In Black and White

NAME: LARRY KRANTZ HERD SIZE: 70 MILKING OPERATION TYPE: FREE-STALL ROBOTS LOCATION: STRATFORD, ON

1. What is your family’s history with Holsteins? My dad started with purebred Holsteins in the late 1950s. He always classified and went on test in the late 1970s/early 1980s. My grandfather started on this farm, it’s a century farm now.

2. What are your breeding goals? Ultimately, I want to breed good cows that give lots of milk and have long bodies that walk well. They must also have well attached udders. The current classification of the herd is 10 ME, 12 EX, 35 VG and 18 GP and the current herd production is 12,969M 544 4.2F 430 3.3P 288-326-301.

3. What genetic tools are most important in your breeding program? I milk test with DHI through the robots and classify. I think these are the most important. I also study bull proofs before selecting sires to use.

4. Describe the ultimate/ideal cow for your operation. I still like cows to be tall and wide through the chest, no matter what people tell you. This allows them to eat a lot of feed and milk well. I also want them to have great udders, particularly the fore udder. That is a longevity trait in my mind. Overall conformation must be solid.

5. What cow in your barn is currently the “Heart of the Herd”? The current “Heart of the Herd” would be Carldot Windmill Layla EX90-4YR, out of Carldot Doorman Lindsay EX-93. Layla gives a lot of milk and went Excellent at just over four years old. She has a tremendous will to work, making over 18,700 litres of milk in 365 days. We dried her up giving 40 litres a day. She will make 19,000 litres this lactation. She has three nice looking yearling daughters that I’m quite excited to see how they turn out.

6. What are you most proud of in your herd/operation? I’m proud that all my cows are deep pedigreed and have a real will to milk. I like my pedigrees! There is only one cow in the barn that has a Good Plus dam (and that was Good Plus 84 when I sold her), she is Excellent herself. All the other cows have dams with multiple generations of Very Good. I’m also proud to be a three-time Master Breeder (1988, 2000 and 2016).

7. If you could improve one thing in your operation, what would it be? I would maybe build a calf barn for baby calves. The hutches work ok, but a calf barn would be nice. I’m happy with how things are at the moment.

8. If you could have ANY cow standing in your barn, who would it be? Knonaudale Jasmine EX-96-4E 11*, she is a tremendous cow. She breeds and has shown well and her offspring do very well in the show ring and in sales. They’ve sold every embryo available.

9. What is one thing you would tell a young farmer starting out? I would say you have to get the most out of anything you have, cows, calves, and crops. I never had too much money to play with, so I maximized everything I had.

10. How do you use genomic information in your herd and what are your thoughts on the future of genomics? I do a bit of testing. If I knew I had one that was high, I’d try and follow along with her. I still think bull dams should be classified, milk recorded and from good families. I do have an interest in polled and A2A2 genetics. I think they will become more prevalent. I do have some calves that are A2A2 and A1A2.

11. How many cows do you flush each year? How do you market your embryos that are for sale? For the last couple of years, I’ve flushed one to two per year. I moved a lot of embryos in the past, but the market has changed a lot and I don’t think it will come back. I’m using a bit of sexed semen to get daughters out of top cows. I sell a lot of fresh heifers for milk.

12. Being in the breeding business, what traits do you find sell the best? What trait do you value most? They must have a good udder and be milking well when they are for sale. The cows also to have good mobility. A good cow will always sell. I recently sold Carldot Bautista Emma to Kingsway who sold her to Ducketts. She went through their sale. She was 6th at Madison, 3rd Sr. 3-Year-Old at Wisconsin Summer Championship Show and nominated All-American. That was neat to see.

13. Which bulls do you feel has had the most impact on your herd over the years and today? Bulls that have the most impact over the years are Lee, Outside, Goldwyn, Windbrook and Doorman. The Windbrook daughters really had a will to live and work hard. Today I’m using Fuel, Alligator, A2P2 and Barolo. I’ve just bought some Comestar Lemagic, possibly for a flush.

14. What are the management practices in place on your farm that you feel contribute the most to the success of your operation? Why? I try to get feed made right. Getting the crops off at the right time gives the cows the opportunity to maximize milk production. I also use the data from the robot. It gives me a head’s up if something is coming on with a cow and I can get a head start on treatment if need be.

Horsens SSI 3103 12374 ET (VG-85) Owner: Destiny Farms LLC, Marshfield, WI “RENEGADE has proven time and time again just how profitable his daughters are in our herd. His daughters consistently rank highest in our herd for fertility and ECM. They have some of the best udders we’ve ever seen and they keep getting better and better!” – Destiny Farms LLC, Marshfield, WI

Second Lactation RENEGADE daughters; Owner: Destiny Farms LLC, Marshfield, WI S-S-I Renegde 8700 10784-ET (VG-86-VG-MS) Owner: New Morning Holsteins, Monkton, ON Claynook Chris Renegade (VG-86) Owner: Claynook Farms Ltd, New Hamburg, ON

the “AMYLY” Family! Ashton

Alligator x Unix x Deman x Uno x “Amyly” From 12 generations of VG or EX’s from the unparalleled Italian Amyly family 2007 & 2009 Italian National Champion and 2007 Holstein International World Champion.

Dam: TOC-Farm Unix Alexi VG-89-ITA (EX MS)

KINGS-RANSOM

the “ROXY” Family!

Corona Alleyoop x King Doc x “Cleavage”

Coming Soon!

Remarkable ALLEYOOP son from an 11th generation EX dam. This represents a modern-day incarnation of the greatest transmitting cow family ever – the Roxy’s! Corona’s flawless breeding descends from a maternal line that has continued to exceed and excel generation after generation like no other.

2nd Dam: Kings-Ransom MG Cleavage EX-95-5YR-USA (EX-97 MS) the “LAURIE SHEIK” Family!

Lemagic COMESTAR Chief x Impression x “Lamadona” From a VG-89 Impression daughter of the World-Famous Lamadona, a perennial All-Canadian & All-American nominee from the most impactful family in Holstein genetics worldwide over the past 35 years - the Laurie Sheiks!

2nd Dam: Comestar Lamadona Doorman EX-94-2E-CAN 19*

the “PORTRAIT” Family! BOSDALE Coming Soon! PathwayAlligator x Doorman x Bolton x Goldwyn x “Portrait”

Alligator from one of Canada’s most complete cow families - the Portraits!

The family matriarch, “Outside Portrait”, has gained universal renown as the ultimate brood cow for the 3X Master Breeder Bosdale herd.

4th Dam: Bosdale Outside Portrait EX-94-2E-CAN 19*

NEW RELEASE Elite Sires! Alligator x Impression x Aftershock Alligator x Impression x “Ada & Adeen Family” GPA LPI +3275 +16 Conformation ActionmanCHERRYHILL HarrisMATTENHOF

Lambda x Tatoo x “Hanna-Vray”

“Gr. Ch. Expo Bulle 2022 & Res. Gr. Ch. Swiss Expo 2020” GPA LPI +2959 +15 Conformation