RED DEER – The Holstein winner’s circle belonged to Morsan Farms and partners at the Westerner Dairy Showcase held Oct. 25-27.
The jewel in the crown was awarded when Morsan’s four-year-old Tomalynn Leduc Della took the grand championship and best udder of the show in a lineup of what judge Bruce Wood called the ultra cows.
The tall, white cow with black dapples is owned by Morris and Sandra Thalen of Morsan Farms of Ponoka, Alta., and Huddlesford Holsteins of England.
Della is a half sister to the reserve champion, Irwindale Leduc Macy, owned by Rocky Mountain Holsteins of Cochrane, Alta., and Continental Holsteins of Leduc, Alta.
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The next stop on the show circuit is the Royal Winter Fair in Toronto where the competition is stiffer.
However, last year this female, with the rating of 95 under Holstein Canada’s classification system, was All-Canadian Junior three-year-old for 2006 and won the reserve intermediate champion at the 2006 Royal. It was also Intermediate Champion Westerner Championship Showcase 2006 and won similar awards throughout 2005.
“It’s been a buildup for us,” said
Morris Thalen, who operates a large family dairy where they milk 700 to 800 cows, sell about 1,000 heifers a year and maintain a large show string of championship cows.
The Royal Winter Fair is the next level of competition for them where 60 countries vie for honours. If the United States border opens Nov. 19, this cow will be travelling to the World Dairy Show at Madison, Wisconsin, next year.
In addition, Morsan won intermediate champion and junior championship with its partner Springbend Farms of Enderby, B.C.
The Jersey champions also went to a consortium of owners that includes Tom Hofstra of New Serepta, Alta., Rod York of Tisdale, Sask., Unique Valley Stream Genetics of Rochester, New York, and Rietveld Dairies of Fort Saskatchewan, Alta.
All raise a combination of Jerseys and Holsteins.
“We decided to get into some good coloured cows and it is working,” said Hofstra.
The grand champion Jersey was a four-year-old cow named Rapid Bay Just Wait Spits and the reserve was Ronde Jade Raquel.
The reserve was purchased in a five-way partnership from the World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin Oct. 6. The five-year-old female arrived in Alberta Oct. 20 and was already in the show ring in Red Deer Oct. 27.
The partnership also includes Rietveld Dairies, Rod York, Unique Genetics, Jamie Judd of the U.S. and Lor-Lee Holsteins of Saskatoon.
These cows are also travelling to the Royal Winter Fair where about 300 Jerseys are to be on display from across the country.
