A strong Cow of the Year competition concluded on Friday, April 12th, 2013 when Eastside Lewisdale Gold Missy (EX-95) was named the winner during the 2013 Annual General Meeting in Niagara Falls, ON. Missy won the competition after receiving the highest number of votes as voted on by Holstein Canada members. The win is the crowning achievement of an already-illustrious career as Missy is well-known Ambassador in the Canadian dairy industry.
The 2012 Cow of the Year competition boasted the largest number of votes ever received in the competitions 17-year history. This year’s contest hailed four strong candidates— Comestar Goldwyn Lilac, Eastside Lewisdale Gold Missy, Gen-I-Beq Shottle Barbi, and Raeland Leduc Wilhelmina— all who possessed individual strengths in the field of genomics; Lifetime Profit Index (LPI); show ring success both personally and through offspring; production performance; and were great ambassadors in promoting the balanced ‘Canadian Kind’ of cow our industry is world-renowned for.
Co-breeder, Jamie Lewis of Lewisdale Holsteins, York, PE was on hand during the announcement in Niagara Falls, ON to accept the award on behalf of Missy’s owners, Morsan Farms Ltd, Ponoka, AB; Van Ruinen Dairy Ltd, Lacombe, AB; Mark Butz, Cedar Rapids, IA; and Gert Andreasen, Ponoka, AB. Co-owner, Greg Thalen on behalf of Morsan Farms Ltd, Ponoka, AB was ecstatic to hear of Missy being named 2012 Cow of the Year stating, “We are very pleased that this is a breeder voted decision and it is great to see all the support from so many on Missy. We had obviously seen the support in the past in the sale of her daughters and watching so many participate at auctions is a very good indicator of the support of the breeders.”
Bred in Eastern Canada and now residing in Western Canada, Missy was commended for her tremendous conformation attributes and show ring success combined with production performance, genetic merit, and the ability to transmit to her offspring. Missy has been an incredible ambassador of the Canadian dairy industry known worldwide as the “million dollar cow.” Missy can now add the “Cow of the Year” title as a crowning achievement to her plethora of awards.
Since 1995, Holstein Canada’s annual Cow of the Year competition has aimed to recognize elite Canadian cows that have had an impact both domestically and internationally and have been enjoyed by Canadian producers. Canadian-bred cows are nominated by Holstein Canada membership, where a Committee then selects four nominees who are voted on by the membership to determine the winner.