Congratulations to Siemers Holstein Farms, Inc. of Newton, Wis., for owning the Holstein Association USA’s 2009 Star of the Breed. The newest star, Eskdale Dundee Marcia Mona was awarded the title because she is a Holstein cow that excels in both the showring and milking barn.
Siemers Holstein Farms is a family operation, consisting of Sherry Siemers-Peterman and daughter Crystal, Dan and Janina Siemers with their children Jordan and Connor, and Paul and Jenny Siemers, with children Josh, Jacob and Lauren. They make up the fifth and sixth generations to operate the family farm.
Sired by Regancrest Dundee-ET, Mona was born on June 21, 2005, and classified Excellent-92 at three years and eight months of age. She has an exceptional show record, having been the first place Junior Two-Year-Old at the 2007 International Holstein Show and the fifth place Four-Year-Old at the Midwest Spring National Holstein Show in 2009. Mona has a best record at 365 days, calving in at three years of age, of 46,490 pounds of milk, with 3.8 percent fat (1,760 pounds) and 3.3 percent protein (1,519 pounds).
Acquired at the 2008 Global Glamour sale (consigned by Arethusa Farm, LLC), Mona was bred by Eskdale Dairy of Eskdale, Utah. She completes nine generations of Very Good or Excellent cows. Her dam is a VG-87 daughter of Stouder Morty-ET who has a three-year-old record over 30,000 pounds of milk.
Mona is currently bred, with plans to calve her in this winter. She has flushed very well in the past with pregnancies by Maple-Downs-I G W Atwood and Braedale Goldwyn and calves by bulls such as KHW Kite Advent-Red-ET, Mr Atlees Sht Aftershock-ET, Erbacres Damion, Den-K Marshall LL Laurin and Gen-Mark Stmatic Sanchez. With an in vitro fertilization (IVF) lab on the dairy, Siemers’ hope to use this technology on Mona in the future to obtain more heifer calves from her.
To be eligible for the Star of the Breed award, a cow must place in the top five in her class at a National Holstein Show, be in a herd enrolled in the TriStar program and have an official classification score. Once the eligible cows are determined, the following calculation is used to decide the award recipient: Combined ME Fat and Protein + Age Adjusted Classification Score x (Breed Average ME CFP/Breed Average Age Adjusted Score).
Source: Holstein Association USA