It’s Martha here today with a history retrospective about how this all got started here at Bestyet.

A week from Saturday will mark 90 years since John and Rosa Hoffman married and started the farm I grew up on. It was in the midst of the Great Depression and Rosa used to tell the story of how they picked goldenrod flowers from the road ditches for their wedding to save money.

Here’s a photo of their Milking Shorthorn herd early in their marriage, when they hand milked eight cows, feeding the skim to the hogs and calves and selling cream.

Their four children grew up helping on the farm and working with the cows. Below you can see them on a snowy day in 1948. Left to right: Kenneth (my dad!), Gerald, Howard, and Marilyn. Rosa took many pictures over the years (and even made a photo album of childhood photos for each of the kids) that offer a window into that time.

John and Rosa noticed Kenneth’s knack for picking good stock and making mating decisions while he was still a boy. Over the years, Kenneth built a herd with foundation stock from longstanding herds across the country, preserving valuable genetics that would have been lost otherwise as those old breeders sold out.

In 1981, he added the Dutch Belted breed to the farm and played a vital role in keeping the breed from extinction in that critical time, and bringing it to more solid footing.

Winifred joined the farm and married Kenneth around this time (you can read more about that here). They got involved in the grazing dairy movement, and saw the need for grazing-focused genetics and started offering herd sires, semen, and breeding stock.

Their five children (including me!) grew up as the next generation on the family farm. Below you can see me with my dad and a promising Dutch Belted heifer a year or two before my dad passed. The cow is Bestyet Golden Dream, part of the Dream cow family, who has a number of excellent descendants in our herd today.

Growing up among these cattle and learning early and firsthand the importance of practical grazing cows and breed conservation was a unique experience. I wrote more about that here. It’s an honor to carry forward what my grandparents and parents started, and having my husband Brian’s support in this has been invaluable.

The great granddaughter of Golden Dream, Hwin (yes, I love the Narnia books…), is to our left in this picture from our wedding in 2020.

Seeing the generations of cows and generations of our family brings home the point that’s never far from my mind as a conservation breeder. We’re all just links in the chain of stewards of the cattle we keep.

I’m so grateful for the breeders who came before who stewarded the ancestors of the cattle who graze our pastures today, and I want to be part of passing these irreplaceable animals to the next generations of people who will cherish them and carry them forward (that includes you folks!).

While much has changed since my grandparents married 90 years ago, practical, profitable grazing cows are still at the center, and we’re still just a farm family who loves the land and loves cows.

Here we are — the children, in-laws, and grandchildren of Kenneth and Winifred — all dressed up for my youngest sister Miriam’s wedding a few years ago.

Thank you for coming along with me today looking back through the years, and for being part of the story!

Take care,

Martha

In 1977 Dutch Belted heifer calf O’Neill’s Pearl Arbor was born on the humble farm of Dorothy O’Neill Hornback’s family, where she was raised with care and pride. At the age of eight, she gave birth to Dutchess Zelma “O”. Why the name Zelma? A Chicago area zoo had expressed interest in purchasing the calf for display, hence the “z” name. Fortunately for the breed, the sale did not go through, or her invaluable genetics would have been lost. Instead, newly established and highly committed Dutch Belted breeder Kenneth Hoffman (founder of Bestyet A.I. Sires) collaborated with Dorothy to keep Zelma’s family going. When Dorothy retired, Zelma and her herdmates joined our herd.

Zelma grew up to be one of the best cows of any breed we’ve ever had the pleasure and honor to work with. Her milk production and powerful constitution were remarkable, and her descendants continue to carry and pass on these traits. Zelma’s influence figures heavily throughout our herd and the breed as a whole, as we have not been afraid to use her in a linebreeding program. The birth of Bestyet Zesty Lady this spring represents the 8th generation of this cow family on our farm.

We now actually have three branches of Zelma’s family going. We thought it would be fun to trace the lineage of Zesty herself.

1. Dutchess Zelma “O” #9323 Born 10/14/85

2. Bestyet Zelma Lady ET #9514 Born 6/11/96

3. Bestyet Rocket Zelma #9672 Born 6/6/01

4. Bestyet Hans Zelma #9674 Born 9/8/04

5. Bestyet Esmerelda-P #10119 Born 9/5/12 (Pictured below, showing the typical Zelma head with long, bright face and powerful muzzle.)

6. Bestyet Highlight Zelma Lady #013639 Born 11/25/18

7. Bestyet Tiffany Lady # 015095 Born 4/17/22

8. Bestyet Zesty Lady 5/28/26

Here are a couple other representatives from this family, showing the excellent udders and ideal grazing conformation.

In addition to all these productive cows, this family has also given us some of our best bulls: Zinger, Perfect Day, Famous, Trailblazer, and Keystone so far, and a couple young ones coming up, so stay tuned for them.

The Zelma line isn’t our only cow family — the need for genetic diversity means we don’t put all our proverbial eggs in one basket like that — but it’s valuable to take a closer look at a particular line now and then, and we wanted to share it with you.

We hope you’ve enjoyed this quick little history dive. We are so thankful for the breeders who came before us who kept these lines going, and for the current breeders we work alongside for the sake of this beautiful and useful breed.

Take care,

~Winnie and Martha

What do you think of when you hear the term, “dual purpose cattle”? For us, it means cows that milk well and produce beefy calves, cows that can put on some flesh in the dry period and outwinter with ease. It means cows that can thrive without grain and specialized care.

