Lawn Boy-Red A Polled Holstein Legacy

By: Fred Hendricks owner of SunShower Acres, Ltd., Bucyrus, Ohio – U.S.A.

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Bob Feldwich of New Knoxville, Ohio, the breeder of (7HO8223) Aggravation Lawn Boy P-Red PO, first brought the bull to my attention at nearly one year of age. Bob had struggled to get an A.I. firm to take the bull due to his unproven sire, Dudoc Bacculum-Red. Bob was comfortable in offering Lawn Boy to SunShower as we had an excellent working relationship through the syndication and development of other polled bulls from Lawn Boy’s family.

At first observation, Lawn Boy was a striking individual. He was a tall fancy calf with a great deal of class. His dam was a Very Good-86 polled and red carrier Manfred daughter with good milk credentials. His grandam was a Very Good-87 polled and red carrier Aerostar daughter with 187,000 pounds milk. She later surpassed 200,000 pounds milk lifetime. The source of polled in the cow family came through from Larry-Moore Crosby B Poll-Red, sire of his third dam. Crosby-Red was a son of Burket-Falls True Value-Red PO. Hanover-Hill Triple Threat-Red established a dependable source of appealing confirmation through his fourth dam.

As independents, we were able to sample outside the traditional box. In this case, the traditional box was the requirement to have a proven sire, before the days of genomics. Although Bacculum was not proven, he was an excellent compliment to Lawn Boy’s cow family. Consequently, the Lawn Boy Syndicate was willing to go outside the box to sample and develop this promising polled red Holstein.

Sampling – Development

Lawn Boy was housed at and semen collected by InterGlobe Genetics of Pontiac, Illinois. The bull was promoted via traditional avenues such as the Red Bloodlines magazine. Through the hundreds of bulls sampled by SunShower syndicates, there had never been a bull as popular as Lawn Boy. While he was a striking individual, no doubt polled was a major influence in Lawn Boy’s popularity.

As the sampling process was winding down, Jeff Ziegler with Select Sires contacted me to determine if Lawn Boy could be made available for their program. By this time Bacculum had a proof. The genetic potential for Lawn Boy was looking encouraging. SunShower had a long working relationship with Select Sires; consequently they had confidence in our sampling capabilities. Lawn Boy was subsequently leased to Select. At that juncture, the syndicate had distributed 2,460 units of semen in approximately 175 herds.

Upon clearing all health tests, Select Sires launched Lawn Boy as a Super Sampler. Lawn Boy became very popular for them. In fact, Select Sires distributed over 10,000 units of semen within eighteen months of his semen release. His eventual daughter production and type results support his enduring legacy. After several sessions by Holstein classifiers, Lawn Boy was rated Excellent-94, certainly an attractive individual.

Wild-Type Allele

Although a true red and white, Lawn Boy is not homozygous red. Lawn Boy has one red allele and one wild-type allele. Genetic research indicates that the wild-type allele has no influence on coat color. When the wild-type allele is present, other genes determine coat color. Subsequently, when Lawn Boy is mated to red females (females with two red alleles), 50% of the calves will have two red alleles and 50% will have a red allele and a wild-type allele. All of the calves will be red, as expected. When mated to red carriers (females with a black and a red allele) Lawn Boy will produce 50% red and 50% black calves, as expected. At last account,there were no reported concerns about his transmitting pattern of coat color.

It is not possible to predict the coat color resulting from a mating where two wild-type alleles are present. These calves could be red, but they might be black. We are not aware that any Lawn Boy offspring were ever reported with this genotype, so we simply do not know the outcome.

Polled Male Siblings

Lawn Boy has two polled maternal brothers with commendable A.I. proofs. (76HO0530) Aggravation Ducky-Red PO is a Talent son. Ducky has very commendable management traits with positive Type, UDC and FLC ratings. Ducky was first leased to Select Sires as a polled bull. He manifested what Select Sires interpreted as horns. They “dehorned” Ducky and returned the bull to Bob Feldwisch since the contract stipulated polled. Ducky was then leased to Taurus Service. As calves arrived, half were showing up as naturally hornless. Select Sires had interpreted Ducky’s scurrs to be horns. Ducky is officially recorded with the U.S. Holstein Association as being polled.

The second polled maternal brother to Lawn Boy is (138HO3401) Aggravation Afterglow P, a BW Marshall son. Afterglow’s early production information was very encouraging. Subsequently, the bull was leased to IPS (International Protein Sires). Soon after arrival at the semen production center, Afterglow slipped and fell. The bull never recovered and died within a few weeks. No semen was ever collected as a proven sire. Afterglow’s December 2011 USDA milk proof showed 57 daughters in 31 herds at +1,899G and 90% reliability.

Polled Phenomenon Spreads Worldwide

While polled Holsteins have been around for over a hundred years with many bulls sampled through A.I. in modern times, Lawn Boy created a renewed interest for this trait. Red and white dairy cattle aficionados have claimed the principle interest and development of the polled gene. Lawn Boy’s credibility as a proven polled sire created strong interest among black and white Holstein breeders where he was used extensively.

Bob Feldwisch of Aggravation Acres is applauded for his pioneering foresight in developing influential polled genetics. We anxiously await proofs on the countless Lawn Boy sons sampled around the world. No doubt Lawn Boy’s influence will gain additional impact through his female descendants. The Lawn Boy Syndicate, managed by SunShower Acres, is pleased to have played a role in his development.

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Fred W. Hendricks

SunShower Acres, Ltd.

4505 Holmes Center Rd.

Bucyrus, OH 44820 – USA

Email: fwhendricks@gmail.com

Aggravation Lawn Boy P-Red PO (EX-94)