

00:13:49.409 --> 00:13:51.649
had herds based on his original Dutch imports

00:13:51.649 --> 00:13:55.269
operating in New York, Pennsylvania, Ohio, Iowa,

00:13:55.389 --> 00:13:57.909
all the way out to California. But Jennery was

00:13:57.909 --> 00:14:00.450
really just a spark, wasn't he? Yeah, he was

00:14:00.450 --> 00:14:03.539
the pioneer. But it was the next wave of men

00:14:03.539 --> 00:14:06.700
who were going to pour gasoline on the fire and

00:14:06.700 --> 00:14:08.960
prove what that biological type could actually

00:14:08.960 --> 00:14:12.139
do at scale. But to understand how that scaling

00:14:12.139 --> 00:14:14.720
happened, we really have to talk about causality.

00:14:14.820 --> 00:14:17.139
We have to look at the sheer financial reality

00:14:17.139 --> 00:14:20.440
of what it meant to get into this game in the

00:14:20.440 --> 00:14:23.320
1860s and 70s. Wasn't cheap. Because not just

00:14:23.320 --> 00:14:25.740
anyone could wake up and decide to import Dutch

00:14:25.740 --> 00:14:28.539
cattle. Right. Let's talk about the logistics

00:14:28.539 --> 00:14:32.019
and the economics. In the mid to late 1800s,

00:14:32.019 --> 00:14:35.860
it cost roughly $300 a head to purchase and bring

00:14:35.860 --> 00:14:38.179
cattle over from the Netherlands. And what does

00:14:38.179 --> 00:14:41.779
$300 actually mean in 1860s money? Well, the

00:14:41.779 --> 00:14:43.799
average working man at that time was making about

00:14:43.799 --> 00:14:47.419
$1 a day. $1 a day. So a single cow cost roughly

00:14:47.419 --> 00:14:50.279
a year's wages for an average American. Imagine

00:14:50.279 --> 00:14:53.139
asking a modern dairy farmer to pay $50 ,000

00:14:53.139 --> 00:14:56.740
or $70 ,000 for a single unproven heifer. That

00:14:56.740 --> 00:15:00.309
is insane. This meant that 99 % of American farmers

00:15:00.309 --> 00:15:03.029
were entirely priced out of the genetic revolution.

00:15:03.490 --> 00:15:05.929
The only people who could afford to scale this

00:15:05.929 --> 00:15:09.269
leap were families with deep industrial, mercantile,

00:15:09.269 --> 00:15:11.309
or generational wealth. And it wasn't just the

00:15:11.309 --> 00:15:13.769
purchase price either. We have to talk about

00:15:13.769 --> 00:15:17.269
the physical logistics of the 1860s transatlantic

00:15:17.269 --> 00:15:20.190
voyage. And boats. Yeah. We're talking about

00:15:20.190 --> 00:15:23.570
moving 1 ,500 -pound, highly stressed animals

00:15:23.570 --> 00:15:27.629
across the Atlantic Ocean on wooden ships. It

00:15:27.629 --> 00:15:29.950
was a brutal undertaking. These weren't climate

00:15:29.950 --> 00:15:32.450
controlled cargo planes. These were late era

00:15:32.450 --> 00:15:36.230
sailing ships or like early coal belching steamships.

00:15:36.289 --> 00:15:38.070
Where did they even put them on the ship? The

00:15:38.070 --> 00:15:40.490
cattle were often loaded into cramped holds below

00:15:40.490 --> 00:15:42.990
deck. or tethered in makeshift stalls on the

00:15:42.990 --> 00:15:45.110
upper decks where they were exposed to saltwater

00:15:45.110 --> 00:15:48.289
spray, freezing winds, and the pitching and rolling

00:15:48.289 --> 00:15:50.570
of the open ocean. That sounds like a nightmare

00:15:50.570 --> 00:15:52.649
for the livestock. And for the people. You had

00:15:52.649 --> 00:15:54.789
handlers who had to essentially live with the

00:15:54.789 --> 00:15:57.789
cows for weeks at sea. They were pitching out

00:15:57.789 --> 00:16:00.289
wet manure from pitching decks, trying to keep

00:16:00.289 --> 00:16:02.470
the animals standing during gales. And feeding

00:16:02.470 --> 00:16:05.309
them. Feeding them dry hay that had to be hauled

00:16:05.309 --> 00:16:08.549
on board in massive quantities. The threat of

00:16:08.549 --> 00:16:11.190
pneumonia, seasickness, and broken legs was just

00:16:11.190 --> 00:16:13.610
constant. If a ship goes down, you lose everything.

00:16:13.850 --> 00:16:16.830
If a ship hit a major storm and went down, or

00:16:16.830 --> 00:16:19.230
if disease broke out in the stifling lower decks,

00:16:19.429 --> 00:16:22.289
you lost a fortune overnight. There was no maritime

00:16:22.289 --> 00:16:24.730
insurance policy covering the genetic potential

00:16:24.730 --> 00:16:27.309
of a cow. Which perfectly explains how a guy

00:16:27.309 --> 00:16:29.269
like Garrett S. Miller ends up entering the story.

00:16:29.759 --> 00:16:32.840
Because Miller represents that exact class of

00:16:32.840 --> 00:16:35.340
generational wealth required to take on this

00:16:35.340 --> 00:16:37.940
level of logistical nightmare. Oh, absolutely.

00:16:38.519 --> 00:16:41.600
I love the image of this guy. It's the late 1860s.

00:16:41.620 --> 00:16:44.100
And Miller is a student at Harvard. Harvard,

00:16:44.259 --> 00:16:46.360
man. He's studying science and liberal arts,

00:16:46.419 --> 00:16:48.440
and he's actually captaining what is credited

00:16:48.440 --> 00:16:51.100
as the very first organized football team in

00:16:51.100 --> 00:16:53.860
the United States. Wait, really? That's wild.

00:16:54.220 --> 00:16:56.799
Yeah. He's this wealthy, athletic college kid.

00:16:57.159 --> 00:16:58.879
And when he takes walks out from Cambridge for

00:16:58.879 --> 00:17:01.500
exercise, he keeps passing Winthrop Chenery's

00:17:01.500 --> 00:17:04.039
farm in Belmont. And he sees the cows. He keeps

00:17:04.039 --> 00:17:06.440
seeing these massive, deep -ribbed, black -and

00:17:06.440 --> 00:17:10.160
-white cows. And they make such a profound impression

00:17:10.160 --> 00:17:13.240
on him that he goes home to Peterborough, New

00:17:13.240 --> 00:17:16.640
York, and convinces his father, who was a prominent

00:17:16.640 --> 00:17:19.140
and wealthy figure, to let his brother, Charles

00:17:19.140 --> 00:17:21.700
Dudley Miller, go all the way to Holland. To

00:17:21.700 --> 00:17:24.619
buy some of their own. Yes. And Charles' journey

00:17:24.619 --> 00:17:27.180
is straight out of an adventure novel. He travels

00:17:27.180 --> 00:17:29.900
to a cattle market at Wiener in West Friesland,

00:17:30.099 --> 00:17:32.759
right at the very northern tip of the Netherlands.

00:17:33.000 --> 00:17:35.059
Just going straight to the source. He buys four

00:17:35.059 --> 00:17:38.200
head, a bull named Hollander, and three cows

00:17:38.200 --> 00:17:41.160
named Crown Princess, Dowager, and Fraulein.

00:17:41.339 --> 00:17:43.720
Great names. He shepherds them onto the ship,

00:17:43.920 --> 00:17:46.759
endures the weeks -long ocean crossing, hits

00:17:46.759 --> 00:17:48.859
the port in New York, and then loads them onto

00:17:48.859 --> 00:17:51.990
a rail car. They take the train as far as Canistota,

00:17:52.029 --> 00:17:53.670
New York. But there were no trucks back then.

00:17:53.789 --> 00:17:56.309
Right. So finally, because there was no trucking

00:17:56.309 --> 00:17:59.670
infrastructure, he physically drives these immensely

00:17:59.670 --> 00:18:03.190
valuable animals on foot down an old wooden plank

00:18:03.190 --> 00:18:06.109
road. all the way to the Miller family farm in

00:18:06.109 --> 00:18:09.109
Peterborough. That shipment in 1869 was only

00:18:09.109 --> 00:18:11.809
the third pure Dutch shipment to the United States.

00:18:11.869 --> 00:18:15.289
Miller establishes his farm, names it Creamhild

00:18:15.289 --> 00:18:17.970
after a princess of Dutch legend, and immediately

00:18:17.970 --> 00:18:20.289
sets to work proving that these animals weren't

00:18:20.289 --> 00:18:23.329
just like exotic long ornaments for a wealthy

00:18:23.329 --> 00:18:25.329
family. He wanted to prove they were commercial

00:18:25.329 --> 00:18:27.910
powerhouses. And boy, did they prove it. This

00:18:27.910 --> 00:18:29.910
is where we transition to the measurable performance.

00:18:30.250 --> 00:18:32.210
This is where the records start to absolutely

00:18:32.210 --> 00:18:34.750
shatter the ceiling of what the American agricultural

00:18:34.750 --> 00:18:37.809
sector thought a bovine was capable of doing.