One of our favorite old books is Dual Purpose Cattle published in 1953 by Claude H. Hinman. He discusses in detail the principles and purposes of these milk cows that support a good bottom line because of their ruggedness and ability to utilize common homegrown forages.

Milking Shorthorns were traditionally considered dual-purpose cattle, along with Red Polls and Milking Devons. There was always the push-pull by breeders who emphasized one trait over the other, resulting in basically separate lines—those who tended to the beef side (albeit with better milk production than most beef breeds), and those selected for more dairy traits.

We continue to walk the balance between milk and beef traits, whereas nowadays many breeders using the dual-purpose label are breeding primarily for beef purposes. While our steer buyers sure appreciate our thick, growthy steers (grown on milk and grass alone), we expect a cow to produce more than enough milk to raise such a calf, from a quality, even fancy, udder.

Dual purpose is about moderation, which for us includes moderate size, and with that come calving ease, mobility, and longevity.

Milking Shorthorns were the backbone of many diversified farms in earlier years, and we think their genetics still have a lot to offer the modern, grass-based dairy producer. You can catch more background and details in this blog post.

Hope your summer is going well! We’ve been blessed, and challenged, by excessive rains lately, so we’re glad for some sunny days in between to help dry out the mud.

Talk to you next time!

~Winnie and Martha

These two little girls were sputtering energetically and shaking their heads even before they were totally born, ready to hit life with the gusto so typical of this breed. They were up feeding themselves within the hour—very handy, very smart.

Dutch Belted dams are great mothers. They take their job seriously—pushing those calves right out, getting down to business cleaning them up and encouraging them, and standing well for the calves to nurse. Their soft udder quality, not inclined to much edema at all, makes it easy for the new calves to latch on and fill up. They are also very good at keeping track of their calves in the herd, which works great for calf-sharing.

When we feed Dutch Belted calves with bottle or bucket, they are so quick to learn so it’s a snap to take care of them.

This will give the grandkids a fun summer project of taming these little dears. All the petting and handling early in life does help them learn to like people, and that’s always worthwhile.

Happy summer to you all! Hope it’s dry enough, wet enough, warm enough, and cool enough to keep you and your cows comfortable and thriving.

To celebrate, we’re featuring a few sires at a 10% discount this month. These are solid, excellent sires we just happen to have an ample semen supply of, unlike some of the others that are getting more scarce or even have to be moved off the active list.

Between this special discount and volume discounts, you can get some of these for as low as $5/straw with an order of 60 or more straws. You can view our complete catalog and price list here. Just take 10% off those prices on these four sires: Meriville King Oscar-P, Mericrest Outlaw, Mericrest Picasso, and Bestyet Keystone P (Conventional only) —this sale is only for newsletter readers so it’s not listed on the website.

Here’s a little more on each sire:

Meriville King Oscar-P

Here are a few of our King Oscar-P daughters at work, showing the depth and dairyness he sires, along with a bit more stature and angular build than some of our others. He’s a good one to use on cows that tend to the “chuffy” end of the dual purpose spectrum. For example, we’re breeding a strong little Felipe daughter to him.

Mericrest Outlaw

Here is Outlaw’s Excellent full sister, with a 5-10 record of 21,265m 3.7% 793f 3.5% 744p. Because of his linebreeding, he has sired generations of daughters along these lines with great milk production. Udder cleft and width are excellent and they are moderate in stature. He is an ideal bull to use on rounder cows that need more milk. Below is one of Outlaw’s daughters showing the dairy strength you can expect from him.

Mericrest Picasso

Here’s one of Picasso’s many fine daughters—a great blend of dairy and strength qualities that make them stand the test of time. You can read more about him here.

Bestyet Keystone-P

Keystone-P is our newest A2/A2 sire, and he’s polled! The sexed semen has been moving fast, so we can’t extend the discount to that, but his conventional semen is part of this sale just for the month of May.

He is pictured above at 19 months of age. He is a masculine bull with a good front end, excellent feet and legs, and plenty of body capacity.

His sire is Bestyet Snappy, one of our favorite sires for calving ease and breed character. We are so glad to have a son of Snappy because his semen has sold out long ago. Keystone’s dam, Bestyet Tiffany Lady, is a sharp, deep, hard-working Trailblazer daughter with the real will to milk. Below are a few snapshots of her.

As always, don’t hesitate to reach out with any questions. We love hearing from you!

Happy grazing, and talk to you soon,

~Winnie and Martha

As we see the first brave shoots of green cropping up, we are full of hope and plans for the grazing season, aren’t you?

Yes, we’re about the genetics that shine on grass-based systems, and since it all starts with grass, that’s our focus this month.

Before we get into what our spring plans look like, we want to share a great resource we’ve found for learning about different grazing systems and all the variety of ways folks are making them work on their farms.

We’re talking about Graze magazine, which we’ve been supporters of since its launch 26 years ago. With “by graziers, for graziers” as its motto, it is written largely by actual grass-based producers, from dairymen to beef and sheep producers, grass-only to grain-supplemented, conventional to organic. Martha has been writing for them since her college days, and became managing editor when the original editor was ready to retire.

To see samples and subscribe, visit www.grazeonline.com.

