Crater Holsteins

There may be lots of trees, rocks, hills, a lake and even a meteorite crater on their farm, but it is the outstanding Holstein herd of Tom and Karen Babcook and family of Crater Farm, Hartington, Ont., that truly takes centre stage at this Frontenac County dairy operation. A family farm where keeping things simple and efficient is key, the Babcooks’ success in breeding Holsteins with great conformation has kept the rewards coming. Five generations of Babcooks have owned Crater Farm since it was established in the 1860s by George Babcook. Purebred Holsteins were introduced in the 1950s by Tom’s grandfather and greatgrandfather, Ray and Gerald. They took the prefix “Crater” after the Holleford Crater located on the farm. Scientists estimate that the crater, revealed in aerial photos in 1955, was created when a meteorite, travelling 55,000 km/hour, smashed into the earth eons ago blasting a hole 244 metres deep and 2.5 km wide. The site, which is now marked by a commemorative plaque, has drawn geology professors, students and visitors. Tom’s parents, Irwin and Jerry, took over Crater Farm in 1986. Tom,

STORY BY BONNIE COOPER

now 49, and Karen, 48, bought the farm in 2013. They have three children. Dylan, 19, is now working here full-time, while his sisters, Katie, 21, a full-time nurse, and Stella, 15, also help out with the 140-head Holstein herd. Alfalfa and grass hay and corn for silage are grown on the 500-acre farm. Tom’s Dad and brother Vince, plus the occasional part-time student, help out with fieldwork and relief milking. A work-life balance is important to the Babcooks. “Our kids are involved in a lot of sports and activities like 4-H and we try not to miss those events,” says Karen. Tom is a long-time Frontenac County Holstein Club Director and Karen was a 4-H leader for 10 years. Tom, Dylan and Irwin all play on a farmers’ pick-up hockey team. In the summer, the family enjoys spending time at their cottage just a few minutes away on Knowlton Lake.

THE INDIANA FAMILY

Crater Indiana Goldwyn EX-93-4E 5* is the cow who will forever hold a special place in the Babcooks’ hearts. Not only did Indiana put Crater Farm on the map with her show winnings, but she and her family have, and continue to play, a major role here. Born in

FAMILY PHOTO The Babcook family of Crater Farm, Hartington, ON, from left, Tom, Katie, Dylan, Karen and Stella are pictured with some of the current favourites in this Frontenac County herd. In the foreground is Crater Magda Doorman EX-93-3E, a third generation homebred EX, while the calves in the back are Crater Camomile Lambda and Crater Camri Lambda, a pair of high GPA Conformation daughters of Crater Camilina Sidekick. . PHOTO BY DARLENE GRAHAM.

2009, this Goldwyn daughter competed at the TD Canadian 4-H Dairy Classic as a senior calf for Karen’s niece Sophie. After Indiana calved as a milking yearling in September 2011, Sophie’s boyfriend (now husband), Kyle Rivington of Riview Jerseys/Glennholme Holsteins, Carp, wanted to see her. Tom recalls, “It was raining that morning. When we opened the big door to let the cows in, we heard a big bang. Indiana had been thrown into a 6-foot water trough, was on her side and flaying her head. Luckily there was a loader tractor nearby with two bale spears which fit perfectly around the trough. We lifted it up and slowly tipped her out. Indiana got up, shook it off and went into the barn and started eating. When Kyle got there, he said, ‘Oh, you’ve washed her already.’ I never told him differently for months,” laughs Tom.