00:18:37.950 --> 00:18:40.589
The numbers are staggering. Let's look at the

00:18:40.589 --> 00:18:43.049
cow named Dowager, one of those original three

00:18:43.049 --> 00:18:46.930
females Charles brought over. In 1871, Dowager

00:18:46.930 --> 00:18:49.809
completes what is recognized as the first full

00:18:49.809 --> 00:18:54.589
365 -day annual milk record in the United States.

00:18:54.650 --> 00:18:58.490
What did she make? She gave 12 ,681 pounds and

00:18:58.490 --> 00:19:01.509
8 ounces of milk. To understand the shockwave

00:19:01.509 --> 00:19:03.609
that number sent through the industry, you really

00:19:03.609 --> 00:19:05.809
have to understand the baseline. Right. Context

00:19:05.809 --> 00:19:08.180
is everything. Miller wrote a letter to another

00:19:08.180 --> 00:19:11.880
Holstein pioneer explaining that back in 1868,

00:19:12.059 --> 00:19:14.900
just three years prior, a native cow that gave

00:19:14.900 --> 00:19:17.940
6 ,000 pounds a year was considered exceptional.

00:19:18.339 --> 00:19:20.779
6 ,000 was the ceiling. She was the pride of

00:19:20.779 --> 00:19:23.960
the county at 6 ,000. Dowager more than doubled

00:19:23.960 --> 00:19:26.339
the exceptional standard. Okay, wait, hold on.

00:19:26.740 --> 00:19:31.420
Dowager makes 12 ,600 pounds. Today... A good

00:19:31.420 --> 00:19:35.640
commercial Holstein herd averages 25 ,000 to

00:19:35.640 --> 00:19:39.319
30 ,000 pounds. Easy. So 12 ,000 pounds sounds

00:19:39.319 --> 00:19:42.000
low to modern ears. But we have to look at the

00:19:42.000 --> 00:19:45.740
biology and the husbandry of 1871. How exactly

00:19:45.740 --> 00:19:48.519
did she make 12 ,000 pounds back then? That is

00:19:48.519 --> 00:19:51.319
the most crucial context. She achieved that record

00:19:51.319 --> 00:19:54.279
on two -a -day milking entirely by hand. Entirely

00:19:54.279 --> 00:19:56.720
by hand. And look at her diet. During the entire

00:19:56.720 --> 00:19:59.160
summer, June, July, and August, she received

00:19:59.160 --> 00:20:02.480
absolutely zero grain. None. None. She was strictly

00:20:02.480 --> 00:20:04.640
on pasture. For the rest of the year, her grain

00:20:04.640 --> 00:20:07.200
ration was incredibly rudimentary. It was mostly

00:20:07.200 --> 00:20:09.680
just wheat bran, which is a byproduct of milling

00:20:09.680 --> 00:20:12.240
flour. So she wasn't getting a modern TMR. She

00:20:12.240 --> 00:20:14.900
didn't have a modern total mixed ration perfectly

00:20:14.900 --> 00:20:17.579
balanced for amino acids, bypass protein, and

00:20:17.579 --> 00:20:21.900
energy. She had grass, hay, and bran. And on

00:20:21.900 --> 00:20:24.559
that diet, she hit 50 pounds of mill in a single

00:20:24.559 --> 00:20:27.930
day. Twice in one lactation. And we also had

00:20:27.930 --> 00:20:29.910
to paint the picture of how these records were

00:20:29.910 --> 00:20:32.869
actually verified. Because there was no automated

00:20:32.869 --> 00:20:35.730
testing. There was no DHIA technicians showing

00:20:35.730 --> 00:20:38.390
up with a laptop and digital meters. Testing

00:20:38.390 --> 00:20:43.150
a cow for a full 365 days in the 1870s was an

00:20:43.150 --> 00:20:45.589
act of brutal physical endurance for the farmer.

00:20:45.880 --> 00:20:47.960
It meant you were up at all hours of the night

00:20:47.960 --> 00:20:50.059
in the dead of winter. Milking into tin pails.

00:20:50.220 --> 00:20:52.859
You were milking by hand into tin pails. You

00:20:52.859 --> 00:20:55.460
then had to carry that warm, frothy milk over

00:20:55.460 --> 00:20:57.660
to a mechanical scale in the milk house. And

00:20:57.660 --> 00:20:59.579
write it all down. You're reading the hash marks

00:20:59.579 --> 00:21:01.839
on the scale by the flickering, dim light of

00:21:01.839 --> 00:21:04.180
a kerosene lantern. And you are writing every

00:21:04.180 --> 00:21:06.900
single figure down by hand in ink in a ledger

00:21:06.900 --> 00:21:10.400
book. Every single milking for a year. The sheer

00:21:10.400 --> 00:21:12.819
labor required to prove the worth of this breed

00:21:12.819 --> 00:21:15.210
is staggering. But Miller wasn't the only one

00:21:15.210 --> 00:21:18.170
pushing these limits. Down by Onondaga Lake near

00:21:18.170 --> 00:21:22.250
Syracuse, you had... Wing and Judson Smith. Oh,

00:21:22.369 --> 00:21:24.750
the Smiths and Powell guys. Yeah, their origin

00:21:24.750 --> 00:21:26.670
story is fascinating because they weren't even

00:21:26.670 --> 00:21:29.369
dairy men originally. They were nursery men.

00:21:29.529 --> 00:21:33.069
Like growing trees. Yeah. They ran massive fruit

00:21:33.069 --> 00:21:36.250
tree and orchard operations. And honestly, they

00:21:36.250 --> 00:21:39.269
really just wanted cattle for the manure to fertilize

00:21:39.269 --> 00:21:41.109
their trees. That's hilarious. They just wanted

00:21:41.109 --> 00:21:43.670
the fertilizer. But they keep hearing these wild

00:21:43.670 --> 00:21:46.710
rumors about a man over in Madison County with

00:21:46.710 --> 00:21:49.319
these Dutch. Friesian cows that are completely

00:21:49.319 --> 00:21:52.160
blowing past the local milking shorthorns. Because

00:21:52.160 --> 00:21:54.160
they go check it out. So they drive over to Peterborough,

00:21:54.259 --> 00:21:55.900
they take one look at Miller's herd, and they

00:21:55.900 --> 00:21:58.400
buy a bull and four cows. And I bet they saw

00:21:58.400 --> 00:22:01.400
the results fast. Once they get them home and

00:22:01.400 --> 00:22:03.259
see the volume of milk in the pail, they realize

00:22:03.259 --> 00:22:06.119
two things very quickly. One, this breed is an

00:22:06.119 --> 00:22:09.880
absolute biological goldmine. And two, Jarrett

00:22:09.880 --> 00:22:12.140
Miller is making a fortune selling the offspring.

00:22:12.519 --> 00:22:14.440
So they decide to cut out the middleman entirely.

00:22:14.970 --> 00:22:17.630
They team up with their family to form Smiths

00:22:17.630 --> 00:22:19.809
and Powell, and they start importing directly

00:22:19.809 --> 00:22:22.970
from Holland. And the scale at which they operate

00:22:22.970 --> 00:22:25.910
is hard to comprehend. It's massive. We said

00:22:25.910 --> 00:22:28.970
earlier it cost $300 a head. Smiths and Powell

00:22:28.970 --> 00:22:32.369
eventually imported 1 ,293 head over the years.

00:22:32.670 --> 00:22:36.190
That is roughly one -sixth of all the pure Dutch

00:22:36.190 --> 00:22:39.450
Holsteins ever imported to North America. They

00:22:39.450 --> 00:22:41.829
were dropping the equivalent of millions of dollars

00:22:41.829 --> 00:22:44.529
into ocean freight. But they weren't just bulk

00:22:44.529 --> 00:22:47.430
importers moving cattle -like widgets. They were

00:22:47.430 --> 00:22:50.109
master marketers. And they were obsessed with

00:22:50.109 --> 00:22:52.430
rigorous record -keeping. They threw themselves

00:22:52.430 --> 00:22:55.130
into what became advanced register testing. At

00:22:55.130 --> 00:22:57.569
their lakeside stock farm, they were running

00:22:57.569 --> 00:23:01.170
official, supervised records on 36 cows a year.

00:23:01.430 --> 00:23:04.990
Again, picture that labor. Testing 36 cows on

00:23:04.990 --> 00:23:08.470
rigorous, multi -day, supervised tests. Weighing

00:23:08.470 --> 00:23:10.930
every drop of milk, keeping the ledgers. And

00:23:10.930 --> 00:23:13.279
what about butterfat? Well, keep in mind, the

00:23:13.279 --> 00:23:15.400
Babcock test, which is the chemical test used

00:23:15.400 --> 00:23:18.160
to determine butterfat percentage in milk, wasn't

00:23:18.160 --> 00:23:21.259
invented by Dr. Stephen Babcock until 1890. So

00:23:21.259 --> 00:23:24.079
how did they prove it? In the 1870s and 80s,

00:23:24.079 --> 00:23:26.160
if you wanted to prove how much butter a cow

00:23:26.160 --> 00:23:28.720
made, you couldn't just take a vial of milk to

00:23:28.720 --> 00:23:31.799
a lab. You had to physically churn the milk from

00:23:31.799 --> 00:23:34.500
that specific cow. Oh my gosh. You had to skim

00:23:34.500 --> 00:23:37.519
the cream by gravity, ripen it, put it in a wooden

00:23:37.519 --> 00:23:40.619
dash churn. physically agitate it until the butter

00:23:40.619 --> 00:23:43.900
broke, wash the butter, salt it, and weigh the

00:23:43.900 --> 00:23:46.380
actual physical block of butter. That was called

00:23:46.380 --> 00:23:49.900
a churn test. Doing that for 36 cows a year is

00:23:49.900 --> 00:23:52.960
a staggering logistical feat. But it paid off

00:23:52.960 --> 00:23:55.480
because they built the legendary Netherland family

00:23:55.480 --> 00:23:58.480
line, known for immense physical size and heavy

00:23:58.480 --> 00:24:01.160
production. And they brought over a cow named

00:24:01.160 --> 00:24:03.700
Aggie, who we have to talk about. Aggie is an

00:24:03.700 --> 00:24:06.180
absolute legend of the breed. Aggie is the cow

00:24:06.180 --> 00:24:08.500
that shattered expectations all over again. She

00:24:08.500 --> 00:24:11.380
goes on a yearly test in 1880 alongside another

00:24:11.380 --> 00:24:15.059
outstanding cow named Aegis. Early in the lactation,

00:24:15.220 --> 00:24:18.559
Aegis hits 82 pounds of milk in a single day.