Spring outlook at the homeplace ~ By Winnie

Here at the home farm by Earlville, Illinois, we’ve appreciated a relatively dry, open winter so the cows have often been able to rest out on a nearby sacrifice paddock after filling up at the hayrack on our concrete lot. This has saved on manure-hauling and kept them cleaner. Of course, they’ve been nibbling down the new growth as it comes, so I know that will set it back. This paddock is heavy on bluegrass with some canarygrass and improved tall fescue, so I’m expecting it will recover after a good long rest this spring, and maybe we’ll get some volunteer white clover, which I’ve found in the past will show up on heavily grazed stands.

As soon as it greens up a bit more, I’ll move them to a couple other paddocks with a lot of canarygrass and which had a long rest in the fall, where some early cow traffic will help break up and distribute the pack manure we had to spread on it during the winter. We continue feeding hay well into April before starting our rotations in earnest.

We’ll watch the weather and the grass growth, which is always a fun balancing act, so that we don’t end up with crazy “spring blow-up” but also not be too hard on the stands too early.

One of our first spring projects will be to readjust some paddocks set up as wedges from a central entrance. We’ve found the heavy traffic there has done too much damage. The paddocks also turned out to be too large to utilize well, so the cows had been leaving large clumps of the less-palatable fescue in favor of orchardgrass and alfalfa, which gave the fescue an unfair advantage. We plan to tear those dividing fences out and make a lane leading to smaller rectangles.

Happy spring and happy grazing to you and your livestock!

Spring outlook from Streator, IL ~ By Martha

The grass greened up weeks ago but isn’t growing very fast yet. We’ve been having some see-saw weather with an 80 degree day, then a string of chilly weather, including a mid-March snow storm.

I can’t wait to turn the cows out, but it’ll be a bit still before there’s enough growth. I usually turn out in late April or early May, so we’re not really behind schedule.

It’s always a guessing game as to when to start grazing in earnest, as I don’t want to get ahead of the grass growth speed and end up having to pull cows off pasture, but I also don’t want to get totally behind it, especially since my main perennial pastures are very inconvenient to make hay off (long, skinny, odd-shaped fields).

Staging things in the fall by grazing some tighter than others and leaving some ungrazed the last round seems to help in keeping all the grass from going tall and mature at once. I love how every year is a new opportunity to experiment, to tweak management.

One of the things I’m trying this year is some frost seeding (some clover, some alfalfa, and a mix of festulolium, perennial ryegrass, orchardgrass, and a bit of red and white clover. It’ll be interesting to see how it turns out! I’ve been on a long-term project of improving the primarily fescue/bluegrass permanent pastures that I started grazing in 2020, and adding more legumes is high on the list.

We’ll see how the year goes, but I’m looking forward to seeing how it all unfolds.

I hope you all have a lovely spring!

Hi friends! For a little change of pace this month, let’s talk about how much we enjoy the end results from the cows we raise, and the value they add to our lives at our table. I wouldn’t want to be without the wholesome grassfed dairy products they give us, nor would my family.

And certainly, there’s a genetic component to the richness and flavor profile of the milk, in addition to the freshness and grassfed aspects, and we find our Dutch Belted and Milking Shorthorn milk ideal for all the ways we use milk in our kitchen.

Whenever I have to eat away from home, I really notice the difference in the flavor (seems bland, stale) of packaged dairy products. The grand-kids were talking the other day about how they dislike milk from the store, whereas they gladly down glass after glass of our cows’ milk.

When I serve up fresh cheese, it sure disappears in a hurry. I make a basic cheese, something between mozzarella and farmer’s cheese, and I mix in some freshly minced garlic and a bit of paprika with the salt before working it into the curds. It’s flavorful, for sure. I even save the creamiest part of the whey and it’s fantastic stirred into a bowl of hot soup, kind of like sour cream.

The other day one young granddaughter discovered how delicious my yogurt is with some blackberries and home-made syrup, and promptly asked for another jar of it. I like to soak my overnight oats in it—yum!

And this butter, oh my. Sometimes it’s hard to get the kids to have a little bread with their butter, because they would love to be allowed to eat the butter plain. They like to help make it, pulling the yellow lumps out of the buttermilk and pressing it with the spoon to get the liquid out, then rinsing and pressing till it’s done, then slathering it on their bread. (The bread is also home-made, and fortified with, you guessed it, home-grown milk.)

When the cows are on grass, of course we notice the rich color of the cream and butter, and the different flavor. We don’t mind the seasonal differences—just seems like part of the flow of farm life.

We know many of you are on the same page about this, and your customers really appreciate the wholesome products you provide from your farms. Isn’t it amazing how cows can chow all that green stuff and convert it to such wonderful, versatile milk?

Talk to you next month—when we’ll be that much closer to grass time!

Take care,

~Winnie and Martha

Now to this month’s topic: How do we decide which sire to mate each cow to? Good question. Here we’ll share our thoughts on the process.

Martha:

Sometimes, as in the picture above, we sit down together with breeding charts, pedigrees, aAa numbers, and lists of previous calves, and plan matings for the season ahead. Or, if we haven’t gotten to that for awhile, sometimes it’s a quick texting back and forth when a cow is in heat.

Either way, what are we looking for?

Winifred:

For starters, we’ll think about any calves each particular cow has had so far, and what we think of them. If we liked the results of a mating, we certainly might repeat it. If we’re breeding a heifer, on the other hand, we have certain go-to sires we like for calving ease (such as Bestyet Helpful, Meriville Outstanding P, and Cantagree Felipe N P) , so we select one of those that isn’t too closely related.

