Award-winning genetics

LUANA, Iowa — Being in charge of hosting the Iowa Holstein Association’s annual show means there must be trust involved with those you are working with. What show host Trent Henkes did not know was that the rest of the executive committee, and even his kids, were keeping a secret from him. During the awards ceremony, it was revealed that Henkes was winner of the 2025 Iowa Holstein Association Master Breeder award.

“It’s truly an honor to receive,” Henkes said. “Our family is good friends with Linda Pagel, and I’m very appreciative to receive the award she created in her husband’s memory. Russel bred a tremendous herd of high-producing cows. It’s a very impressive list of Iowa breeders that have already received the award, and I’m very grateful to be included in this elite group.”

Henkes, owner of Henkeseen Holsteins in Luana, currently milks 65 registered Holsteins and 10 registered Milking Shorthorns with a herd average of 28,726 milk and tests of 3.9% butterfat and 3.0% protein. The herd has a BAA of 110.6 with 24 cows currently scored Excellent. His herd is 95% homebred. Over the years, he has bred 184 Excellent cows.

A 1984 graduate of Iowa State University with a degree in dairy science, Henkes is the fifth generation on his family farm. He has been active with the Iowa Holstein Association and a member for 43 years.

“I find a great deal of pride in having a majority homebred herd,” Henkes said.

Henke has received the Progressive Breeders Registry award from the Holstein Association USA for 24 years. One of the qualifications of the award is being at least 75% homebred.

The genetics at Henkeseen Holsteins started to take off when his dad purchased a cow from his neighbor’s herd sale in 1974. Henkes decided to breed her to a high Total Performance Index bulls to create the Henkeseen Chairman Mandy family, which includes Henkeseen Mark Marci. Mark Marci was classified Excellent 94 and produced over 170,000 pounds of milk in her lifetime.

With elite-level scores and high-production cows, Henkes felt his herd was trending in the right direction, but it was Marci’s daughter, Henkeseen M Hillary that garnered interest in Henkeseen Holsteins.

“Henkeseen M Hillary certainly put us on the map and brought worldwide interest in our herd,” Henkes said. “She scored high as a 2-year-old and was … (a high) protein-indexing cow. … This was in the 90s, when protein was first becoming an important trait.”

With interest in his cows, Henkes began to distribute genetics around the world. In all, 20 of Hillary’s descendants were sent to A.I., 13 daughters were Excellent and 19 were Very Good.

“We continue to use the best genetics available when breeding our cows and selecting a service sire,” Henkes said. “A great deal of time is spent Googling Holstein bull names. We do some flushing and (in vitro fertilization) work with our elite cows to hopefully produce more offspring from them. I also really enjoy working with the Red & Whites, which adds marketability to our cattle.”

One of those Red & White Holsteins that has continued Henkeseen’s tradition of high-scoring cows is Henkeseen Lad Nellie Red EX-92. She is currently milking and producing show heifers. Nellie Red traces back to his first homebred Excellent, Henkeseen Wayne Noel Nellie, who was the District 1 Holstein Show grand champion.

Along with venturing into Red & White Holstein genetics, his son’s interest in Milking Shorthorns has created a new pool of genetics to work with and added another market for cattle, embryos and semen.

“We are enjoying success with showing and merchandising our Milking Shorthorns,” Henkes said. “We bred a Red & White great, great granddaughter of Hillary to a Milking Shorthorn that has developed into our top Milking Shorthorn cow family. We have bred several World Dairy Expo winners and have sold offspring from that family across the country.”

With the new venture into Milking Shorthorns, Henkes is co-chairing the National Milking Shorthorn Convention this summer, held at the Delaware County Fairgrounds in Manchester. Henkeseen Holsteins will be a featured farm tour. The event will be a family affair as his wife, Leslie, is the financial chair and his son, Matt, the sixth generation at Henkeseen Holsteins, is the sale chairman.