The Royal Trip - Day 1 - Part 2
After the Royal Exhilaration Sale, we traveled northwest of Guelph to the beautiful farmland of Perth County.
Our first destination was the Master Breeder herd of Legacy Holsteins of Atwood, Ontario.
Owned by Dr. Karen Galbraith and Steve Dolson and their sons, Jordon and Scott, the herd consists of 78 cows milked three times a day. Steve breeds for balanced, good-producing cows with solid pedigrees - he likes to see all VG or better dams in the pedigree.
EX Lorenzo daughter
Embryo sales drive the breeding program to a point. Steve has a strong market for embryos that have a high level of production built in, so that determines his choice of some mating sires. The income from those sales pays for all of his flushing expenses - after those embryos are made he branches out and uses some less production-driven bulls as well. Currently, he is using Baxter, Bolton, Mr Burns and, even though he says his heifer barn is full of them, Goldwyn. He just freshened out his first Goldwyn daughter, pictured below.
Steve Dolson with fresh Goldwyn daughter to the right
Silky Powerplay daughter
The couple has been farming since 1985 and they built a coverall barn for the milking herd in 1999. The barn consists of 66 freestalls, double six milking parlor and three maternity pens. There are also 12 tie stalls for fresh cows, special needs cows and those individuals that don”t adapt to the freestalls. With its wide feed alleys on each side and the automatic scraper system, the barn is a unique blend of “big herd” methods put to use with a moderate-sized herd.
Milking barn at Legacy Holsteins
Heifer facilities at Legacy
The herd has put numerous bulls in AI and has also produced show winners over the years. Steve still admires bulls like Boulet Charles for the brood cow abilities exhibited by their daughters - always the chance to get a “good one”!
Next…our visit to Foundation Sires!