Interest from buyers intensified in this stylish heifer as she placed second in the milking yearlings at Kemptville Championship Show that fall and then went to Gerald Coughlin’s Trent Valley Farm until the Royal Winter Fair. When Indiana arrived at the Royal, the phone calls started. Indiana was purchased by Mario Comtois of Gen-Com Holstein, Drummondville, QC. She went on to win her class at the Royal as a thrilled Babcook family watched. Later, she was named All-Canadian Milking Yearling for 2011. In 2012, Indiana was nominated for All-Canadian and All-American Senior 2-Year-Old after another solid show season. While the decision to sell Indiana was an emotional and difficult one, Karen says looking back, “It was a good choice. Indiana really opened up a lot of cattle markets for us in Quebec in the years to come. That was so good for us.” As fate would have it, a few years later the Babcooks were able to reacquire Indiana privately before the 2016 Gen-Com Dispersal where her progeny were among the top selling families. Back home, this beloved cow joined her dam, Crater Santana Linjet EX93-6E 10*, and a slew of sisters. “Indiana and Santana were big, powerful, wide cows. We ET’d them and on the first flush got 59 sexed embryos between them,” beams Tom. “They are still the main family in our herd.” Indiana lived to be 10-years-old, made 107,799 kg milk, 4.1% fat, 3.4% protein lifetime. She has two EX and 11 VG daughters to date with several VG daughters still at Crater, along with an Absolute-Red calf. Santana, who was Grand Champion at the Frontenac County Show in 2012, lived to be 13. She had six EX (all Goldwyns), 15 VG (eight Goldwyns) and four GP daughters. It was Indiana’s fourth dam, Crater Janet Broker EX-2E 1*, that gave the Babcooks the “show bug”. “It was 1998, the same year we got married,” the couple says. “Classifier Don Aylsworth had just made Janet 89 points and said we should get her to a show. We had never showed at that point. We took Janet and one calf to the Frontenac County Show in Kingston where the fellow Frontenac breeders welcomed us and were really encouraging as Janet went on to win Grand Champion. We have only missed one or two Frontenac Shows since. We always have a lot of 4-H calves and enough cows in our string to make a Breeder’s Herd. We have had four of the show’s last eight Grand Champions.”

MORE CRATER SUCCESS

The Crater prefix also appears in the pedigree of a noted Red & White show champion in the U.S., Dyks Kite Linda-Red-ET EX95-4E-USA, a three-time All-American and 2008 Reserve Grand Champion at World Dairy Expo. Her Rubens dam, Double-G Rubens Lindsay EX-94-4E-USA, was nominated for All-Canadian Milking Yearling in 2001 and is a daughter of Crater Broker Lucky, who was sold in dam by the Babcooks in 1993. “By streamlining things, and keeping it simple, we can get in and out of the barn faster and can have other people step in and help us when needed without much problem.” - TOM BABCOOK

Creating lots of excitement currently for the farm is a March 2020 heifer, Crater Camilina Sidekick, from the famed Camomile family. Five years ago, Tom bought six Doorman embryos from Silvermaple Damion Camomile EX-95-USA 5*, the two-time All-Canadian and All-American by Damion. While they ended up with only one viable daughter, a Sidekick flush to that VG Doorman produced Camilina, a high genomic heifer with +13 GPA Conformation (4/22). Camilina was flushed as a virgin heifer. She now has three bulls and three heifers born in 2022 by Delta-Lambda who are all over +3200 GPA LPI, with the top bull at +14 GPA Conformation and a heifer at +15 GPA Conformation. The bull has generated interest from A.I. companies.

“We have bred five EX-93 and one EX-94 cow in the last ten years,” says Tom proudly. The heart of their herd today is 6-year-old Crater Magda Doorman EX-93-3E. This third generation, homebred EX by Doorman just gained her 3E in June and has young heifers by Sidekick, Chief and Delta-Lambda. Magda is from Crater Melon Sanchez EX-93-4E 3* and then an EX-90 Goldwyn. The highest scored Crater bred cow, Crater Lia Goldwyn EX-94-3E, is owned by Fermes Silvercrest, Belgo and Belgarde, Acton Vale, QC, and was Grand Champion at Expo Richmond in 2018.

KEEPING IT SIMPLE

“We try to keep it simple and efficient on our farm,” says Karen. “Efficiency is a big deal for us.” As Tom reiterates, “Simple is better. That is a big key when it comes to management. By streamlining things, and keeping it simple, we can get in and out of the barn faster and can have other people step in and help us when needed without much problem.”

