Doug Maddox Memorial Senior Breeder

Doug Maddox Memorial Senior Breeder of the Year

Dwayne and Irene Nelson of Ceres, California are the recipients of the 2021 Doug Maddox Memorial Senior Breeder Award, the most prestigious honor a California Holstein Association member can receive.

Dwayne and Irene were both very involved in 4-H and FFA. It was actually at their county fair in 1978 where they met and started their relationship. In September of 1979, they were married and Dwayne joined Irene’s family dairy, Duarte-Acres Holsteins with Joe and Mary Duarte. In 1985, they started a partnership with Duarte-Acres Holsteins. In 1995, Dwayne and Irene had an opportunity to purchase land from Joe and Mary and to start their own business. They wanted to give their children, Michelle, Brian and Brent, a more hands on opportunity and to learn the fundamentals of running a dairy operation. Nelson Farms was developed starting with 180 cows, with 75% of those cows being Registered Holsteins. Two years later, Irene and Michelle made a trip, along with Joe and Mary Duarte, to visit one of the most prestigious cow shows in the world, World Dairy Expo. It was on that trip that Irene and Michelle got inspired to develop their herd and to breed for show and type in hopes that someday they might be able to exhibit an animal at World Dairy Expo. Nelson Farms had already started with a great foundation herd from Duarte-Acres Holsteins, with dairy strength and tremendous udders that had a will to milk.

As part of their journey to continue developing their herd, they purchased Ms R-Pine Milan Josie who was All-Canadian and Reserve All-American Winter Calf. That same year they also purchased a small calf from the Day Family, Tri-Day Jewel Adeen. She was eventually nominated Junior All-American Spring Yearling. It was in 2001 that Nelson Farms exhibited their first homebred heifer, Nelsons Estimate Liz. She was High Honorable Mention All-American and Junior All-American Winter Yearling and also Junior Champion of the Junior Show at World Dairy Expo. During that time at Expo, there was a cloning special and they decided to take the risk and clone Liz. Two years later and out of 18 embryos, one live March calf was born, Nelsons Estimate Liz 2-ETN. Liz 2 was Unanimous All-American Spring Calf in 2003. As a spring calf, Liz 2 was pulled out for Junior Champion line-up at World Dairy Expo. The following year was quite the year for Liz 2. She was undefeated at every show on the tanbark trail that year. In 2004, Liz 2 was Junior Champion heifer at World Dairy Expo, homebred to Dwayne and Irene Nelson & family. Liz 2 was Unanimous All-American Spring Yearling as well as the People’s Choice Heifer. Nelson Farms has had 20 All-American and Junior All-American Nominations. They have now grown to 650 milk cows with a BAA of 105.4, for their herd size they were a top BAA herd in 2019. To date, Nelson Farms has developed 108 Excellent and 772 Very Good cows. Herd Average is 29,938M 3.9% 1097F 3.1% 871P. Dwayne and Irene are the day-to-day managers at the farm, and they have eight full-time employees. Their children are all grown, married and have children of their own. Each of them have their own careers. Michelle Nelson Pedretti takes care of all the Dairy Comp 305 record keeping, as well as registrations and Dairy Compliance Water Records for Nelson Farms. In addition, Michelle also does some water and feed records for her husband’s farm. Michelle is married to Gino Pedretti, who is in a corporation with his family farm, Pedretti Ranches in El Nido. Brian Nelson, married to Erin, works for Select Sires as a Dairy Programs Specialists. Brian is in charge of the mating program at Nelson Farms and he also assists with record keeping. Brent Nelson, married to Caitlyn, works for Don Pedro Pumps. Brent assists at Nelson Farms when needed working on equipment and maintenance welding. Dwayne and Irene have retired from the show circuit for now. They still enjoy breeding a high-quality Holstein herd using bulls from Select Sires and Semex, with Michelle and Brian in charge of bull selection. Dwayne and Irene would like to extend a sincere thank you to all who have nominated them for this award. A special thank you to Joe and Mary Duarte for all of their love, support and for always attending all of the shows and events. Thank you to Joe and Mary for always believing in us. Congratulations to Dwayne and Irene Nelson for being recognized as the 2021 recipient of the Doug Maddox Memorial Senior Breeder Award!

Nelsons Estimate Liz (EX-94), right, and her clone, Nelsons Estimate Liz 2-ETN (EX-92). Liz was HHM All-American Winter Yearling in 2001 and Liz 2 went on to be Unanimous All-American Spring Calf and Spring Yearling, claiming Junior Champion honors at the 2004 World Dairy Expo. The 2021 Doug Maddox Memorial Senior Breeder of the Year is the Nelson Family!