Overall, we look at sharp vs. round traits, and we use aAa numbers to some extent, but not exclusively, since we have pedigrees and other knowledge to contribute to our choices.

Martha:

We trace back pedigrees to make sure we have the right amount of good linebreeding and outcrosses, and it’s a fun exercise to see how far back we can go just from memory. The process helps us keep in mind the big picture goals while looking at each individual cow.

Winifred:

In our Dutch Belted herd this year, we continue to pursue polled and A2/A2 genetics, and are excited about our new Bestyet Keystone P sire for these traits. We’ve been very pleased with the daughters of Bestyet Famous P and continue to use him also. We have several nice milking daughters of Bestyet Trailblazer Red (pictured below), so we’re using some outcross sires on them. For some matings, we’re going back to some of the older bulls that we have only a small amount of semen left from, which will add some diversity to the calves we’ll have available for breeding stock as well as potential sires for semen collection.

Martha:

While A2/A2 genetics are in popular demand right now, we want to keep focused on the functional traits as well, so we’re working on both. For example, we’ve bred several to one of our favorite Dutch Belted sires for strength and capacity, Bestyet Roxie’s Rocket. Sammy is a red carrier we like to use also, with depth and dairyness.

Winifred:

In the Milking Shorthorns, we continue to walk the line between dairy and fleshing qualities, so each cow is mated according to where she is on that spectrum. The more angular cows we’ll breed to the more round, low-set type sires like Matchmaker-P or Felipe (pictured below). Thicker cows will be bred to sires from our Meriville Peerless lines with more dairy characteristics, such as Meriville Rock County or Lapp’s Joe. You can read more about our breeding philosophy for dual purpose Milking Shorthorns here.

Martha:

We’re also looking at practical considerations like not having to dehorn calves during our busy fall harvest, so then we’ll breed polled as much as possible. We’ve bred several Milking Shorthorns to Meriville Outer Star-PP who has given us good offspring.

Breeding cattle is both art and science, and having both helps us continue to breed the best animals we can.

When making breeding decisions in your own herds, you can decide what your main goals are and select sires to fulfill them. We’re happy to share what we’ve learned about the characteristics of the sires we offer to help you get the results you’re looking for.

The renowned old breeders who came before us would say breeding cattle is a journey, not a destination, and it’s exciting to look ahead to next year’s crop of calves as we take another step forward in selection.

What goals do you have and what bulls are you using this year?

Until next time,

Winnie and Martha

Still Grazing After All These Years

This year we celebrate 90 years of breeding practical, hardy cows on our prairie farm in northern Illinois. It all began in 1936 when John and Rosa Hoffman started out married life hand-milking a few Milking Shorthorns and running a cream route. Homegrown forage and grazing were always central to the management of this farm.

As their four children grew, so did the herd, especially as their son Kenneth proved his aptitude and enthusiasm as a breeder. They modernized the dairy in the 1960s and built a sizable and respected herd from some of the best Milking Shorthorn breeders of the day. Kenneth added the rare and unique Dutch Belted breed in 1981, about the time Winnie came on the scene as an idealistic college student seeking farm experience for her agricultural engineering degree. Their marriage produced five children, three of whom are still actively involved in the farm.

With the resurgence of interest in grazing in the 1990s, it was fun to find we were not alone in realizing the value of rotational grazing and thinking of optimum rather than maximum production. Our semen business, Bestyet A.I. Sires, came about as producers sought us out for hardy, efficient grass-based bloodlines.

Still Breeding After All These Years

When Kenneth passed in 2005, we determined to carry on his life’s work with the cattle, not only out of family loyalty, but equally out of our commitment to the importance of conservation breeding, so that these valuable genetics can be available to other producers into the future.

Now Winnie and daughter Martha continue with the breeding endeavor. We’re glad you’re on the journey with us. We always love to talk cows and grazing, so reach out anytime!

You can read more about our history with both breeds in a post we put together a few years ago here (which includes a picture of Martha as an aspiring and very young breeder with her dad). Go ahead and peruse our website for other blogs on specific sires and cow families, grazing management, husbandry topics, and more.

Winnie and Martha

News flash! Bestyet Keystone P, our new A2/A2 polled Dutch Belted sire, has his first calf on the ground: this sweet and perky heifer pictured below, full of spunk and promise. Check out our updated catalog on the website for information on ordering semen from him or any of our dozens of other sires.

It’s quite a change to the routine, isn’t it? From hiking out to gather them from the back 40, to now spending our chore times putting out hay and straw. We set a bank of round bales along the hay shed rack where the cows can just reach them. I always enjoy the rustling and munching sounds as I’m out there with the pitchfork tossing them the rest that they couldn’t reach.

The crunch of the glittery snow under my feet always reminds me of childhood games of fox and geese, snow men and snow angels, sledding and other romps. I’m not exactly playing now, but I still get that glowing feeling from trudging through the drifts. The little calves like to run and explore in it, too. Here’s Sicily, our youngest Snappy daughter, having her first taste of snow:

We’re thankful for the snow as the dry summer and fall has our soil hurting for moisture. It’s also nice to have a thick snow cover before the more frigid weather. And the cows are adapting well, with their winter coats and strong constitutions.