00:24:18.700 --> 00:24:21.220
Which is huge. At the time, farmers reading that

00:24:21.220 --> 00:24:22.880
in the agricultural journals must have thought

00:24:22.880 --> 00:24:25.579
82 pounds was the biological limit of the bovine

00:24:25.579 --> 00:24:29.160
species. But Aggie tops her. Aggie hits 84 pounds.

00:24:29.480 --> 00:24:33.799
By the end of the 365 days, Aegis makes a massive

00:24:33.799 --> 00:24:39.180
16 ,823 pounds. And Aggie? Aggie finishes at

00:24:39.180 --> 00:24:43.509
18 ,004 pounds. She becomes the very first cow

00:24:43.509 --> 00:24:46.450
in the United States to cross the 18 ,000 pound

00:24:46.450 --> 00:24:49.970
mark in a single year. And Smith and Powell didn't

00:24:49.970 --> 00:24:53.410
stop there. Five years later, they imported a

00:24:53.410 --> 00:24:58.069
cow named Clothilde, who in 1885 produced 26

00:24:58.069 --> 00:25:01.130
,021 pounds of milk. Getting a world record.

00:25:01.640 --> 00:25:03.779
Proving definitively that these large framed

00:25:03.779 --> 00:25:07.000
Holsteins could produce so much volume that they

00:25:07.000 --> 00:25:08.920
could actually compete with the high fat jerseys

00:25:08.920 --> 00:25:11.059
when it came to total pounds of butter produced

00:25:11.059 --> 00:25:13.700
in a year. The numbers just kept climbing as

00:25:13.700 --> 00:25:15.940
these early breeders started to refine their

00:25:15.940 --> 00:25:18.380
husbandry and their stock. Over in Walworth,

00:25:18.500 --> 00:25:21.279
New York, you had Theron G. Yeomans. Theron Yeomans

00:25:21.279 --> 00:25:23.039
is a fascinating character setting. He really

00:25:23.039 --> 00:25:25.119
is. To give you a sense of his personality, the

00:25:25.119 --> 00:25:27.599
sources share a famous story about him. A young

00:25:27.599 --> 00:25:30.240
boy once asked Yeomans what kind of apples were

00:25:30.240 --> 00:25:32.460
the best to plant in an orchard. Yeomans told

00:25:32.460 --> 00:25:37.380
him that if he were to plant 999 trees, every

00:25:37.380 --> 00:25:39.640
single one of them would be a Baldwin apple tree.

00:25:39.839 --> 00:25:43.099
He liked Baldwins. The boy asks, well, what if

00:25:43.099 --> 00:25:45.579
you planted a thousandth tree? And Yeomans just

00:25:45.579 --> 00:25:48.299
laughs and says, son, if I were to plant one

00:25:48.299 --> 00:25:50.660
more tree, that tree would be a Baldwin also.

00:25:50.940 --> 00:25:53.579
I love that anecdote. It shows exactly who he

00:25:53.579 --> 00:25:56.000
was. A man entirely obsessed with consistency,

00:25:56.400 --> 00:25:59.500
uniformity, and absolute unwavering reliability.

00:26:00.140 --> 00:26:01.839
He found something that worked perfectly and

00:26:01.839 --> 00:26:04.799
he saw no reason to deviate. Exactly. And he

00:26:04.799 --> 00:26:07.819
applied that exact same rigid exacting standard

00:26:07.819 --> 00:26:10.339
to his cattle breeding. He traveled to Holland

00:26:10.339 --> 00:26:13.579
himself. And he handpicked his cows, insisting

00:26:13.579 --> 00:26:16.319
on perfect type, perfect udders, and perfect

00:26:16.319 --> 00:26:18.740
black and white color markings. He imported a

00:26:18.740 --> 00:26:21.640
cow he named Princess of Wayne. Under his rigorous

00:26:21.640 --> 00:26:24.279
management, she would eventually produce 113

00:26:24.279 --> 00:26:27.839
pounds in a single day. 113 pounds. And an astonishing

00:26:27.839 --> 00:26:31.099
29 ,008 pounds in a year. Okay, I have to stop

00:26:31.099 --> 00:26:33.000
you again. You're telling me Theron Yeoman's

00:26:33.000 --> 00:26:35.740
got 29 ,000 pounds of milk out of a cow in the

00:26:35.740 --> 00:26:38.680
1880s? I know dairy farmers today. listening

00:26:38.680 --> 00:26:41.460
to this deep dive right now, who work incredibly

00:26:41.460 --> 00:26:45.460
hard to hit a 29 ,000 pound herd average with

00:26:45.460 --> 00:26:49.039
computer formulated TMR mixers, independent nutritional

00:26:49.039 --> 00:26:52.940
consultants, and climate controlled tunnel ventilated

00:26:52.940 --> 00:26:56.119
barns. It seems impossible. How is that physically

00:26:56.119 --> 00:26:59.299
possible on an 1880s diet and in an 1880s barn?

00:26:59.559 --> 00:27:02.180
It's a great question, and it speaks to a level

00:27:02.180 --> 00:27:04.660
of animal husbandry that is almost a lost art

00:27:04.660 --> 00:27:07.920
today. To push a cow to 29 ,000 pounds of milk

00:27:07.920 --> 00:27:10.619
without modern nutritional science required an

00:27:10.619 --> 00:27:13.539
intense, almost fanatical level of individualized

00:27:13.539 --> 00:27:16.000
care. What were they doing differently? First,

00:27:16.180 --> 00:27:17.799
they were milking these high -producing cows

00:27:17.799 --> 00:27:20.900
three, sometimes four times a day, every six

00:27:20.900 --> 00:27:23.799
hours around the clock by hand. You had men practically

00:27:23.799 --> 00:27:26.420
living in the box stall with the cow. What were

00:27:26.420 --> 00:27:28.000
they feeding her to fuel that kind of production?

00:27:28.460 --> 00:27:30.640
Since they didn't have modern extruded bypass

00:27:30.640 --> 00:27:33.519
proteins or scientifically chopped corn silage,

00:27:33.539 --> 00:27:35.880
they relied on highly digestible, water -rich

00:27:35.880 --> 00:27:39.400
root crops. Like beets. Yeah, they fed massive

00:27:39.400 --> 00:27:41.640
quantities of mangelwursels, which are these

00:27:41.640 --> 00:27:45.440
huge, heavy forage beets. They would... Hand

00:27:45.440 --> 00:27:48.359
slice baskets of these beets to give the cow

00:27:48.359 --> 00:27:51.700
energy and hydration. Wow. Hand slicing beets.

00:27:51.759 --> 00:27:54.920
They would feed oil meal oats and bran. Sometimes

00:27:54.920 --> 00:27:57.539
they would even boil or steam the grain to make

00:27:57.539 --> 00:27:59.700
it more digestible in the rumen. Steaming the

00:27:59.700 --> 00:28:02.019
grain. They would groom the cow daily with curry

00:28:02.019 --> 00:28:04.640
combs to stimulate blood flow. They would blanket

00:28:04.640 --> 00:28:06.440
her in the winter to ensure she didn't waste

00:28:06.440 --> 00:28:08.839
a single calorie of feed on shivering to maintain

00:28:08.839 --> 00:28:13.119
body heat. Everything was optimized by pure painstaking

00:28:13.119 --> 00:28:16.019
human labor. It is an incredible testament to

00:28:16.019 --> 00:28:18.119
their dedication. And it makes me want to slow

00:28:18.119 --> 00:28:20.180
the pace down for a minute and talk about a man

00:28:20.180 --> 00:28:23.500
who embodied that superhuman level of animal

00:28:23.500 --> 00:28:25.359
husbandry in a way that just breaks your heart.

00:28:25.460 --> 00:28:27.900
And then lifts it right back up. Yes. I want

00:28:27.900 --> 00:28:29.859
to talk about Henry Stevens of Brookside Farm

00:28:29.859 --> 00:28:32.069
down in Lacona, New York. Henry Stevens is a

00:28:32.069 --> 00:28:35.109
legendary figure. If Miller was the master cowman

00:28:35.109 --> 00:28:37.730
who proved the breed, and Smiths and Powell were

00:28:37.730 --> 00:28:39.769
the massive engine builders who scaled the imports,

00:28:40.049 --> 00:28:42.170
Henry Stevens was the man who built the Great

00:28:42.170 --> 00:28:44.490
Sire Lines. He's the bullman. He was the bullman.