3

1 4

PHOTOS 1. A row of comfy animals in the old Crater tiestall, 2. Stella, Karen, Irwin, Tom, Katie and Jerry Babcook during the 2020 Frontenac District Tours, 3. The barns at Crater Farm reflect the change and progress the Babcook family has made over the years, with the 2002 tie-stall barn on the right housing the milking herd today, 4. Crater Santana Linjet EX-93-6E 10*, at left, and her daughter, Crater Indiana Goldwyn EX-93-4E 5*, the 2011 All-Canadian Milking Yearling who put Crater Farm on the map, have had a major impact in Tom and Karen Babcooks’ breeding program, 5. Tom and Karen Babcook with Crater Magda Doorman EX93-3E, 6. The Babcooks pasture their cows six months out of the year at Crater Farm in Frontenac County. PHOTO 1 SUBMITTED, PHOTO 2 BY ANDREA EMOND, PHOTOS 3 & 6 BY BONNIE COOPER, PHOTO 4 BY VICKI FLETCHER, PHOTO 5 BY DARLENE GRAHAM.

progress and more than 160-year history. The original barn, with its low ceilings and worn wood, is in the middle, while to the left is a barn put up in 1986. On the right is the attractive tie-stall barn, with its automatic window curtains and great cow comfort, built in 2002. The Babcooks currently milk 70 cows with automatic take-offs in this barn where cows are fed a TMR of corn silage, haylage, dry corn and protein supplement. “Six months of the year our cows are outside on pasture and just come in for milking,” say Tom and Karen. “They seem to stay healthier, have less trouble with their feet and legs, and their mobility is really good because of the pasture. They travel up to a 1/2 mile each way on the county road past our farm to get to their pasture. Lots of cameras come out from city people travelling through the area who have never seen a live cow,” they smile. “I want a good legged and uddered cow with a wide frame,” states Tom. Those goals are reflected in the present Crater herd of three ME, six EX, 40 VG and 13 GP cows who average 210-228-230 BCA for production. There is even an Excellent Jersey in the lineup. Karen explains. “One day, Tom had a weak moment and said, ‘I would even milk a Jersey if I had one.’ I made the phone call and within five minutes had bought Tom a Jersey. We bred her and we now have our first homebred, Excellent Jersey.”

Tom became interested in breeding and selecting bulls as a teenager. “I learned a lot from my Dad. I used to get Holstein Canada’s Who’s Who book and loved it. Now I spend a lot of time on my phone researching bulls.” High conformation and health traits are major considerations for him when choosing bulls. Linjet, Outside, Goldwyn and Doorman have had a big impact on the breeding program, followed now by bulls like Sidekick and Delta-Lambda. The number one Delta-Lambda heifer for Dairy Strength in Canada, Crater Belleva Lambda, is a product of these crosses being from a fourth generation VG Sidekick who traces to Crater Lexus Linjet EX92-3E. Two-thirds of the bulls used at Crater are proven and 80% of the semen is sexed. Beef semen is used on the lower end of the herd.

The Babcooks have genomic tested quite a few animals recently. “We do it for marketing, to see what the animal is lacking, and what, or whether or not, to breed them,” says Tom. For years, the Babcooks boarded out at least 20 bred heifers to other farms during the winter. But with slower cattle markets and rising heifer raising costs, Tom says they made a conscious decision two years ago to cut costs by keeping all their heifers at home, reducing their heifer inventory, and “becoming more efficient”. They also lowered their age at first-calving from 29 to 24 months. Genomic testing, and the use of sexed and beef semen, means they can concentrate even more on their best genetics now. As Tom looks ahead in the industry, he says, “I think there is a future for A2 milk. I know people who have bought A2 milk because they have digestive issues and it has really helped them. But they can’t necessarily get it where they want to because it isn’t in every store. This is a market our dairy industry is missing and should be filling more. While a lot of our cows are A2A2 just by coincidence, I think if more commercial dairymen used A2A2 bulls and we focused on that market it could boost milk sales and increase the amount of available milk quota.” Tom and Karen Babcook are proud of their family, Holstein herd and the life they have built at Crater Farm. By being progressive, yet keeping it simple, they will continue to move forward and remain successful in the years to come.