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EASTRIVER GOLDWYN DEB 176
EASTRIVER GOLDWYN DEB 176 A Family Full of Success
When the Holstein Association USA announced their 2020 Star of the Breed - Eastriver Goldwyn Deb 176 - it provided a timely opportunity to take a look at one of the most successful, consistent matings seen in North America over the past decade. We all know specific cow and bull matings that are a ‘nick’, but you’d be hard pressed to find one more dependable than using Goldwyn on Homestead Astronomical Deb EX-95-3E-CAN 12*.
Born in September 2004, Astronomical Deb was bred in the Nova Scotia Master Breeder herd of the Logan Brothers and carried their Homestead prefix. In fact, she was the eighth generation Homestead-bred out of a VG Jed Approval, then a VG-87 4* Skychief. Behind that, classic Canadian sires such as Hanoverhill Lincoln, Downalane Reflector Emperor, and Seiling Rockman are scattered throughout her pedigree. Like many Astronomicals, she was a fancy, strapping heifer and won the Senior Calf class at the 2005 Atlantic Summer Show en route to HM All-Atlantic 4-H Senior Calf honors at the year end. As a yearling, she was purchased as part of a package of five heifers by Bruce Wood of Marshfield, PEI to add to his Eastriver herd, where she freshened as a 2-yearold in February 2007. Unlike many Astronomicals, she calved in with a really nice udder and scored Very Good with a VG-MS in her first lactation. “She was a really good young cow, if a touch old-fashioned,” remembers Bruce Wood. “She didn’t work real hard in that first lactation. We were just entering the Goldwyn era, and I thought that would be a good flush mating on her to give her a little more milkiness. She had the width and substance of bone for Goldwyn, and when those first calves hit the ground in 2009, we thought they were special.” In fact, the group of five Goldwyn heifers from Deb born the first week of September 2009 should go down in Holstein history as one of the most successful single flushes of all time! Eastriver Gold Deb 848 scored EX-932E and made almost 170,000 lbs of milk lifetime for Extondale Farms in PEI; Eastriver Gold Deb 866 went EX-92-4E 1* for Windyoaks Holsteins and Valleyside Holsteins in Nova Scotia and left four Very Good daughters; Eastriver Gold Deb 861 went EX-90 3* at Ferme Maida in Quebec where she has been flushed extensively and has eight VG & EX daughters with several more to calve.
Arguably, the best two cows resulting from that flush landed in the US: Eastriver Gold Deb 851 ended up scoring EX-93 3E at Feltmann Dairy in Minnesota and has six VG & EX daughters by five different sires, including an EX-93 Stanleycup; and Eastriver Gold Deb 850 EX-95, who became well-known for her show ring resume. She was Junior Champion at the Atlantic Summer Show in 2010 as a fall calf for Eastriver, and was the Reserve All-American and Reserve All-Canadian Milking Yearling in 2011 for Butlerview, Durrer and Borba. Sold to Milksource Genetics in 2013, she scored EX-95 there at the young age of 5-10. Her daughter, Milksource Sid Desire, was purchased by David Dyment as a winter calf and was 2nd at Madison in 2015 on her way to being named Reserve All-American Winter Calf. Velthuis Farms bought her before the Royal that year and had a
BRUCE WOOD referencing an early mating of Homestead Astronomical Deb
great deal of success with her as she was the All-Canadian Intermediate Calf in 2015 and the All-Canadian Intermediate Yearling in 2016. It didn’t take long for the word to get out about the crazy good Goldwyn x Astronomical Deb matchup. “One of the first ones (850) sold to Donald Dubois who was showing for us, and pretty soon they were all in demand. We sold some as September calves, and most of Deb’s daughters were gone from here by the time they were two,” relates Bruce. “We kept flushing her and tried a few other bulls on her, but nothing ever clicked like Goldwyn. She was an immense cow. Some might say too big for practical purposes, but even though we have a traditional, not real modern tie-stall barn, she got up and down like a young cow and moved around really, really well for a big cow. We never really noticed her! She never had any issues - we never had to call the vet for her, no foot or mobility problems, just a cow that took care of herself. She and all of her daughters were easy to work with, so it was a group that was always nice to have around.” Bruce has sold all of the Deb offspring that he had at Eastriver, and back in 2014 sold half interest in Deb to Leighside Farms of New Brunswick, where she left a few more daughters. To date, Deb has six Excellent (scored from 90 to 93) and six Very Good daughters in Canada, and five Excellent (scored from 91 to 95) and one Very Good daughter in the US. Back to Eastriver Goldwyn Deb 176 who, as the 2020 Star of the Breed, garnered the highest honor presented to a Holstein cow by the Holstein Association USA. The award recognizes a cow that displays exceptional type combined with outstanding production, and Deb 176 fills the bill on both sides of that equation. Born in September 2013, she was one of the later Goldwyn x Deb daughters born at Eastriver, but like most of the Debs, she found a new owner before making a career at that farm.