00:28:44.710 --> 00:28:47.069
He started relatively small. He bought just two

00:28:47.069 --> 00:28:50.349
cows from Garrett Miller for $300 apiece. But

00:28:50.349 --> 00:28:54.069
he had an absolute genius for genetics. He eventually

00:28:54.069 --> 00:28:56.490
built his entire breeding program around four

00:28:56.490 --> 00:29:01.940
foundational cows. Bell Corndyke, and Helena

00:29:01.940 --> 00:29:04.819
Burke. Those four names are absolute royalty

00:29:04.819 --> 00:29:07.299
in the whole scene world. The sons and grandsons

00:29:07.299 --> 00:29:09.279
of those four cows went on to build the most

00:29:09.279 --> 00:29:12.099
influential sire lines of the early 20th century.

00:29:12.380 --> 00:29:14.319
Day Cole's second alone is considered one of

00:29:14.319 --> 00:29:16.740
the great cornerstones of the breed. But the

00:29:16.740 --> 00:29:19.380
twist in Henry Stevens' story, the thing that

00:29:19.380 --> 00:29:21.799
elevates his legacy into something almost mythic,

00:29:21.839 --> 00:29:24.279
is how he achieved his greatest success. It's

00:29:24.279 --> 00:29:26.420
unbelievable. Right in the middle of his life,

00:29:26.579 --> 00:29:29.000
at the height of his breeding program, an illness

00:29:29.000 --> 00:29:31.809
struck him. It severely affected his optic nerves,

00:29:31.930 --> 00:29:34.210
and he completely lost his sight. He went totally

00:29:34.210 --> 00:29:36.730
blind. And logically, this is where you expect

00:29:36.730 --> 00:29:39.809
the story to end. A livestock breeder who cannot

00:29:39.809 --> 00:29:42.769
see his animals. A man whose entire livelihood

00:29:42.769 --> 00:29:45.329
depends on visually assessing the conformation,

00:29:45.630 --> 00:29:48.289
the dairy character, and the utter attachments

00:29:48.289 --> 00:29:50.289
of a cow. You'd think he'd have to sell out.

00:29:50.529 --> 00:29:54.730
It's over. Right. But he doesn't quit. The historical

00:29:54.730 --> 00:29:57.609
sources describe visitors coming to Brookside

00:29:57.609 --> 00:30:00.269
Farm and watching Henry Stevens walking down

00:30:00.269 --> 00:30:02.289
the cow alley. He would have one hand on the

00:30:02.289 --> 00:30:05.269
halter rope. And then he would let go, and he

00:30:05.269 --> 00:30:08.109
would let his fingers do the judging. I want

00:30:08.109 --> 00:30:10.890
you to really sit with this image. A completely

00:30:10.890 --> 00:30:15.309
blind man in a late 1800s dairy barn, standing

00:30:15.309 --> 00:30:17.990
next to a 1500 pound animal. He was literally

00:30:17.990 --> 00:30:21.589
reading the cows, like braille. Explain the physical

00:30:21.589 --> 00:30:24.670
mechanics of that. What exactly is a blind man

00:30:24.670 --> 00:30:27.170
feeling for that tells him whether a cow is a

00:30:27.170 --> 00:30:29.769
genetic champion or a cull? It all comes back

00:30:29.769 --> 00:30:31.750
to the biological function we discussed earlier.

00:30:31.970 --> 00:30:34.890
The cow as a metabolic engine. Stevens would

00:30:34.890 --> 00:30:37.190
run his hands over the cow's frame to assess

00:30:37.190 --> 00:30:39.130
her dairy character. What's the first thing he

00:30:39.130 --> 00:30:41.390
feels? He would feel the withers, the top of

00:30:41.390 --> 00:30:43.890
the shoulder blades. In a beef animal, the withers

00:30:43.890 --> 00:30:46.470
are... thick and round, padded with meat. In

00:30:46.470 --> 00:30:48.670
a true dairy cow, the withers should be sharp

00:30:48.670 --> 00:30:50.650
and angular, proving she is shunting her energy

00:30:50.650 --> 00:30:53.549
to milk, not muscle. He would run his hands down

00:30:53.549 --> 00:30:56.549
her back, feeling the chine and the loin for

00:30:56.549 --> 00:30:59.109
strength and straightness, which indicates a

00:30:59.109 --> 00:31:01.990
strong skeletal frame capable of carrying heavy

00:31:01.990 --> 00:31:04.910
weight. And the sources specifically mention

00:31:04.910 --> 00:31:07.769
him feeling the spring of rib? What does that

00:31:07.769 --> 00:31:10.700
tell him? The springer of rib is critical. He

00:31:10.700 --> 00:31:12.740
would press his hands against the cow's barrel,

00:31:12.940 --> 00:31:16.279
her rib cage. He wasn't just feeling bone. He

00:31:16.279 --> 00:31:19.140
was assessing the exact size and shape of her

00:31:19.140 --> 00:31:21.839
fermentation vat. The rumen capacity. Exactly.

00:31:21.940 --> 00:31:25.460
A cow with ribs that spring out wide and deep

00:31:25.460 --> 00:31:28.779
has massive rumen capacity. It means she has

00:31:28.779 --> 00:31:31.400
the physical internal space to consume and process

00:31:31.400 --> 00:31:35.380
80, 90, or 100 pounds of forage a day. A narrow

00:31:35.380 --> 00:31:37.900
cow just can't do it. A narrow, flat -ripped

00:31:37.900 --> 00:31:40.579
cow simply doesn't have the digestive real estate

00:31:40.579 --> 00:31:43.099
to make 20 ,000 pounds of milk. Stevens could

00:31:43.099 --> 00:31:45.599
feel that volume with his bare hands. And the

00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:47.960
udder. He would kneel down and test the pliability

00:31:47.960 --> 00:31:51.000
of the udder. A meaty udder might look big, but

00:31:51.000 --> 00:31:53.319
it's full of useless fat and connective tissue.

00:31:53.539 --> 00:31:56.640
It looks good until you milk it. Right. A truly

00:31:56.640 --> 00:31:59.819
great udder, once it's milked out, feels soft.

00:32:00.299 --> 00:32:03.180
pliable, and collapsed, like a soft leather glove.

00:32:03.460 --> 00:32:05.700
It means it's packed entirely with secretory

00:32:05.700 --> 00:32:08.400
tissue, the cells that actually synthesize milk.

00:32:08.700 --> 00:32:12.039
The sources even say he was so sensitive that

00:32:12.039 --> 00:32:14.779
he would trace the hair on the cow's hide to

00:32:14.779 --> 00:32:17.019
feel the exact point where the rougher black

00:32:17.019 --> 00:32:19.819
hair gave way to the softer white hair. He knew

00:32:19.819 --> 00:32:22.420
the precise color markings of his animals without

00:32:22.420 --> 00:32:25.339
ever seeing them. Gives me chills. His sons.

00:32:25.869 --> 00:32:28.309
who had perfect vision, trusted their father's

00:32:28.309 --> 00:32:30.509
blind hands more than they trusted their own

00:32:30.509 --> 00:32:34.509
eyes. When it came time to make the massive financial

00:32:34.509 --> 00:32:37.529
decisions of which heifers to keep as the future

00:32:37.529 --> 00:32:40.230
of the herd and which bulls to sell off to other

00:32:40.230 --> 00:32:43.009
breeders, they deferred entirely to his touch.

00:32:43.170 --> 00:32:45.470
And the historical records back up that faith

00:32:45.470 --> 00:32:48.069
completely. The genetic lines he selected while

00:32:48.069 --> 00:32:51.599
blind went on to dominate the breed. By the 1920s,

00:32:51.599 --> 00:32:53.839
Brookside Farm was widely considered the most

00:32:53.839 --> 00:32:56.500
influential Holstein farm of the decade. It really

00:32:56.500 --> 00:32:58.839
forces you to question what we've gained and

00:32:58.839 --> 00:33:01.380
what we might have lost with all our modern technology.

00:33:01.680 --> 00:33:04.700
How so? We get so caught up today in genomic

00:33:04.700 --> 00:33:08.240
tests and linear evaluations and computer -generated

00:33:08.240 --> 00:33:11.039
mating programs. And here was Henry Stevens,

00:33:11.380 --> 00:33:14.480
operating in total darkness, feeling the spring

00:33:14.480 --> 00:33:17.279
of a rib and fundamentally changing the trajectory

00:33:17.279 --> 00:33:20.609
of global agriculture. These men possessed an

00:33:20.609 --> 00:33:23.670
intrinsic, tactile understanding of the bovine

00:33:23.670 --> 00:33:26.150
form that bordered on the magical. And we see

00:33:26.150 --> 00:33:28.509
that magic not just in careful selection, but

00:33:28.509 --> 00:33:31.130
in these moments of serendipity that defined

00:33:31.130 --> 00:33:33.970
the breed. Not everything was a calculated scientific

00:33:33.970 --> 00:33:36.900
decision. Sometimes it was just... dumb luck

00:33:36.900 --> 00:33:39.039
and personal connections. Take Garrett Miller's

00:33:39.039 --> 00:33:40.920
return trip to Holland, for instance. Oh, the

00:33:40.920 --> 00:33:42.980
Garrett Smith story. It's such a great, deeply

00:33:42.980 --> 00:33:45.900
human farmyard anecdote at the scene. So it's

00:33:45.900 --> 00:33:48.720
1879. Miller is back in Holland looking for more

00:33:48.720 --> 00:33:51.839
stock. And this local Dutch farmer waves him

00:33:51.839 --> 00:33:53.960
and his brother over. The farmer says, look,

00:33:54.059 --> 00:33:56.319
I don't have anything for sale, but I know you

00:33:56.319 --> 00:33:58.579
Americans love cows and I just want to show you

00:33:58.579 --> 00:34:01.299
my herd. Classic farmer move. I'm not selling,

00:34:01.299 --> 00:34:03.960
but let me show off my stock. Exactly. So Miller

00:34:03.960 --> 00:34:06.359
stands there in the pasture. watching the herd

00:34:06.359 --> 00:34:08.639
graze, politely listening to this farmer talk

00:34:08.639 --> 00:34:10.500
about his operations and the cheese he's making.

