THE HAPPY LADIES OF WISCONSIN By Doug Urban The summer of 1975 was a memorable one for me and as an active 4-H and FFA member I was gone a large part of the summer attending conventions, dairy judging contests, the Wisconsin State Fair and cow shows. It was at the Wisconsin Championship Show in Shawano where I first saw an extremely tall, sharp dairy cow with an outstanding udder named Dunco Kayser Happy Barbara EX-94 DOM win the Grand Champion cow title as selected by judge Tom Nunes of California. At the halter was a petite woman named Barbara Kayser who led the 4-year-old daughter of Harborcrest Happy Crusader EX-92 GM. Later that year Happy Barbara placed first and was named Best Udder in class at the Central National Holstein Show in Madison with Barb at the halter once again. She was named All-American 4-Year-Old Cow in 1975, and was also a member of the 1975 All-American Honorable Mention Get of Sire and 1976 All-American Get of Sire by Harborcrest Happy Crusader EX-92 DOM. Her dam, a Good Plus-83 daughter of Our Black Diamond EX-91, was purchased at the Dunn County Hospital Farm dispersal and calved a month later with Barbara. Barbara had one daughter, Kayser Commander Happy Chiffon VG88 by Arlinda Commander VG-88 GM. Alvin and Barb Kayser of Janesville were active members of the state and national
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Holstein Association. Barb would be seen for many years to come showing her prized Holsteins at District and State Holstein shows and World Dairy Expo. Barb said, “Barbara put us on the map. My love for the Holstein cow is still alive today. I still help with some of our local shows and at World Dairy Expo. I always took the show string to the shows and considered it my vacation even though I worked the whole time. When showing is in your blood, it’s there forever.” At the same show in Shawano, another Harborcrest Happy Crusader daughter Dicharl Happy Beauty EX-90, would top a group of 32 cows to win the Three-Year-Old class for Dianne and Charles Heike of Dicharl Holsteins in Mondovi, WI. It was the following year in 1976 at the Wisconsin Championship Show where Beauty would really shine. Denise Deaton-Tolzman reminisced, “My brother, Alan Deaton, family friend, LeRay Hass and I took a total of 4 heifers and yearlings to the Wisconsin Championship Show in Lancaster in 1976. We were tied next to Diane and Chuck Heike. I remember walking in and seeing Beauty and thinking wow, what a cow! Her name was more than appropriate. I remember Dianne and Chuck talking about their lone entry. Several of their fellow Buffalo County breeders had convinced them that Beauty was a gem. Dianne, with her nervous laugh, spent most of the day before the show talking about how many of hours of milk to put into Beauty. Show day came and Dianne helped us get our heifers to the show ring. Chuck gave Dianne a hug on the way to ring with Dianne leading Beauty. I remember Dianne saying something like, well here goes nothing. When she came back out after winning the class, Dianne and Chuck were beyond thrilled. It was all smiles when Beauty won Grand. What a fun day for them in Lancaster in 1976.” Beauty was later named the Grand Champion Cow of the show. According to the show
report in the Wisconsin Holstein News, Dianne’s happy smile and “Happy Beauty” lit up the show arena and left a glow that made a warm spot for them both in the hearts of the audience, and a fitting climax for the largest State Show ever held, with 418 head paraded for Judge Richard Keene of New York. Dianne and Happy Beauty had continued success at the Central National National Holstein Show in Madison where she was first place FourYear Old Cow and second Best Udder in class. Beauty was also a member of the 1975 All-American Honorable Mention Get of Sire and 1976 All-American Get of Sire by Harborcrest Happy Crusader EX92 DOM. She had a daughter, Dicharl Stan Kerlee EX-91 who was sired by a Paclamar Bootmaker EX-94 GM son. Dianne passed away in 2007. She had partnered with her husband for 37 years to run a dairy farm and was known to wear many hats. She was very talented at showing dairy cattle and was an entrepreneur having several small businesses in Mondovi. She had an extensive collection of aprons and wrote about aprons having a book “My Grandma’s Aprons” published in 2003. Another daughter of Harborcrest Happy Crusader was led by Cheryl Ehrke, a junior Holstein member from Fort Atkinson. Her cow, Ehrke Norma Happy Pamela EX-93, was born on the family farm and was out of Ehrke Kandy Astronaut Norma VG-88, a daughter of Paclamar Astronaut EX-90 GM. Pamela was first shown as a ThreeYear Old in 1976 and was also a member of the 1976 All-American Get of Sire by