Here’s hoping you’re weathering winter well, wherever you are. Keep in touch!

Talk to you soon.

~Winnie and Martha

Exciting news! And as promised, you are the first to hear it. We have a new Dutch Belted sire, Bestyet Keystone-P, polled and A2/A2. And since many of you have been asking, we are collecting a modest supply of sexed (female) semen.

He is pictured above at 19 months of age. He is a masculine bull with a good front end, excellent feet and legs, and plenty of body capacity. He has gone right to work at the bull stud and is producing well.

His sire is Bestyet Snappy, one of our favorite sires for calving ease and breed character. We are so glad to have a son of Snappy because his semen has sold out long ago. Keystone’s dam, Bestyet Tiffany Lady, is a sharp, deep, hard-working Trailblazer daughter with the real will to milk. Below are a few snapshots of her.

Keystone hails from our Zelma family, whose foundation cow was one of the best of any breed we’ve ever had the privilege to work with, pictured below.

We’re offering Keystone semen to newsletter readers at a low introductory price before he even appears on our website:

Introductory price on conventional semen: $19/straw (5 straw minimum)

Introductory price on sexed semen: $52/straw (5 straw minimum)

These prices are good for the next two weeks, until November 20, so we can gauge interest while we still have him in the stud where we can collect more.

Note on sexed semen: Collection costs are more than ten times that for conventional semen. Sorting, processing, and travel to the sorting lab all go into the higher cost, which we unfortunately have to pass on. Of course, as with all sexed semen, the desired gender is not guaranteed, with a standard expectation of 96-98% female offspring, and possibly a lower conception rate due to the reduced number of cells.

We are so pleased to be able to finally offer semen on this promising young bull after all that’s gone into breeding him, then DNA testing, then raising and handling him to get to this point.

You can give us a call at 815-246-9523 or email us at bestyetaisires@gmail.com to make an order or learn more about Keystone!

Talk to you soon,

Winnie and Martha

Sometimes line breeding is promoted as a good thing in itself, like some kind of magic formula. On the other hand, you will also hear cautions about inbreeding. So what does all this mean, and how is it useful to you?

What is line breeding?

Line breeding is the mating of animals that have some degree of relationship to each other. It is distinguished from inbreeding only in degree. For example, brother/sister matings are generally considered line breeding, while mating dam to son would be inbreeding.

Line breeding is a tool that can increase the consistency or predictability of the herd. In this sense it is like fire or a two-edged sword: It is valuable when used correctly and very harmful if used carelessly.

To be successful, the animals that are to be “doubled up,” that is, that will appear more than once in their offspring’s pedigree, need to be particularly superior animals. If they are not, you may end up with consistently poor animals.

How do we use line breeding?

We have used line breeding carefully and judiciously for many years by concentrating the genetics of our best individuals. We have seen the positive results in terms of repeatability and quality of having certain exceptional animals well represented in a pedigree. We have also seen the detrimental effects of too much inbreeding, so we know how close is too close, and we know what to avoid.

How you can use line breeding

You can benefit from our line breeding in a couple of ways.

As one strategy, you can use our most closely bred bulls on your cows that are unrelated to our sires for offspring with hybrid vigor and a high frequency of the traits we’ve been selecting.

Or, you can use a series of our bulls with related parents, which will result in your own herd being line bred.

Wrapping It Up

We have given you a few excerpts here from our blog post about line breeding, where you will find more background and some examples of how our different sires are line bred.

As always, feel free to reach out with feedback and questions. Happy fall!

From Winnie:

Did you get your fill of heat and humidity this summer? We sure did, and are so relieved the weather has turned and we’re getting drier, fresher air and cooler nights. The cows are more relaxed, too. No matter how heat-tolerant they are, and ours are pretty good that way, they still feel better with more moderate conditions, don’t they?

We had some nice rains the latter part of the summer here at the homeplace, so our paddocks are refreshed and lush for fall grazing, almost a little ahead of us, but we don’t mind going into fall with a bit of surplus growth.

On a personal note, this time of year for me means back to teaching a couple of grand-kids part-time and volunteering at the local school. I love sharing about farm life with them, and together observing and appreciating God’s gifts of nature all around us.

My almost-six-year-old granddaughter from the suburbs came to spend a week and wow, was she ever eager to learn and help with everything she could. She was delighted to lead Sally, and noticed how much bigger the calf is than last time, but the determined little cowgirl still managed to stay in charge, more or less. I’m no pro at taking selfies, especially while holding a calf’s halter with one hand, but we did our best.

I hope you and yours are enjoying the season, too. We always love to hear from you!

From Martha:

Down here at my place we’ve been pretty dry, so pastures have slowed down regrowth, but we are stretching things with a few new projects that will let the main paddocks stockpile for later.

First, we’re grazing for a few weeks at the neighbor’s expired CRP. With some hay supplement it’s been fine feed for the cows, and I’m looking forward to seeing what improvements in forage quantity and quality we can get from a few years of rotational grazing.

Below you can see me saying hello to Fair Grace while checking the herd at the old CRP. She’s under the big mulberry tree that makes a nice bit of shade for the herd.

The other thing stretching out the grazing season is this cover crop we planted in mid July — it’s a diverse mix including pearl millet, grazing popcorn, mung beans, cowpeas, forage collards, turnips, and sunflowers.

