He was Born 100 Years Ago:
JRAP, likely the most influential bull in the Holstein breed (1)
Article published by:
www.holsteininternational.com
A truism in modern Holstein breeding: Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation and Pawnee Farm Arlinda Chief are the most influential foundation sires of the Holstein breed. When this duo was nominated in 1999 for HI’s ”Holsteins of the Century” competition (which Elevation won), of Chief, it was said: ”His pedigree bulges with Rag Apple blood lines”. While for Elevation, it was stated: “His dam Eve traces 20x back to Johanna Rag Apple Pabst”. Clearly, via his descendants Elevation and Chief, Johanna Rag Apple Pabst is one of the most central transmitters that we find at the foundation of the Holstein breed. Every reason then for a portrait of this bull, who was born 100 years ago and in his time was a true legend.
This is Johanna Rag Apple Pabst, as a more than five-year-old bull after his victory as Grand Champion at the Royal Winter Fair in November 1926. In that spring, JRAP had come from America to the Montvic barn in Quebec.
JAN BIERMA
H
ow many dairy farmers spend time evaluating the conformation of a sire? Or: based on the picture of a bull? The answer can be guessed: an extremely small number. But: how different that was 100 years ago! After all, back then the indexes and genomics of bulls were not available. In their sire selection, dairy farmers only had pedigrees, production and type figures of family members… and the conformation of the sire himself. In that situation, the conformation of the bull himself played a significant role. As thus also photographs – which could not be ”digitally altered” back then – played a prominent role. As well as the show career of bulls, which in some cases were long-lasting and thus lucrative. For that reason, take an extra look at the accompanying photograph of Johanna Rag Apple Pabst – whom we will refer to as ”JRAP” from now on. You realize: a stretchy and truly dream sire in terms of conformation! For many years, he participated in numerous shows and was virtually
unbeatable – several times, he became Grand Champion at Canada’s National Show, the Royal Winter Fair. Only already with this fantastic resume, JRAP was extremely popular. But… since AI was not yet possible in those years, dairy farmers had to gain access to his genetics via his sons or grandsons, because JRAP remained (of course) with his proud owner, the milking enterprise Mount Victoria (Montvic) in Quebec, Canada, owned by businessman Thomas Macaulay. As a 5-year-old bull, JRAP had come from the US to Montvic,
Here we see JRAP with his “discoverer”, Joseph Piek, who purchased him as a young sire and subsequently tested him, showed him, and made him famous. This photograph was taken just before Piek left for the sale with JRAP in early April 1926. At the same time, nearly the entirely Piek herd consisted of JRAP daughters, who performed splendidly and helped their sire reach the record price of $15,000. In his hands, Piek – besides JRAP – has two “banners”, which were attained by JRAP’s victories at national shows.
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after Montvic manager Joe Chandler had carefully evaluated the JRAP daughters in the US. Chandler was very satisfied with his daughter-dam comparison, and thus JRAP was purchased at the sale in the spring of 1926. For the tremendous price of $15,000 – the highest sum that had been paid since the First World War, and a price that would remain the highest for several years. So interested was Mount Victoria in acquiring this bull for their herd… and rightly so.
