Bart Glass & Walco… Larger Than Life James Barton “Bart” Glass, 74, of Stanford, died Sunday, January 15, 2012. Born in Philadelphia, Pa., he was the son of the late James Edgar and Mary Julia Neely Glass. He was reared having a close association with purebred Holstein cattle. Bart attended Central Bucks High School where he was active in the Future Farmers of America, serving as president, and regional president. He obtained chapter and state farmer degrees, and won chapter, regional and state livestock judging contests as well as being runner up in the state dairy judging contest. Upon graduation he attended the National Agricultural College in Doylestown, Pa. Bart was president of the Block and Bridle Club for two years and class vice-president for three years. He won three major intercollegiate judging contests as a member of the livestock judging team. He also participated on the dairy judging and poultry judging team. Bart graduated in 1959 with a B.S. degree in animal science. During his college summers Bart worked for such noted Angus farms as Hideaway, Mahrapo and Ankony Farms. Upon graduation Bart and Jane were married and took over management of the Hasty Hills Angus herd in Suffern, New York, leading it to national recognition until its dispersal in 1965. The Glasses then rented Hasty Hills Farm and Glynwood Farm and operated their own herd of Angus cattle as well as an Angus sales management service until 1968. In 1968 Bart and George W. Perkins, a longtime Angus breeder, formed a partnership with locations in New York and Kentucky. During this period the Walbridge Farm herd bred, raised and showed 126 individuals at the International, Denver, Kansas City, Eastern National, Eastern States, Royal Winter Fair, Pennsylvania International, San Antonio, plus many state and regional shows. They exported cattle to eight foreign countries. The Walbridge partnership was dispersed in the fall of 1980. Bart started to breed Chianina cattle in 1973 and now owns and operates the Walco Chianina herd in Stanford, Ky. Bart was elected to Outstanding Young Men in America in 1969. He has judged many national and international livestock shows of many species and breeds in his career, both in this country and abroad. He was a respected livestock expert and consultant to many Standardbred breeders and both the Kentucky Standardbred and Lexington Selected Sales companies. He was a former president of the Mid-East Region of the American Chianina Association and was very active in the Angus Cattle Association. He raised many award winning cattle including Walbridge Barbara 12, Proud Lassie 649, Walbridge Milestone, Lombard, Walco Ky Colonel, Walco Golden Girl, Walco Silhouette and Walco Best Bet, as well as horses including Hesza a Laser, Hez Striking, Metropolitan, Scootin Mercedes, Lady Westgate, Tallulah Belle and many more award winning cattle and equine. He is survived by his wife, Jane Glass; three sons, John Daniel “Dan” Glass, James Barton (Lia) Glass Jr. , and Barton L. (Barbara) Glass; a sister, Betty Jane (Ralph) Maerz, and six grandchildren, Justus Barton Glass, Joshua Barton Glass, Lauren Jane Glass, James Jordan Glass, Jacon Ryan Glass and Lindsey Faye Glass.
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ig Bart always liked big, growthy cattle having been raised around Holstein dairy cattle. I first became aware of Bart in the late 1960s at the International Livestock Exposition (NAILE’s predecessor) which at that time was a very influential show in show ring circles – even much more than Denver. Bart was pushing the frame and growth envelope with the Walbridge Angus (Millbrook, N.Y.) herd. He was one of the first (with Dr. Harlan Ritchie, MSU & Roy Wallace, Select Sires) to discover the Erdmann Angus herd of South Dakota, where LeRoy Erdmann had expanded his dad, Ora’s, quest for bigger Angus. The growthier ‘tide’ in cattle phenotype was gaining strength in all breeds with Erdmann’s being one of the Angus leaders to larger, later maturing Angus. Bart started using Erdmann bulls and purchased select females from this operation as well.
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March/April 2012 • ACJ
I’m not sure just how and when Bart heard of Chianina, but he latched right onto the concept of producing a bigger framed, leaner, faster growing black breed and was one of the earliest ACA members. One of Bart’s early Italian Fullblood favorites was the bull Faletto. He was about the tallest, most agile bull of the initial Italian Fullblood importations to Canada (1970-71). Bart used the fullblood semen on the Walbridge Angus cows plus commercial Angus, Angus-Holstein, and Brown Swiss cows. Always interested in the Italian Fullblood Chianina sires, Bart jumped at the opportunity to select and import his own Italian sire. This was accomplished in 1974 when he imported a bull from France into the U.S. That bull, Lombard, arrived in the spring of 1975. The first time I personally saw Lombard – as a 2 yr old – was on a cattle selection tour ACA employee John Coble and I were on