We usually don’t do annuals, but this year we had a hay field that needed renovation, so we thought we’d do an experiment. We’re planning to start grazing this in the next few days.

We’re getting ready to make a fourth hay cutting, and the fall-calving cows are due in a few weeks.

As cooler weather sets in and the crops start to ripen and the trees start turning, I’m reminded that the growing season is coming to a close. I think it makes these glorious days all the more special.

I hope you’ve enjoyed this little window into what we’re doing these days, and as always, we love to hear what you’re up to!

Take care,

Winnie and Martha

Bestyet James was our first homebred Bestyet A.I. sire 40 years ago who started us on the path of providing a wide range of quality genetics from this rare breed that has been otherwise bypassed by the commercial dairy industry.

A study of the pedigrees of most current Dutch Belted animals will frequently turn up the name Bestyet James #2569. As this picture records, he was of medium frame, somewhat compact, strong yet refined, deep-bodied, perfectly belted with no other white, with sound feet and legs. Note his deep heels: his feet never needed trimming even though he was housed in straw/manure pack.

James produced many fine daughters in herds around the country and in our herd, such as the cows pictured below.

He was also a sire of excellent sons (like O’Neill’s He-Man). He not only enhanced the breeding programs of purebred herds, but he was also used widely for commercial crossbreeding, impressing dairy farmers with what the Dutch Belted breed has to offer in terms of reproductive efficiency and trouble-free production.

Bestyet James’ excellent dam and grandam

The dam of Bestyet James, O’Neill’s Jamie Hoffman #9191, was one of the first heifer calves purchased by Kenneth Hoffman from the O’Neill herd in 1981 (See our blog post on Dorothy O’Neill Hornback’s impact on the breed). She was sired by Lakenvelder’s Hilda’s Hector #2490. Kenneth had put in a request for a bull calf out of her mother (O’Neill Farms Jamie #9038), so he was especially pleased to have the opportunity to buy a heifer out of such an exceptional cow.

Kenneth was so eager to get started as a Dutch Belted breeder that he bred Jamie when she was 12 months old. She settled immediately to Dutch Hills Starbuck #2534, one of the only bulls available A.I. at that time, with an impressive production pedigree, his dam having a six-lactation average of 20,525M 3.7% 758F 3.5% 728P 305-2X-ME.

Here is Jamie in her second lactation in 1985 while milking 75 lbs/day.
(This photo, like the one of James and his daughters, was taken on the farm with the animal “in working clothes.”)

Bestyet James was O’Neill’s Jamie Hoffman’s first calf, which she dropped at the young age of one year, nine months. Her second lactation, beginning in December 1984, produced this actual record: 365d 23,530M 3.3% 778F 2.9% 670P, $1739 Income Over Feed Cost. (Her relatively low components test is an example of the inverse relation of milk volume and components, the predominance of pasture in her diet, and her freshening in December.) This was the top record produced on the Hoffman farm by any cow of any breed.

Milking persistence of Dutch Belted cattle

Jamie was an extremely persistent milker. Her peak milk was never over 85 lbs/day, while the normal lactation curve for her 3-year-old record would call for production over 100 lbs/day. Jamie typified the Dutch Belted trait of persistent and sustainable production. She comfortably milked at the 75lbs/day level for month after month, on a very modest ration of pasture and home-ground corn and oats. She refused to eat more than 8 pounds of grain per feeding, as she was built for a high forage diet.

Kenneth was impressed with Jamie’s dam, O’Neill Farms Jamie #9038, as one of the best cows in the O’Neill barn. Her official records show persistent production with excellent components and a calving interval less than 12 months. Her last record started at age 9 years and 3 months, with a 305-2X-ME of 17,400M 3.6% 627F.

Her dry periods were generally quite short. In one case she was not dried off at all, because she was so persistent and they didn’t want to feed a dry cow. Also this cow was never open even 100 days at a time, while many dairy cows now are open well over 100 days each lactation! She also usually only needed one service per conception.

O’Neill Farms Jamie #9038 was sired by King Herod ‘O’#2370, the sire of several other big, strong cows in the O’Neill herd. The famous herd prefixes of Land o’ Lakes and Pioneer appear several times in her extended pedigree.

Kenneth noticed these good old cows typified the Dutch Belted breed character seen in the best cows pictured in the old Bulletins, such as Julia Marlowe #1187, butterfat production winner over all breeds at the 1908 California State Fair, pictured below. These traits that are associated with good milk production on a forage-based diet are long head, clean neck, large and deep barrel, good symmetry, and medium size with moderate bone.

Reflecting on the beginnings of our Dutch Belted herd, it is clear that Kenneth Hoffman knew what he was doing selecting stock. He didn’t just want any old Dutch Belted cows—he knew how to breed from the best for production and dairy type. He also made a point of seeking quality bloodlines outside of the O’Neill herd to guard against inbreeding.

Because of his skillful linebreeding, outcrossing, and selection, the genetics we are offering now embody the best vintage genetics available. (While Bestyet James is no longer on our active sire list, we’ve retained a small supply for future special matings.)

We hope you’ve enjoyed this look back at the beginnings of our Dutch Belted breeding program. Would you enjoy more features like this?

Talk to you next month!

~Winnie and Martha

This month we thought we’d share just a sampling of updates we’ve received from some of you.

