Trevor Henry”s passion for breedingdairy cows was recently recognisedwith a Holstein Australia Master
Breeders Award. But more importantly, hispassion has infected his family, with hisson and nephew sharing his commitmentto breeding for continuous improvement.

Mr Henry, of Tinamba, is a third-generation dairy farmer in Gippsland”sMacalister Irrigation District, Victoria. He
began his career at 12 years old, helpinghis father choose and breed bulls. Hisparents bought him his first Holstein studcow when he was 15 years old and heregistered his stud prefix, Wilara.

Fast forward 30 years and he ischairman of Genetics Australia (GA) andcurrently has three bulls in its top four
Breed Performance Index statistics. Healso runs the farm with son, Oakley, asan apprentice, and nephew, Damien, asassistant manager. Oakley and Damienare building equity, breeding their ownregistered cows in the herd.

Trevor and Tracey Henry milk 450 to500 Holstein cows off 365 ha (900 acres).Most of their farm is leased country, witha summer water right on 145 ha (360acres) and year-round irrigation availableon 110 ha (272 acres). Among the irrigatedblocks, 13 ha (32 acres) is sown to maizeand 12 ha (30 acres) to turnips.
‘We focus on producing silage frommaize,’ Mr Henry said.

The number of milkers varies dependingon seasonal conditions and cost of feed.Lactation ranges from 300 to 400 days.The herd is joined using artificialinsemination and 10–15 cows arerecipients of embryo transfers each year.
‘We use the income from the bullsregistered with Genetics Australia to payfor ET,’ Mr Henry said.

He is particularly proud of the threebulls, out of three separate cow families,that are high ranking with GA.
He credits his approach to patience andhis spare time is spent studying geneticsand breeding tables.
‘We”re quite fortunate to be able to builda really strong base over time,’ Mr Henrysaid.

‘We”ve focused on breeding high-producing cow families, with secondarytraits of mastitis resistance, fertility, feed
saved and heat tolerance.
‘The heat tolerance breeding value willbecome more important. ‘Breeding is very fulfilling work.Cementing high daughter fertility and feedutilisation in families gives me confidenceI”m producing a really high production value
in the resulting calves.

‘One of his oldest cow families is the Pline. From the original cow, there are sevendaughters and 120 descendants in theherd.
‘Four different lines of that familyare producing bulls in the GA system,’Mr Henry said.
He has had considerable success withanother foundation cow family in the herd,Oman Jo.
‘Three of these lines are proving goodbull mothers,’ Mr Henry said.

‘One of the 2018 Jo heifer calves ratessecond in Australia on genomic testing.’

In 2017, he began genomically testingall heifer calves. While the business onlyneeds about 110 heifers each year, anannual excess of 70 to 90 are sold asyearlings into the export market.
‘We”ve found the export heifersaveraged 150 BPI. There”s no differentialpremium for what you get paid. For me, it”sabout the personal rewards of breeding,knowing those heifers could go intoAustralian herds,’ Mr Henry said.

‘The ideal would be if the market wasable to genomically test all animals atthree months old. That gives the farmer
opportunities to make better decisions.’

He now aims to genomically test allcalves from performance-proven familieswithin their first month. He has a resultantgroup of calves called The Specials that arehoused separately and fed accordingly.
Bull calves are kept or culled againstdam performance.

‘We have brought prominent high-performing cow families into the herd, and
our herd families consistently performbetter,’ Mr Henry said.

‘The strength of my cow families keepsbeing consistency in the progeny they”rebreeding. That results from depth in theherd from years of breeding.
‘Our ABV is about producing a cow thatis the most efficient at converting feed intomilk solids.’

Receiving the Holsteins Australia MasterBreeders Award came out of left field andhe still doesn”t know who nominated him.
He received a telephone call to urge him toattend the HA AGM in Tasmania.
‘I was smack bang in the middle ofjoining and had just synchronised theheifers,’ Mr Henry said.

Minimum criteria to qualify for theaward include being a member of Holsteins
Australia for 20 years and the herd accruing1075 breed points. Mr Henry has been amember in excess of 20 years and received2110 points.

‘I just get on and get the cows milked.The Award recognised what I”m doingagainst some very good breeders,’
Mr Henry said.

Article courtsey of Crazycow. To find the full article, clickhere