00:34:10.739 --> 00:34:13.900
But Miller has that eye. He spots something.

00:34:14.059 --> 00:34:16.360
One specific young heifer in the groom catches

00:34:16.360 --> 00:34:18.619
his attention. She just has this perfect dairy

00:34:18.619 --> 00:34:21.599
frame, and he decides he absolutely has to have

00:34:21.599 --> 00:34:24.469
her. So he starts negotiating. He starts negotiating.

00:34:24.590 --> 00:34:26.949
He eventually talks the reluctant farmer into

00:34:26.949 --> 00:34:29.489
selling her. And it's only after the deal is

00:34:29.489 --> 00:34:31.349
done and the bill of sale is being written out

00:34:31.349 --> 00:34:33.590
that the farmer actually formally introduces

00:34:33.590 --> 00:34:36.250
himself and puts his name on the paper, Jarrett

00:34:36.250 --> 00:34:38.349
Smith. And the coincidence of their names is

00:34:38.349 --> 00:34:41.210
delightful. The Dutch farmer, Jarrett Smith,

00:34:41.489 --> 00:34:43.849
suggests naming the heifer after his own little

00:34:43.849 --> 00:34:46.090
daughter, Anna Chee. And Miller then smiles,

00:34:46.449 --> 00:34:49.940
reveals his own name, Jarrett Smith. and mentions

00:34:49.940 --> 00:34:51.820
that his grandmother and his sister were both

00:34:51.820 --> 00:34:54.059
named Anne. So they register her in the herd

00:34:54.059 --> 00:34:56.300
book under the name Nanny Smith. She comes to

00:34:56.300 --> 00:34:58.820
America, she crosses the ocean, she thrives,

00:34:58.820 --> 00:35:01.239
and she heads the two -year -old class at the

00:35:01.239 --> 00:35:04.199
1880 New York State Fair. And beyond the show

00:35:04.199 --> 00:35:07.880
ring, she becomes this crucial foundational piece

00:35:07.880 --> 00:35:10.619
of the Yokonoru branch of the Holstein family

00:35:10.619 --> 00:35:13.780
tree. It's a powerful reminder that beneath all

00:35:13.780 --> 00:35:15.980
the massive production numbers, the advanced

00:35:15.980 --> 00:35:18.219
register ledgers, and the million -dollar modern

00:35:18.219 --> 00:35:21.739
industries, this breed was built on personal,

00:35:21.920 --> 00:35:25.079
serendipitous connections between farmers standing

00:35:25.079 --> 00:35:27.960
in muddy pastures across an ocean. And sometimes

00:35:27.960 --> 00:35:30.599
those serendipitous moments or historical accidents

00:35:30.599 --> 00:35:33.659
created entire sub -industries that exist today.

00:35:34.119 --> 00:35:36.219
I want to talk about George E. Brown of Smithville,

00:35:36.280 --> 00:35:38.760
Ontario, and the birth of a controversy that

00:35:38.760 --> 00:35:40.579
caused an absolute uproar. You're talking about

00:35:40.579 --> 00:35:43.260
the red gene. Yes. So George E. Brown imported

00:35:43.260 --> 00:35:46.679
cows from Holland, and he sold a very expensive,

00:35:46.960 --> 00:35:49.360
well -bred bull to a farmer in Norfolk County.

00:35:49.539 --> 00:35:52.300
Okay. The farmer takes the bull home, breeds

00:35:52.300 --> 00:35:54.679
his black and white cows, waits nine months for

00:35:54.679 --> 00:35:56.980
the calves to drop, and when the very first calf

00:35:56.980 --> 00:35:59.500
hits the straw, it is red and white. And you

00:35:59.500 --> 00:36:01.360
have to understand the mindset of the American

00:36:01.360 --> 00:36:03.940
and Canadian breeders at that time. To them,

00:36:03.940 --> 00:36:06.139
the word Holstein meant black and white, period.

00:36:06.360 --> 00:36:08.300
That was the brand. That was the hallmark of

00:36:08.300 --> 00:36:11.119
purity. If it wasn't black and white, it wasn't

00:36:11.119 --> 00:36:14.199
a Holstein. The farmer was absolutely disgusted.

00:36:14.320 --> 00:36:16.599
You can just hear the guy complaining in the

00:36:16.599 --> 00:36:18.539
laneway to his neighbors, feeling like he got

00:36:18.539 --> 00:36:20.619
completely ripped off by the importer. He probably

00:36:20.619 --> 00:36:22.639
thought he was sold a crossbreed, maybe something

00:36:22.639 --> 00:36:25.639
tainted with a red milking shorthorn or an air

00:36:25.639 --> 00:36:28.800
sure. But he wasn't ripped off. Yeah. It was

00:36:28.800 --> 00:36:32.059
pure biology at work. We need to explain the

00:36:32.059 --> 00:36:34.420
genetics of the recessive red coat color because

00:36:34.420 --> 00:36:37.440
it explains so much about early breeding. In

00:36:37.440 --> 00:36:40.500
cattle, the gene for a black hair coat is dominant.

00:36:40.719 --> 00:36:43.900
The gene for a red hair coat is recessive. So

00:36:43.900 --> 00:36:47.179
black always wins out if it's there. Right. In

00:36:47.179 --> 00:36:49.320
Holland, the Dutch farmers historically didn't

00:36:49.320 --> 00:36:51.699
care nearly as much about coat color as the Americans

00:36:51.699 --> 00:36:54.179
did. They just wanted the cow that gave the most

00:36:54.179 --> 00:36:57.179
milk. So if a great cow happened to be red, they

00:36:57.179 --> 00:36:59.769
kept her. This meant the red gene was hidden,

00:36:59.849 --> 00:37:02.289
floating around in the Dutch population. So if

00:37:02.289 --> 00:37:04.730
a bull is black, but he carries one dominant

00:37:04.730 --> 00:37:07.449
black gene and one recessive red gene, he looks

00:37:07.449 --> 00:37:10.050
perfectly black and white to the naked eye. Exactly.

00:37:10.050 --> 00:37:12.909
And if you mate that carrier bull to a cow who

00:37:12.909 --> 00:37:16.309
is also black, but who also silently carries

00:37:16.309 --> 00:37:19.650
the recessive red gene, the laws of Mendelian

00:37:19.650 --> 00:37:22.409
genetics dictate that there is a 25 % chance

00:37:22.409 --> 00:37:24.769
that the calf will inherit the red gene from

00:37:24.769 --> 00:37:27.380
both parents. And when that happens... The calf

00:37:27.380 --> 00:37:30.199
is born red and white. And back in the late 1800s,

00:37:30.199 --> 00:37:32.760
before they understood DNA, those red calves

00:37:32.760 --> 00:37:34.900
were considered a nuisance. They were viewed

00:37:34.900 --> 00:37:37.940
as a flaw, a stain on the pedigree. What did

00:37:37.940 --> 00:37:40.409
they do with them? Many breeders would quietly

00:37:40.409 --> 00:37:43.349
knock those red calves on the head and bury them

00:37:43.349 --> 00:37:45.969
behind the barn so word wouldn't get out that

00:37:45.969 --> 00:37:48.630
their bull threw red calves. Oh, wow. They just

00:37:48.630 --> 00:37:50.969
got rid of them. But that very same red gene,

00:37:51.150 --> 00:37:53.750
which survived hidden in the genome despite the

00:37:53.750 --> 00:37:56.409
breeders' best efforts to eradicate it, is now

00:37:56.409 --> 00:37:58.909
the basis for the entire red and white Holstein

00:37:58.909 --> 00:38:01.510
segment around the world today. It's a massive

00:38:01.510 --> 00:38:04.050
global market, all stemming from genes that early

00:38:04.050 --> 00:38:06.739
farmers considered a disaster. Which brings up

00:38:06.739 --> 00:38:08.800
a really important turning point in our narrative.

00:38:09.019 --> 00:38:11.739
We've talked about these massive importations,

00:38:11.760 --> 00:38:14.579
the serendipity, the early milk records, the

00:38:14.579 --> 00:38:17.099
individual characters like Miller, Stevens and

00:38:17.099 --> 00:38:20.159
Yeomans. But things started to shift. There is

00:38:20.159 --> 00:38:24.000
a distinct moment in the 1880s and 90s when a

00:38:24.000 --> 00:38:27.219
profound biological and structural shift occurs

00:38:27.219 --> 00:38:29.909
in America. This is the moment the Holsteins

00:38:29.909 --> 00:38:31.869
stopped being viewed as just a foreign novelty,

00:38:32.110 --> 00:38:35.610
a weird Dutch cow for rich hobbyists, and became

00:38:35.610 --> 00:38:38.230
a structured, unified, self -sustaining breed.