David Dyment of Ontario was down east buying heifers along with PEI native Hollis Newson when they made one of their regular stops in at Eastriver. “I always loved the old Astronomical cow - just a tremendous brood cow, and Bruce always had something good out of her floating around the farm. I’d purchased a couple of her Goldwyn daughters in previous years, and I saw Gold Deb 176 as close springer on that trip in December of 2015. I bought her that day and struck a deal with Bloyce Thompson to go pick her up and milk her at Eastside. They do an outstanding job and I really liked this heifer and thought she had a ton of potential,” remembers David. “I’d just had a great experience with the Sid daughter of Gold Deb 850 (Milksource Sid Desire, mentioned earlier) and members of this family always seemed to do things right.” Gold Deb 176 did do things right as a 2-year-old. She scored VG-87 at Eastside, made a nice record, got bred back and calved again in March of 2017. David recalls how she made her way to the US, “Michael Heath called me that spring wondering if I had anything special for their sale (The Best of Triple-T & Heath 2nd edition). This cow came to mind and we made the decision to consign her and brought her out of the east to Ohio for the sale. She sold for about $6,800, and I’ll be honest, I thought she would bring a bit more than she did that day, but I give credit to Michael for getting her sold. He was on the phone with the young guys that bought her, and they have done a great job developing her.” The young guys were Corey Feltmann and Andy Stuewe of Minnesota. Corey actually was trying to buy a nice Ladd-P cow from the sale, but she sold for more than his budget allowed. He was still on the phone with Micheal Heath as Gold Deb 176 came into the ring. “Mike told me to hold on and consider buying her. He said she had a really good udder and had a lot of potential,” recalls Corey. “I was interested because we already owned a full sister to her - Eastriver Gold Deb 851 who had gone EX-93 3E at our place and was really a good cow.” Corey and Andy farm five minutes apart
Eastriver Goldwyn Deb 176 EX-94 2E has graced the show ring numerous times while also producing over 177,000 Lb milk lifetime. Judge Pat Conroy selected Gold Deb 176 as Senior and Grand Champion of the Midwest Fall National Holstein Show in 2018. Photo © Cowsmo
from each other in Carver County, MN - not far southwest of the Twin Cities. They’ve owned a number of cattle together over the years and Gold Deb 176 has been one of their favorites, though they may not have guessed that when they got her off the truck from the sale. “She’d made a couple of long trips - from PEI to Ohio, then from Ohio to Minnesota, so she wasn’t overly impressive when we went to pick her up,” laughs Corey. “Andy wasn’t too sure I had done the right thing, but as she settled in at Andy’s, she just kept getting better and better.”
That’s not an understatement, as just six weeks later she traveled to the Minnesota State Show where she won the senior 3-year-old class and was named Reserve Intermediate Champion. In 2018, she was the All-MN 4-Year-Old and Reserve Grand Champion of the State Show and then was crowned Senior and Grand Champion of the Midwest Fall National Show that fall.
She’s lived at both Andy’s farm (FlowerBrook Holsteins) and Corey’s place (Feltmann Dairy LLC) over the years. She is now scored EX-94 2E and has been an exceptional production cow as well with a top individual record at 4-06 of 45,250M 4.4% 1984F 3.5p 1577P and has lifetime totals of 177,120M 7055F & 6029P to date. Echoing Bruce Wood’s thoughts about her dam, Corey praises her for how easy she is to have around. “She’s really been trouble-free. She’s obviously been fun to have in the show string, and she makes a lot of milk easily - just a low-maintenance cow.”
Corey has plenty of good comments about the whole cow family. “We already owned a Gold Deb (851), that we call Old Deb. I would say she took after the Astronomical more, while New Deb (176) is definitely more of the Goldwyn, but the whole family makes beautiful cows and they all milk. The only thing we keep an eye on is the rump angle to watch the pins a bit, but they are all cows that do well in our freestall set up. The one thing I notice over and over with the family is that they are good doers and are aggressive herd members. They always end up as the boss cows and even as calves, they’ll stand and eat twice as much as the others.”
