Knolltop Farm Wife (Melissa Hart)

Welcome to my blog! I'm a wife, mother of four and a self-employed freelance writer. In addition to writing, I am involved in producing several dairy magazines and am the editor of Dairy Agenda Today where I have a blog there as well! This is a place where I can get what's in my head, down on paper (the internet). I hope you find encouragement and maybe a giggle or two!
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Tuesday, March 4, 2008

A little explaining....

Good Morning! It's 25 here this morning...spring came and went all in one day yesterday. Now we're in for storm warnings....again.
I guess I have a little explaining to do about yesterday's post on the Butlerview Sale. First of all, they were Holstein cows that were being sold. Very elite genetics, the kind of genetics that everyone wants a piece of, that's why they sold so well.
Just like I said I would, here are some pictures of the Butlerview sale, sorry, but I can't indentify everyone in the pictures which is a cardinal sin in writing. The top picture is the sale crew and the other two pictures are of some consignments and the buyers....again, I can't identify them unless I do some digging and right now I don't have time for that. But I do want to give Holstein World credit for the pictures...they were very generous in allowing me to post them here on my blog.
Burton-Fellers Sales, Inc., manged the sale and will have another sale this weekend in Branson MO., but it won't be near the average as the Parade of Perfection sale...well I guess I shouldn't say that...it might be...I have no idea! Anyway, the Branson Limited Edition Sale is neat because they set up a tent and have a sales arena at a really nice resort.
Okay, now onto the cow that threecollie mentioned, Brookview Tony Charity. She was a legendary cow winning Supreme champion at World Dairy Expo several times. I've heard people say she was a freak....whatever she was or wasn't, she was one of the great Holstein cows, a queen of the breed.

Now I have to brag just a little. Bobby used to be the herd manager at Brookview, where Charity was bred and born. She was well on her way to the winners circle by the time Bobby arrived in Fremont, Ohio, so he never left his mark on her but he got to see her pictures every morning that grace the walls at Brookview Farms, now managed by Eric Havens, son of the late John Havens and nephew of Carl Havens.

One of my favorite things to do is to get Bobby to start telling stories about his days on the road as a fitter. He traveled the United States, visiting every state except Hawaii as a fitter for shows and sales. He has more stories about more people than you can imagine and he can remember them in great detail. His memory about cows and their pedigrees is amazing, he can rattle off more names and classification scores than almost anyone I know. It's a gift, that's for sure.

Almost everyone I meet in the cattle business is someone I've heard a story about. It would make a great book one day. That can be my second book...."The passion of the purebred business and the men who have it"

Time for the second round of chores!

2 comments:

threecollie said...

That is just awesome! We went up to Port Perry to see her sell on our honeymoon. The sale took place during an incredibly violent thunderstorm and I was scared...real scared.
We took along a new camera to take pictures of her and it malfunctioned so sadly, we don't have any.

Frazzled Farm Wife said...

I would love to hear some of those stories!