00:38:38.610 --> 00:38:41.449
What exactly triggered that shift? I mean, was

00:38:41.449 --> 00:38:43.530
it just the sheer volume of milk they were proving

00:38:43.530 --> 00:38:46.429
on these churn tests? Did the numbers just overwhelm

00:38:46.429 --> 00:38:48.989
the skeptics? The Belk records were the undeniable

00:38:48.989 --> 00:38:51.110
proof that won over the commercial dairymen,

00:38:51.269 --> 00:38:53.849
but the shift was deeply structural and genetic.

00:38:54.320 --> 00:38:57.579
These pioneering breeders, Miller, Smithson Powell,

00:38:57.800 --> 00:39:00.000
Stevens, Yeomans, they realized they couldn't

00:39:00.000 --> 00:39:02.119
just keep importing from Holland forever. The

00:39:02.119 --> 00:39:04.420
well was going to run dry. Eventually, the Dutch

00:39:04.420 --> 00:39:06.840
government clamped down on exports and the Americans

00:39:06.840 --> 00:39:08.619
realized they had to build their own genetic

00:39:08.619 --> 00:39:11.360
engine. They stopped just importing and they

00:39:11.360 --> 00:39:13.429
started organizing. They formed the national

00:39:13.429 --> 00:39:15.769
associations, they published the official herd

00:39:15.769 --> 00:39:18.090
books, they instituted the advanced register

00:39:18.090 --> 00:39:21.230
testing to weed out the poor performers. Yes,

00:39:21.230 --> 00:39:23.989
but more importantly, they started building sire

00:39:23.989 --> 00:39:27.250
stacks and developing cow families with a deliberate

00:39:27.250 --> 00:39:30.929
long -term biological blueprint. And they did

00:39:30.929 --> 00:39:33.480
this through a very specific... Breeding strategy.

00:39:33.820 --> 00:39:36.420
Line breeding. Line breeding. I want to push

00:39:36.420 --> 00:39:38.139
back on that or at least get you to clarify for

00:39:38.139 --> 00:39:40.300
the listener. When we talk about breeding closely

00:39:40.300 --> 00:39:42.500
related animals, people immediately think of

00:39:42.500 --> 00:39:44.780
inbreeding, which usually results in genetic

00:39:44.780 --> 00:39:47.619
disasters. Low fertility, compromised immune

00:39:47.619 --> 00:39:50.599
systems. lethal recessive mutations coming to

00:39:50.599 --> 00:39:52.940
the surface. Exactly. How did they line breed

00:39:52.940 --> 00:39:55.179
without ruining the very cattle they were trying

00:39:55.179 --> 00:39:57.360
to build? It's a vital distinction. Inbreeding

00:39:57.360 --> 00:40:00.219
is mating very closely related individuals, like

00:40:00.219 --> 00:40:02.820
a brother to a sister or a father to a daughter.

00:40:03.280 --> 00:40:06.000
As you said, that rapidly concentrates negative

00:40:06.000 --> 00:40:08.780
recessive genes and causes inbreeding depression.

00:40:09.440 --> 00:40:11.599
So what's line breeding? Line breeding, on the

00:40:11.599 --> 00:40:14.300
other hand, is a much more sophisticated, careful

00:40:14.300 --> 00:40:17.179
strategy. It involves breeding animals that are

00:40:17.179 --> 00:40:20.179
related but further back in the pedigree, specifically

00:40:20.179 --> 00:40:22.860
attempting to concentrate the genes of one truly

00:40:22.860 --> 00:40:26.230
exceptional ancestor. So trying to double up

00:40:26.230 --> 00:40:28.349
on the genes of a matriarch like DeColsecond.

00:40:28.510 --> 00:40:31.829
Exactly. They would take a grandson of DeColsecond

00:40:31.829 --> 00:40:34.510
and breed him to a granddaughter of DeColsecond

00:40:34.510 --> 00:40:37.090
through a different sire line. They were weaving

00:40:37.090 --> 00:40:40.309
an incredibly tight genetic web. They were sharing

00:40:40.309 --> 00:40:42.530
genetics between farms. They were pulling a Netherland

00:40:42.530 --> 00:40:45.869
bull from Smithson Powell and using him on an

00:40:45.869 --> 00:40:48.550
Aggie cow. They were pulling a Brookside bull

00:40:48.550 --> 00:40:51.610
from Henry Stevens and using him in Garrett Miller's

00:40:51.610 --> 00:40:54.260
Peterborough herd. Cross -pollinating. cross

00:40:54.260 --> 00:40:57.460
-pollinated their best genetics, carefully concentrating

00:40:57.460 --> 00:41:00.219
the traits for massive rumen capacity, high milk

00:41:00.219 --> 00:41:02.800
volume, and utter quality, while avoiding the

00:41:02.800 --> 00:41:05.019
extreme closeness that causes genetic collapse.

00:41:05.380 --> 00:41:07.239
They essentially locked in the foundation. They

00:41:07.239 --> 00:41:09.340
crystallized the genome. That's a perfect way

00:41:09.340 --> 00:41:12.300
to phrase it. They crystallized the genome. Everything

00:41:12.300 --> 00:41:14.239
that happened in the 20th and 21st centuries,

00:41:14.300 --> 00:41:16.860
every world record broken, every genomic leap

00:41:16.860 --> 00:41:20.380
made today rests entirely on that specific tight

00:41:20.380 --> 00:41:24.159
genetic web they wove in the late 1800s. They

00:41:24.159 --> 00:41:26.760
provided the clay that every modern breeder is

00:41:26.760 --> 00:41:29.320
still sculpting. Exactly. So what does all this

00:41:29.320 --> 00:41:33.079
mean as time marches on? Because sadly... Time

00:41:33.079 --> 00:41:36.719
is absolutely ruthless. We transition into what

00:41:36.719 --> 00:41:38.840
the sources call the ripple effect, and there

00:41:38.840 --> 00:41:41.300
is a very somber, reflective tone to this part

00:41:41.300 --> 00:41:44.119
of the history. Time is incredibly rough on buildings,

00:41:44.179 --> 00:41:46.460
and it's rough on people. The physical empires

00:41:46.460 --> 00:41:49.340
these men built did not last forever. Let's look

00:41:49.340 --> 00:41:50.780
at the Powell brothers. We haven't touched on

00:41:50.780 --> 00:41:53.159
them deeply yet, but down in Pennsylvania, they

00:41:53.159 --> 00:41:55.579
operated a massive outfit called Shadeland Farm.

00:41:55.900 --> 00:41:58.420
Shadeland Farm was an agricultural empire of

00:41:58.420 --> 00:42:01.099
the highest order. At its peak, Shadeland was

00:42:01.099 --> 00:42:03.500
basically its own self -sustaining town. A whole

00:42:03.500 --> 00:42:06.179
town. They were running 1 ,500 head of elite

00:42:06.179 --> 00:42:08.840
livestock. They had their own dedicated post

00:42:08.840 --> 00:42:11.480
office. They had their own Wells Fargo express

00:42:11.480 --> 00:42:13.900
office just to handle the financial transactions.

00:42:14.650 --> 00:42:17.849
That's insane. The Pennsylvania Railroad literally

00:42:17.849 --> 00:42:20.889
built a dedicated siding right onto their property

00:42:20.889 --> 00:42:23.449
so that rail cars could pull off the main line,

00:42:23.630 --> 00:42:26.889
roll up to the barn doors, and load or unload

00:42:26.889 --> 00:42:30.650
cattle directly from the stables. It sounds indestructible,

00:42:30.710 --> 00:42:33.989
but they made a fatal miscalculation. They did.

00:42:34.230 --> 00:42:36.829
The Powell brothers banked heavily on cattle,

00:42:36.929 --> 00:42:39.010
but they banked even more heavily on the horse

00:42:39.010 --> 00:42:42.500
market. They bred massive draft horses, Clydesdales,

00:42:42.500 --> 00:42:45.320
and Percherons to pull plows, and they bred fast

00:42:45.320 --> 00:42:47.679
road trotters and Kentucky thoroughbreds for

00:42:47.679 --> 00:42:50.119
transportation and sport. But the machine age

00:42:50.119 --> 00:42:53.119
arrived. As the early 1900s dawned, Henry Ford

00:42:53.119 --> 00:42:55.699
started rolling Model Ts off the assembly line.

00:42:55.900 --> 00:42:58.360
The first gasoline tractors started dragging

00:42:58.360 --> 00:43:00.820
plows across the fields, replacing muscle with

00:43:00.820 --> 00:43:02.840
internal combustion. And the Powells refused

00:43:02.840 --> 00:43:05.590
to pivot. They stubbornly clung to their buggies,

00:43:05.590 --> 00:43:07.510
their draft horses, and their thoroughbreds.

00:43:07.510 --> 00:43:09.869
They believed machines were a passing fad or

00:43:09.869 --> 00:43:12.030
at least that high -quality horses would always

00:43:12.030 --> 00:43:14.489
hold their value. That stubbornness broke them

00:43:14.489 --> 00:43:16.849
financially. And on top of that massive economic

00:43:16.849 --> 00:43:20.409
shift, profound tragedy struck the family directly.