Michael in Minnesota emailed with his semen order and shared, “The cows are doing very well. We've added two Famous-P daughters to the milking herd this year and they are awesome. They each had a Boston daughter and a second lactation Famous-P daughter gave us a Stardust daughter. Thank you and your family for keeping the breed going.”

Thomas in Louisiana loves his Dutch Belted heifer, Felida, that he got from us last year. He contacted us recently for mating advice for her, and after studying her pedigree and looking over our different sires, we came up with recommendations. He ended up ordering semen from two different sires so he’ll be ready to breed her offspring as well. Here’s Felida enjoying a new break of grass last winter.

Loren of Pennsylvania sent us these photos of his Daosta daughter who’s doing a great job in their dairy herd. He likes the old dual-purpose genetics. She has a pretty fantastic udder, too, and good milk production. “She’s a good, solid cow,” he reports. She’s had two Felipe daughters already so he’s looking forward to adding them to his barn.

Michael of Tennessee purchased two heifer calves and a bull calf from us a couple years ago, and was excited to share the first birth in his little herd, a bull calf out of Eloise. “His name is Radimus, which is Latin for ‘bringer of storms’. He was born during a severe thunderstorm that knocked down a tree in the field.” It looks like, in spite of the stormy weather, he has hit the ground with typical Dutch Belted zest for life.

Feel free to email us pictures and reports of how our bloodlines are working in your herd. Truly, you’re part of our community as we work together to preserve and utilize these practical genetics. As you share your input, it helps add to the knowledge bank for all of us.

And we’ve had a number of new folks join us recently. Welcome — we’re glad you’re here! Do you have questions, general or specific, about grazing cattle or our breeds in particular? You can reply to this email directly. We’d love to help you.

Thanks for reading!

Best,

Winnie and Martha

In our herd, on the other hand, we expect our cows to last 6-8 or more lactations, and they regularly accomplish that, with 100% artificial insemination on observed heats only.

What does it take for a cow to last this long? We believe reproductive efficiency is key to longevity. As we have often said, as in this blog post, “Our cows come with their own hormones.”

And calving ease is a good start, right? When the cow is up and healthy and ready to produce from the get-go, she’s set to breed back sooner, which will bring her to another successful lactation.

We select for calving ease by never keeping a bull for semen collection or as a herd sire that needed to be pulled at birth. We breed for moderate rather than large-boned animals, and we like to see a healthy slope to the rump in our cows rather than the “boxcar” type.

Most of our cows are showing heats within 30 days of calving, and we often breed them 30-40 days post-calving, with success.

If you’re using our sires on heifers with Holstein or other large-boned genetics, we like to point you to some of our bulls that have the best track record for small calves. Felipe, Outstanding, and Flashback come to mind of the Milking Shorthorns. For Dutch Belted sires, we especially like Helpful, and Perfect Day and Tillamook would also be good options.

Of course, we always keep an eye on our heifers around calving in case they might need some help. Even if they do, it’s rarely anything extreme.

Other qualities important for longevity are mobility (good feet and leg structure), general hardiness, well-attached udders and good production, of course. We continue to select for this package of traits that make for a long-lived, useful cow.

By the way, we’re having a 20% off semen sale through July 31st, and as promised when we started this newsletter, you’re the first to hear about it! (To be fair, we may have to limit quantities on some of the scarcer Dutch Belted sires.) Remember, we ship anywhere in the United States, or you can pick it up at the farm by appointment.

Thanks for reading and keeping in touch!

~Winnie and Martha

Winnie

Happy spring, folks! Is your grass growing like crazy, too? We’re so thankful pasture season has come, and so are the cows, of course. Doesn’t the rich green just feed your soul? The contentment of the cows soaks into us, too. We notice the boost in milk production, and my granddaughter commented on how yellow the butter is now.

We had a dry late winter and early spring, so here at the homeplace we were able to let the cows spend considerable time in a sacrifice paddock without terribly mudding it up. We still kept the hay feeders full, since the cool and dry weather meant the grass was coming on slowly, but even so, it was good for the cows to be able to nibble some greenery and rest out on the spacious sod.

After some welcome rains and somewhat warmer weather, we started our rotations, and are about halfway through, with some hope of getting through them all before the heads pop up everywhere. If the grass gets too far ahead, we’ll pull some paddocks out for first cutting hay.

I appreciated the April issue of Graze magazine which had a really helpful advisors’ forum about spring grazing strategies. Each farmer had a different perspective, depending on grass and soil types, climate, goals, and experiences. One neat tip that made a lot of sense is looking at the sum of the temperature highs and lows and if they’re consistently more than 100, grass growth will be sustainable.

Martha

We’ve been out grazing full time without any hay for over a week now. Our grass is growing fast, and I’ve learned the key to keeping the fescue-heavy pastures as palatable as possible is starting to graze as soon as there’s significant growth (like the picture above, or even a bit less).

If the weather turns cold and grass slows down, I can always feed a little hay again, but that’s usually not necessary. I try to vary the order I graze paddocks each year.

I love how much the cows enjoy the rotational grazing routine and are excited to get new paddocks.

Well, I’m heading out to cut hay today, so we’ll talk soon!

News flash! This trusty old Picasso daughter (pictured below) just dropped a great bull calf that would make someone a good, solid herd sire carrying the milky side of dual purpose with great udders and longevity. He’s horned and could be A2/A2. Contact us soon for details if interested, or he’s going to become a valuable steer.

Happy grazing!