‘New Deb’ already has two VG-86 Doorman daughters for the Stu-Felt partnership, with Solomon, Doorman, and Avalanche daughters yet to calve this year. She has pregnancies on the way by King Doc, Delta-Lambda, and Master and is due in October to Jagger. Corey anticipates a fruitful future with Gold Deb 176, “We’ve really been impressed by her offspring so far, so once she calves again and is on-track, I imagine we’ll keep IVFing her. The Gold Debs are cows that you’d love to have a hundred of in the barn!”
And as for her new-found stardom as Star of the Breed? “I’ve been a little surprised at how big of a deal it’s been,” admits Corey. “We’ve had calls and messages from all across the country, so it’s been a really positive experience. It’s great to see that people appreciate a cow like this, who can milk, show, and transmit - just a really fantastic example of what the Holstein cow can do!”
Eastriver Goldwyn Deb 176 is the 2020 Holstein Association USA Star of the Breed! Pictured with Deb are Ava (13), Jade (11) and Andy Stuewe on her left and Corey, Emily (6), Katie, and Olivia (9) Feltmann on her right. By Kathleen O’Keefe
COREY FELTMANN
Andy Stuewe and Gold Deb 176, 2nd Lifetime Production Cow at the Midwest Fall National Holstein Show in 2020. Photo © Cowsmo
May 1, 2021, Jefferson, WI · Judge John Erbsen, IL · 186 Head
JUNIOR CHAMPION
Milksource Tstorm Chrome-ET (Thunder Storm), 1st Fall Yearling, Milk Source LLC, WI
RESERVE JUNIOR CHAMPION
Kingsway Denver Gamma-ET (Denver), 1st Summer Yearling, Kenlee Philips, TX
HM JUNIOR CHAMPION
Ms Laces Upgrade Lacie-ET (Upgrade), 1st Winter Yearling, Golden Oaks Farm, IL
INTERMEDIATE & RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION
Oak-Ridge-K Gchip Turbo (Gold Chip), 1st Senior 3-Year-Old, Milk Source LLC, WI
RESERVE INTERMEDIATE CHAMPION
Our-Favorite Lustre-ET (King Doc), 1st Junior 3-Year-Old, Andrea Buck Dossing, WI
HM INTERMEDIATE CHAMPION
Milksource Attica-Red (Loyola-P), 2nd Junior 3-Year-Old, Milk Source LLC, WI
SENIOR & GRAND CHAMPION
Blondin Goldwyn Subliminal-ET (Goldwyn), 1st Lifetime Production Cow, Peter & Lyn Vail and Budjon Farms, WI
RESERVE SENIOR & HM GRAND CHAMPION
Ms Atwood Lacey-ET (Atwood), 1st Aged Cow, Tyler Carter, IL
HM SENIOR CHAMPION
Budjon-Vail Drm Sunshine-ET (Doorman), 1st 4-Year-Old, Peter & Lyn Vail and Budjon Farms, WI
PREMIER BREEDER
Milk Source LLC, WII
PREMIER EXHIBITOR
Budjon Farms, WI Senior & Grand Champion Blondin Goldwyn Subliminal-ET, Peter & Lyn Vail and Budjon Farms, WI.
JUNIOR SHOW
JUNIOR CHAMPION
Quietcove Avalnche Faith-ET (Avalanche), 2nd Spring Yearling, Jacob, Logan & Madison Harbaugh, WI
INTERMEDIATE & RESERVE GRAND CHAMPION - JR SHOW
Ruann Doorman Gay 91519-ET (Doorman), 6th Senior 2-Year-Old, Arnie, Ashley & Andrew Gruenes, MN
SENIOR & GRAND CHAMPION - JR SHOW
Lovhill Braxton Funky-ET (Braxton), 5th Aged Cow, Joseph, Zach, Jerome & Darian Stransky, MN
Junior Champion, Milksource Tstorm Chrome-ET, Milk Source LLC, WI. Intermediate & Reserve Grand Champion Oak-Ridge-K Gchip Turbo, Milk Source LLC, WI. Grand Champion Junior Show Lovhill Braxton Funky-ET, Joseph, Zach, Jerome & Darian Stransky, MN.