00:43:20.829 --> 00:43:22.849
The history books show they lost sons to the

00:43:22.849 --> 00:43:25.980
trenches of the First World War. And then just

00:43:25.980 --> 00:43:29.719
as the war ended, the devastating 1918 influenza

00:43:29.719 --> 00:43:33.260
pandemic swept through the globe, claiming more

00:43:33.260 --> 00:43:35.820
family members. The combination of the changing

00:43:35.820 --> 00:43:38.579
agricultural economy and the decimation of the

00:43:38.579 --> 00:43:41.500
family line was too much. The brothers died in

00:43:41.500 --> 00:43:45.550
reduced circumstances. By 1923, this massive,

00:43:45.650 --> 00:43:48.329
bustling livestock village, the post office,

00:43:48.469 --> 00:43:51.550
the rail siding, the grand barns, was sold off.

00:43:51.789 --> 00:43:53.750
It eventually ended up in the hands of a developer,

00:43:53.929 --> 00:43:56.489
and those incredible physical structures simply

00:43:56.489 --> 00:43:58.449
vanished from the earth. It's heartbreaking.

00:43:58.809 --> 00:44:01.369
And it wasn't just Shadeland. Up in Peterborough,

00:44:01.429 --> 00:44:04.110
New York, the Smith family's mansion house met

00:44:04.110 --> 00:44:07.659
a tragic end. That was an incredible 28 -room

00:44:07.659 --> 00:44:10.119
architectural marvel that anchored a half -million

00:44:10.119 --> 00:44:13.119
-acre empire. It caught fire and burned completely

00:44:13.119 --> 00:44:16.619
to the ground in March of 1936. Jared S. Miller,

00:44:16.820 --> 00:44:19.119
the very same guy who, as a college student,

00:44:19.260 --> 00:44:21.559
walked out from Cambridge to see Winthrop Chenery's

00:44:21.559 --> 00:44:23.960
cows and started his own revolution, was still

00:44:23.960 --> 00:44:26.219
alive when the mansion house burned. But the

00:44:26.219 --> 00:44:28.460
fire broke his spirit. The sources note that

00:44:28.460 --> 00:44:30.719
he seemed to lose heart after seeing that physical

00:44:30.719 --> 00:44:33.699
anchor destroyed, and he died a year later at

00:44:33.699 --> 00:44:36.719
the age of 92. Brookside Farm, where Henry Stevens

00:44:36.719 --> 00:44:39.519
judged cattle in the dark, eventually went quiet.

00:44:39.880 --> 00:44:42.539
The Stevens family is gone from the dairy forefront.

00:44:43.039 --> 00:44:45.699
The blind hands that felt the ribs of the future

00:44:45.699 --> 00:44:48.139
are dust. If you drive around these areas today,

00:44:48.320 --> 00:44:51.639
Madison County, Onondaga County, Crawford County.

00:44:52.539 --> 00:44:55.980
Most of the big sweeping dairy barns from that

00:44:55.980 --> 00:44:58.320
era have either collapsed under the weight of

00:44:58.320 --> 00:45:01.260
winter snows or they've been remodeled into machine

00:45:01.260 --> 00:45:03.739
sheds or rustic wedding venues. You might see

00:45:03.739 --> 00:45:06.059
an old farm name on a rusted historical marker

00:45:06.059 --> 00:45:08.360
or a road sign, but the physical empires are

00:45:08.360 --> 00:45:10.500
gone. If this were a story about real estate

00:45:10.500 --> 00:45:13.659
or architecture or even just family fortunes,

00:45:13.659 --> 00:45:16.960
it would be a profound tragedy. A story of empires

00:45:16.960 --> 00:45:19.460
rising and turning to ash. But this is dairy

00:45:19.460 --> 00:45:21.820
history. And dairy history is fundamentally different.

00:45:22.300 --> 00:45:24.559
The monuments that these men built aren't made

00:45:24.559 --> 00:45:27.579
of brick or wood or slate tile. They are made

00:45:27.579 --> 00:45:29.679
of flesh and blood, and they are very much alive

00:45:29.679 --> 00:45:32.679
today. That is the pivot right there, the living

00:45:32.679 --> 00:45:35.900
legacy. Because when you open up a modern genomic

00:45:35.900 --> 00:45:38.360
proof sheet today, whether you're farming in

00:45:38.360 --> 00:45:40.480
Canada, the United States, Europe, or Australia,

00:45:40.880 --> 00:45:43.519
and you trace the lineage of your cows back through

00:45:43.519 --> 00:45:46.199
the generations, your jaw will hit the floor.

00:45:46.460 --> 00:45:48.599
The genetic reality of what these men accomplished

00:45:48.599 --> 00:45:51.340
is almost difficult to comprehend. Let's lay

00:45:51.340 --> 00:45:53.079
out the facts for the listener. Let's trace the

00:45:53.079 --> 00:45:56.940
lines. Remember Decol II, the cow that Henry

00:45:56.940 --> 00:45:59.920
Stevens built his Brookside herd around in the

00:45:59.920 --> 00:46:03.340
1880s? Yes, the cornerstone. Holstein historians

00:46:03.340 --> 00:46:06.199
and geneticists have calculated that her blood

00:46:06.199 --> 00:46:09.840
is shared in common with roughly 7 .2 % of the

00:46:09.840 --> 00:46:12.179
modern General Holstein herd today. Think about

00:46:12.179 --> 00:46:15.159
the math on that. One single cow. born in the

00:46:15.159 --> 00:46:19.059
1880s, has saturated into 7 .2 % of the global

00:46:19.059 --> 00:46:21.940
population of a breed that numbers in the tens

00:46:21.940 --> 00:46:24.780
of millions. And it gets deeper. Let's look at

00:46:24.780 --> 00:46:27.239
the bulls that defined the modern era. Take a

00:46:27.239 --> 00:46:30.579
legendary 1970s bull like Round Oak Rag Apple

00:46:30.579 --> 00:46:32.699
Elevation. He essentially created the modern,

00:46:32.760 --> 00:46:36.380
tall, dairy -framed Holstein. If you trace Elevation's

00:46:36.380 --> 00:46:39.440
maternal line back mother to grandmother to great

00:46:39.440 --> 00:46:42.659
-grandmother, exactly 20 dams back. You land

00:46:42.659 --> 00:46:46.300
squarely on a cow named Ondine. Ondine was one

00:46:46.300 --> 00:46:48.960
of Garrett Miller's Triple Crown cows, imported

00:46:48.960 --> 00:46:52.400
in 1879. Take Hanover Hill Starbuck, the bull

00:46:52.400 --> 00:46:54.519
that practically built the modern Canadian type.

00:46:54.960 --> 00:46:57.380
Starbuck traces back to Ondine on his sire's

00:46:57.380 --> 00:47:00.440
side through elevation. But if you trace Starbuck's

00:47:00.440 --> 00:47:02.940
maternal line, you go straight back to a cow

00:47:02.940 --> 00:47:05.719
named Johanna, another of Garrett Miller's prized

00:47:05.719 --> 00:47:08.239
animals from the Creamhild farm. As the historical

00:47:08.239 --> 00:47:10.539
sources point out, you could walk through a Canadian

00:47:10.539 --> 00:47:13.920
dairy barn in the 1980s, look at a long row of

00:47:13.920 --> 00:47:16.840
beautiful Elevation and Starbuck daughters chewing

00:47:16.840 --> 00:47:18.960
their cud, and you wouldn't even realize you

00:47:18.960 --> 00:47:20.699
were essentially looking at cream -held cows

00:47:20.699 --> 00:47:23.440
from a century earlier genetically talking to

00:47:23.440 --> 00:47:25.639
each other across time. It's literal genetic

00:47:25.639 --> 00:47:28.039
time travel. Let's keep going. Walkway Chief

00:47:28.039 --> 00:47:30.400
Mark. Massive influence on production traits.

00:47:30.760 --> 00:47:33.400
Traces maternal line back 20 generations and

00:47:33.400 --> 00:47:36.019
you hit Gorchie Eckendt, a cow imported by George

00:47:36.019 --> 00:47:39.820
E. Brown in 1879. Tamar Blackstar, one of the

00:47:39.820 --> 00:47:42.380
first million -dollar bulls. Trace him back 20

00:47:42.380 --> 00:47:45.239
generations and you land on Fena, imported in

00:47:45.239 --> 00:47:49.840
1878. Toby Manford Justice, the bull that redefined

00:47:49.840 --> 00:47:52.679
health and fitness traits in the genomic era.