Winnie and Martha

Greetings to you all, and a special welcome to our new subscribers! We’re so glad you’ve joined the conversation.

Since there’s been more discussion in grazing circles lately about how it takes a different kind of cow for grass dairying compared to confinement grain feeding, we thought we’d delve into that a little more as we discuss one of our favorite sires.

When people ask us to recommend which of our Milking Shorthorn sires they should use, which of course will depend on their specific breeding goals, we often come back to Mericrest Picasso. We’ve seen generations of his daughters carrying the truly dual-purpose traits we strive for in our traditional Milking Shorthorns, the best balance of milk and beef traits.

We’re talking about cows that are moderate-sized, trouble-free, with great feet and legs for walking to and from pasture, and a mammary system that lasts. They have the ability to put on some weight, as can their offspring, but “put it in the pail” (old farmer talk for milking well) when lactating. We’re looking at well-built cows with strength, width, and depth.

Picasso has been used in other herds around the country with great results. His daughters on test have average lactations of 16,050 pounds of 3.6% butterfat and 3.1% protein milk, thus 580 pounds fat, 501 pounds protein. While these records are primarily in conventional herds, they indicate that he carries the milk production potential, and we have seen his daughters do very well on grass-only.

Of course, no single bull can carry all the traits we want in our cows, but when he consistently transmits a package of them, he’s worth noting.

Why is he so consistent? The intense linebreeding of his excellent dam tells part of the story, and his champion sire from the 1960’s representing great milk and components contributes the rest.

Conventional thinking holds that genetics are improving over time, so there’s the tendency to be always looking for something new. We believe, on the other hand, that a good bull is always a good bull and useful in a well-rounded breeding program. As current trends come and go, we build on the solid, workable genetics from master breeders of the past.

Not that our breeding constitutes a time capsule—we are always breeding for improvement in the traits that matter for today’s grass-based dairy producers. Making long-term, significant progress requires building on the best from the past.

You can see more about Picasso on page 20 of our current semen catalog, available here.

We’ll be back in your inbox next month — the grass is already greening up so we’re trying to be patient for pasture season.

Take care,

Winnie and Martha

One of our winter projects is done, though! We have finished compiling our new semen catalog, and we’ve expanded our general information pages so you can learn more about our breeds and what makes our grass-based genetics unique.

You will find pages and pages of pictures and pedigrees of our variety of Milking Shorthorn and Dutch Belted sires, and a couple of unique Milking Devon sires from a heritage herd.

Maybe you just like to feast your eyes on beautiful cows in green grass, or maybe you’re making your breeding plans for the coming seasons. Either way, enjoy!

You can view the catalog online here anytime. While you’re on our website, check out our extensive blog posts covering a variety of topics from history to husbandry to the art of breeding.

We can also email you a pdf of the catalog if you’d rather, or even mail a paper copy.

We love to hear what’s going on in your herds and are happy to help plan the best matings for your own cows.

You can contact us by phone (815-246-9523), email (bestyetaisires@gmail.com), or you can even reply to this if you’re reading it in an email! Let us know what we can do for you!

Take care,

Winnie and Martha

Ever since this town girl came to work on the farm 43 years ago and learned all about milking from my new boss (later to become my husband), I’ve liked the whole process: prepping the udders and seeing them let down, attaching the units, hearing the swish of the milk through the milkers and the rhythmic ticking of the pulsators, and then the supple feel of milked-out udders.

Of course, on some of these bitterly cold days, or in the summer heat and humidity, there are some challenges, but I think that’s part of the satisfaction, don’t you? That sense of victory and accomplishment each time the chores are done makes a great start for each day, for me.

Milking cows, and working with animals in general, brings its own special joys. There’s an old poem that Martha and I like, from a 1958 Milking Shorthorn Journal that captures some of that feeling. We hope you like it, too.

To Each His Own

The teacher tries to educate,

His class of girls and boys.

The postman walks with weary gait,

And Santa brings his toys.

The engineer sits in his cab

And looks along the track.

The chemist studies in his lab.

The hobo lugs his pack.

The lawyer figures up our tax.

The truckman makes his hauls.

The woodsman swings his mighty ax.

The doctor answers calls.

The pilot flies on soaring wings.

The weaver weaves his wools.

I’d rather work with living things

I like to feed the bulls.

The sculptor chisels on the rock.

The druggist makes his salves.

I’d rather work with growing stock,

I like to raise the calves.

The banker, others money, lends.

The actor makes his bows.

I’d rather work with man’s dumb friends,

I like to milk the cows.

By Lynn Copeland

Martha here: This poem has always resonated with me. There is a nearly indescribable feeling of joy, of peace, of fulfillment, when working with animals. It’s strongest for me when I’m milking and the cows are peacefully chewing their cud, or when I walk out to check the herd on the quiet of the evening and walk amongst the cows all spread out grazing or resting.

Keeping stock is something not everyone can experience, and it’s good to remember it’s a privilege to appreciate. It’s a helpful perspective as we take the good along with the challenges that come with animals. (Our recent bitter cold spell that made it a challenge to keep the cows watered without it immediately freezing solid comes to mind…)

All the conversations we have about breeding practical grazing cows and conserving genetics for the future are based in the fact that we enjoy cows.

Above: Martha milking Dragonfly.

Below: Winnie with Abby and her new heifer Blossom.

Take care,

Winnie and Martha