AJ Quist Memorial Young Breeder of the Year The A.J. Quist Memorial Young Breeder Award is given annually to member of the CA State Holstein Association who had been a successful breeder of Registered Holsteins and a productive member of our industry. Nominees are select and voted on by a committee that is made up of the 10 most recent honorees.
number of deep-pedigreed animals, one of which was a Guthrie daughter scored EX-90 at the time. She quickly became a herd favorite because of her high production and ease of doing so with a beautiful udder. Gen-Ace Guthrie Minnie 6804-ET would go on to score EX94 and so far, has produced 5 VG and EX daughters. One of which, Vanden-Berge Minnie 775, was consigned to a sale and has been classified EX-92 for her new owners.
This year’s honoree is Curtis Vanden Berge of Bakersfield. Curtis began adding registered Holsteins to his family’s 3,000 cow Holstein herd about 10 years ago with the hope of advancing the genetic Curtis purchased Midas-Touch Hot potential for the herd as a whole. His Matthew Evangelo, center, presents Curtis Vanden Berge, left, the AJ Quist Harper-ET as a young calf in an online ancestors started dairying in the 1950’s in Memorial Young Breeder of the Year Award. auction in December 2017. She is a Hotline Southern California. By 2004, his parents out of a VG-85 Rubicon then Cookiecutter had built the herd up to milking 1,500 Ssire Has-ET VG-87. At the time, she was cows at two locations. It was at this time they relocated their dairy +2742G +2.77T. Curtis flushed her and to date, all of her offspring are operation and family to the current location in Bakersfield and had over +2700G and up to +2.56T. Vanden-Berge Nows Harper-ET was the opportunity to double their herd size to 3,000 cows. Although released by Select Sires in December 2020 and has been a popular registered Holsteins have not been a part of their operation for a long choice for breeders in the last few months. Harper is +2930G with period of time, use of top genetics and appreciation for quality dairy a whopping +119 pound of fat. His Renegade A2A2 full brother, cows was one thing that had been passed down from his predecessors. Harpoon, is at Revolution Genetics and has a very complete profile at +2772G +600NM +2.23T. One of his earliest and possible most prolific investment came in February 2015 at the Airosa Dairy Extravaganza Sale, a Halogen By paying close attention to detail, IVF and embryo transfer has daughter bred by Seagull Bay Dairy in Idaho. Seagull-Bay Halogen 516- been used successfully to expand the Vanden Berge registered herd ET was 9 months old at the time of the sale and almost exactly a year to and produce genetics that have been productive and extremely the date of that sale her first of 24 offspring was born. It was this first marketable. daughter Vanden-Berge Drsopn 431-ET that would lead to the most Other accomplishments include: consigning the high seller at the exciting of over 100 descendants to date of this purchase. Doorsopen California State Convention, breeding and developing over 50 431 went on to score VG-85 and her first daughter born was Vandenfemales that trace back to the famous Lindy Sheen’s of Ocean-View, Berge Lmda Daphne-ET VG-87. It is her daughter Vanden-Berge Trpc and breeding or owing 13 Excellent and 100 VG cows. In 2020 his Daphne-ET that is currently one of only four females in the breed at herd was honored with the Progressive Genetics Herd Award by 2866 GTPI and greater then 2.98 PTAT. She has garnered a lot of AI and HAUSA with an average CTPI of 2460, which ranked 3rd in California. embryo interests along with IVF Sessions being sold from her. The most recent milestone has been having a top 50 GTPI Female in Another way that Curtis would add registered cows to the herd was the Breed born at his farm, from an embryo that was purchased. She by attending herd sales or dispersals of registered breeders and is Ms BGP Captain McEnroe-ET. She is +3056 GTPI and 915 NM$ and purchasing individual or group lots. He used these opportunities to traces back to the View-Home Mrdian Iowa-ET (VG-86 DOM) family select individuals with deep pedigrees that had high production and that has produced numerous high GTPI males and females. attention was always given to confirmation of the cows themselves. He attended the Gen-Ace Milking Herd Dispersal in 2016 and selected a With Curtis, every investment, every mating, every decision is made with advancement in mind. Improvement is always at the forefront and always the goal. It is because of these principles that this high ranking calf will certainly be used to advance not only their herd but continue to put the Vanden-Berge prefix on the map as an elite genetic herd of registered Holsteins. In addition to Curtis’ success with his own herd, he also shares his passion for breeding Holsteins with young dairy enthusiasts in his community by providing numerous project heifers for junior to exhibit at the Kern County Fair each year. Curtis married his wife Stacey in 2012 and they have 3 children – Case, Tessa and Payton - that he also enjoys sharing is love of cows with. Case and Tessa are made their showring debut at the 2021 State Show’s PeeWee Showmanship contest. Curtis also serves as an At-Large Director for the California Holstein Association. Picutred is Vanden-Berge Lmda Daphne-ET (VG-87) who is the dam of Trpc DaphneET, who has quickly become an elite individual for Curtis, being one of only four cows in the breed that is +2866G and over +2.98T!
Congratulations to Curtis Vanden Berge, the 2021 AJ Quist Memorial Young Breeder! CALIFORNIA ANNUAL 2021 » 17