00:47:52.820 --> 00:47:55.960
He traces 19 generations back to Netherland Jewel,

00:47:56.119 --> 00:48:00.690
imported by Smithson Powell in 1882. And we can't

00:48:00.690 --> 00:48:03.670
forget Glenridge Citation Roxy. She is officially

00:48:03.670 --> 00:48:06.210
recognized as the queen of the breed for her

00:48:06.210 --> 00:48:09.690
unmatched ability to transmit flawless type and

00:48:09.690 --> 00:48:12.309
longevity. Her maternal roots go straight back

00:48:12.309 --> 00:48:15.030
through the generations to cattle imported by

00:48:15.030 --> 00:48:18.190
B .B. Lord in the 1880s. Every single time you

00:48:18.190 --> 00:48:20.489
look at the giants of the modern breed, you are

00:48:20.489 --> 00:48:23.190
looking directly at the handpicked, heavily scrutinized

00:48:23.190 --> 00:48:26.230
choices of these 19th century pioneers. This

00:48:26.230 --> 00:48:28.590
raises an incredibly important point about the

00:48:28.590 --> 00:48:30.789
nature of their achievement. We mentioned earlier

00:48:30.789 --> 00:48:32.469
what they didn't have when it came to feed and

00:48:32.469 --> 00:48:34.909
barns. But look at what they didn't have regarding

00:48:34.909 --> 00:48:37.550
genetic tools. They built this living architecture

00:48:37.550 --> 00:48:40.989
without a single DNA swab. They didn't have artificial

00:48:40.989 --> 00:48:43.409
insemination to freeze semen and spread elite

00:48:43.409 --> 00:48:46.269
genetics globally in a single generation. They

00:48:46.269 --> 00:48:48.849
had to physically walk a bull over to a cow.

00:48:49.239 --> 00:48:52.179
They didn't have embryo transfer or IVF to get

00:48:52.179 --> 00:48:54.639
40 calves out of their best cow. They had to

00:48:54.639 --> 00:48:57.820
wait a year for a single natural calf and pray

00:48:57.820 --> 00:49:00.260
it was a heifer. They didn't have linear classification

00:49:00.260 --> 00:49:03.539
scores or computer -modeled predicted transmitting

00:49:03.539 --> 00:49:06.480
abilities. They operated purely on handwritten

00:49:06.480 --> 00:49:09.320
daily milk weights, physical churn tests for

00:49:09.320 --> 00:49:11.940
butter, the brutal comparison of the county fair

00:49:11.940 --> 00:49:15.440
show ring, and an incredibly deep tactile feel

00:49:15.440 --> 00:49:18.039
for what a true dairy cow looked and moved like.

00:49:18.489 --> 00:49:20.889
Yet, armed with only those rudimentary tools,

00:49:21.190 --> 00:49:23.250
they successfully built the exact biological

00:49:23.250 --> 00:49:26.449
foundation that our modern, multi -billion dollar

00:49:26.449 --> 00:49:29.230
genomic testing charts are constantly analyzing

00:49:29.230 --> 00:49:31.449
and bragging about today. That is the synthesis

00:49:31.449 --> 00:49:33.610
right there. Yeah. Every single time a modern

00:49:33.610 --> 00:49:36.309
Holstein cow walks up to a robotic milker, stands

00:49:36.309 --> 00:49:38.929
calmly while the laser -guided arm washes her

00:49:38.929 --> 00:49:41.369
and finds her teats, and the digital meter starts

00:49:41.369 --> 00:49:44.030
counting out 50, 60, 70 pounds of milk in a single

00:49:44.030 --> 00:49:46.989
visit, she is doing a job that Winthrop Chenery

00:49:46.989 --> 00:49:48.400
and Jarrett Miller couldn't do. could never,

00:49:48.460 --> 00:49:50.639
ever have conceived of in their wildest dreams.

00:49:50.820 --> 00:49:53.679
They had no concept of a 40 ,000 pound herd average.

00:49:53.800 --> 00:49:55.679
They didn't know what a total mixed ration was.

00:49:55.900 --> 00:49:57.940
They didn't breed their cows to comfortably fit

00:49:57.940 --> 00:50:00.780
into sand bed at freeze stalls. Or to calmly

00:50:00.780 --> 00:50:04.519
step onto a 100 stall, 24 hour rotary parlor.

00:50:04.880 --> 00:50:07.320
But the physical and metabolic cow that they

00:50:07.320 --> 00:50:10.300
built in the 1880s is the exact same cow that

00:50:10.300 --> 00:50:13.320
possesses the skeletal frame, the massive rumen

00:50:13.320 --> 00:50:16.079
capacity, and the internal metabolic engine to

00:50:16.079 --> 00:50:18.619
handle those intense modern challenges today.

00:50:19.039 --> 00:50:22.440
If you were to somehow magically, surgically

00:50:22.440 --> 00:50:24.639
extract the fingerprints of these specific men

00:50:24.639 --> 00:50:27.480
from today's Holstein population, if you erased

00:50:27.480 --> 00:50:30.840
Johanna and Empress and Ondine from the pedigrees,

00:50:30.860 --> 00:50:32.860
what would happen? If you took out Aggie and

00:50:32.860 --> 00:50:35.800
Clophilde, if you stripped away Declosek and

00:50:35.800 --> 00:50:38.519
Bell Corndyke, the breed that would be left standing

00:50:38.519 --> 00:50:40.500
in the barn would barely resemble the Holstein

00:50:40.500 --> 00:50:42.739
we know. It wouldn't be the same cow. The incredible

00:50:42.739 --> 00:50:45.780
forage capacity, the angular dairyness, the sheer

00:50:45.780 --> 00:50:48.579
unrelenting biological will to produce milk that

00:50:48.579 --> 00:50:50.820
defines the modern cow simply wouldn't be there.

00:50:51.079 --> 00:50:53.960
They are, without any exaggeration, the architects

00:50:53.960 --> 00:50:56.199
of the cow that pays the bills, educates the

00:50:56.199 --> 00:50:58.719
kids, and sustains the rural economy on dairy

00:50:58.719 --> 00:51:01.059
farms around the entire world. I want to bring

00:51:01.059 --> 00:51:03.679
this right down to the ground. Someone is listening

00:51:03.679 --> 00:51:05.940
to this deep dive on their tractor right now,

00:51:05.960 --> 00:51:07.739
or maybe they're washing down the parlor walls

00:51:07.739 --> 00:51:10.659
or pushing up feet in the freestall barn. What

00:51:10.659 --> 00:51:13.900
is the one core thing from this incredible historical

00:51:13.900 --> 00:51:16.690
saga that they should sit with today? I think

00:51:16.690 --> 00:51:19.250
the most memorable insight here is about resilience

00:51:19.250 --> 00:51:21.789
and foresight outlasting physical structures.

00:51:22.110 --> 00:51:24.889
Barns will eventually fall down or burn or be

00:51:24.889 --> 00:51:27.570
repurposed. Technological eras will inevitably

00:51:27.570 --> 00:51:30.869
change from lantern light and hand milking to

00:51:30.869 --> 00:51:35.150
glass pipelines to laser guided robots. But the

00:51:35.150 --> 00:51:37.570
cow remains. But a farmer's intuition, their

00:51:37.570 --> 00:51:40.190
grit in the face of absolute disaster, and their

00:51:40.190 --> 00:51:42.789
deep, tactile connection to the animal, whether

00:51:42.789 --> 00:51:44.969
that's fighting off a plague on a freezing morning

00:51:44.969 --> 00:51:47.230
or judging the spring of a rib by touch in the

00:51:47.230 --> 00:51:50.130
dark that echoes for centuries. The cows milking

00:51:50.130 --> 00:51:52.849
in your barn today are literal, breathing, living

00:51:52.849 --> 00:51:56.429
monuments to farmers who, 150 years ago, simply

00:51:56.429 --> 00:51:59.230
refused to give up. I absolutely love that. They

00:51:59.230 --> 00:52:03.260
are living monuments. And that leads me to leave

00:52:03.260 --> 00:52:05.840
you with one final thought to mull over as you

00:52:05.840 --> 00:52:08.800
go about your chores today. We started this deep

00:52:08.800 --> 00:52:11.400
dive talking about Winthrop Channery, watching

00:52:11.400 --> 00:52:14.179
his herd get destroyed, making a split -second

00:52:14.179 --> 00:52:16.340
decision to double down to order more cows that

00:52:16.340 --> 00:52:19.219
very day, a decision that changed the world.

00:52:19.420 --> 00:52:22.539
A huge gamble. Today, we're standing on the precipice

00:52:22.539 --> 00:52:25.739
of a brand new era in agriculture. With CRISPR,

00:52:25.880 --> 00:52:28.159
gene editing, and advanced cloning, we are looking

00:52:28.159 --> 00:52:31.500
at genetic leaps that make the 1860s look simple.

00:52:32.099 --> 00:52:34.699
So ask yourself, who is the Wint of Chenery of

00:52:34.699 --> 00:52:36.980
today? That's a great question. Are we currently

00:52:36.980 --> 00:52:38.920
standing in the middle of a new genetic revolution

00:52:38.920 --> 00:52:41.619
without even realizing it? And the next time

00:52:41.619 --> 00:52:44.059
you look out across your own herd, ask yourself,

00:52:44.079 --> 00:52:46.039
what decisions are you making today with your

00:52:46.039 --> 00:52:48.340
own eyes and your own hands that might still

00:52:48.340 --> 00:52:50.800
be walking around in a pasture 150 years from

00:52:50.800 --> 00:52:52.639
now? That's another story from The Bullvine Podcast.

00:52:53.139 --> 00:52:55.179
These are the people building the future of dairy.

00:52:55.500 --> 00:53:00.500
Find more at www .thebullvine .com. Next time,

00:53:00.519 --> 00:53:02.019
we're doing a deep dive into the hidden history

00:53:02.019 --> 00:53:04.559
of the first automated milking pioneers. Subscribe

00:53:04.559 --> 00:53:33.900
so you don't miss it. Coming right on through.

00:53:35.019 --> 00:53:40.059
Oh, tell the tale, tell the tale. The Beaumont

00:53:40.059 --> 00:53:42.619
legends live here.