Creating an ideal

Editor’s note: Information for this article was gathered from the Holstein Association USA and the books: “Progress of the Breed: The History of U. S. Holsteins” by Richard H. Mansfield and “Holstein-Friesian History” (Diamond Jubilee edition, 1960).

What does the ideal dairy cow look like? If 10 dairy producers were polled with that question, there would likely be 10 different answers. A hundred years ago, a committee of pioneering registered Holstein breeders learned exactly that.

The foundation for determining what comprised the ideal Holstein cow began after the 1921 show season. According to the 1960 Diamond Jubilee edition of “Holstein-Friesan History,” breeders and exhibitors were becoming dismayed at the wide variations in placings made by judges at shows around the country. The differences were so stark “Holstein-Friesan History” said, that some enterprising exhibitors would travel the circuit with additional animals, increasing their ability to exhibit animals that fit the patterns of judges they might encounter.

Minnesota Holstein breeder Axel Hansen suggested convening a conference of leading judges, breeders and exhibitors to take on the task of setting standards of uniformity.

The board of directors of the Holstein-Friesian Association of America took the reins and brought a group of 40 stakeholders together in March 1922 at the Brentwood Sale in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania. Wisconsin’s Fred Pabst, a member of the Holstein-Friesian board, presided over the meeting.

The executive secretary of HFAA suggested a series of lantern slides be prepared and distributed showing typical animals, with the goal being to promote uniformity of type. That idea eventually led to the paintings of the True-Type Cow and Bull.

The lack of dimension in the paintings did not satisfy Pabst. He felt the development of clay models would better communicate the traits of ideal conformation than a painting or written scorecard.

A committee of 10 was established to bring together their ideas, harmonizing those ideas into a description of ideal type. The committee began at the Brentwood Sale, evaluating and discussing traits of the animals on the farm. The variation of opinions became apparent in the process.

From there, committee members were to select pictures of animals they felt objectified some area of conformation as ideal. The plan was to assemble those pieces to create a composite of an ideal animal.

Armed with pieces of the ideal, the committee brought painter Edwin Megargee and sculptor Gozo Kawamura to a meeting held at Pabst Farm in May 1922. Both Megargee and Kawamura were considered leaders in their mediums in livestock art.

For nearly a week, the committee members and artists toiled to bring the pieces together to create the ideal dairy cow. As the week came to a close, committee members realized the task was nowhere near completion, and it would be unlikely they would make their initial goal of delivering a final report at the association’s national annual meeting in June.

Work on the composite animals continued throughout the summer and fall, before approval was given to the paintings and sculptures of the ideal mature Holstein-Friesian cow and bull — the True-Type models.

With the ideal reached, HFAA began promoting these ideals to the masses. One-quarter life-size models of both the cow and bull were placed on perpetual loan to leading colleges of animal sciences, as well as to foreign Holstein-Friesian herdbook societies. Breeders were given the opportunity to purchase the models at cost.

Later models were made at one-sixteenth. Those models were popular purchases for breeders and given as awards. The paintings of the True-Type models were reprinted in full color and distributed in a variety of sizes.

The composite version of an ideal Holstein-Friesian cow suited the breed’s enthusiasts for nearly 50 years before being considered a “genetic antique” by Holstein contemporaries of the 1970s.

According to “The Progress of the Breed,” in 1973 a committee was developed to update the mature cow model as well as develop a new ideal young milking female. A committee of breeders and other breed enthusiasts undertook the updating, commissioning Ohio artist Francis Eustis to create the new paintings. The ideal young cow was only created as a painting, no three-dimensional model was created. The updates to the paintings were unveiled at the 1976 National Holstein Convention.

The new ideal was based on a 5-6 year old cow weighing 1,600 pounds and measuring 57-58 inches tall at the withers. The new, more angular cow was designed with a slight uphill-run to her front end, with slight slope from hooks to pins. The greatest changes were made to the ideal’s udder: the rear udder attachment was made higher and wider and the entire floor of the udder was raised to be above the hock.

The updated 3-dimensional True-Type model cow was made public in December 1977. Both the paintings and models of the mature Holstein bull were left unchanged.

At the 2012 National Holstein Convention, Holstein Association USA Executive Secretary John Mayer and Minnesota agricultural artist Bonnie Mohr revealed updated paintings for the True-Type model mature Holstein cow and bull.

Updated models based on Mohr’s paintings, created by Carol Herden, an agricultural sculptor from Minnesota, were presented to the Holstein Association USA membership at the 2016 National Holstein Convention.

Collecting memorabilia, such as True-Type models, has become a passion for many registered dairy cattle enthusiasts.

Tim Baumgartner, former Wisconsin dairy farmer and current genetics and marketing manager for Jer-Z-Boyz Ranch, in Pixley, California, developed an affinity for collecting True-Type models in the early 1980s when he obtained the first version of the Red & White Dairy Cattle Association’s version of their True-Type. The urge to collect grew from there.

“Once I had the first one, as new versions became available, I needed to have them as well,” Baumgartner said.

His collection grew to include additional Red & White Holstein models from the U.S., Canada and Italy. To date his collection numbers 20 models — Holstein and Red & White cows and bulls, along with Jersey cows, as well as various versions of paintings.

“A few years back I was given the opportunity to purchase the initial demo of the first Red & White mold from Mark Yeazel,” Baumgartner said. “She is one of a kind, she will never be duplicated.”

When he is considering a purchase, Baumgartner has criteria.

“I want them intact, with no broken bones if possible,” Baumgartner said. “There are often old versions for sale online, but they have broken ears or tails — they don’t appeal to me, even though they are extremely rare.”

The history and developments made by each of the breeds over the years is what keeps Baumgartner continuing to grow his herd of ideal cows and bulls.

“There are many that I’d still love to acquire,” Baumgartner said. “I have a bucket list of models to add to my collection.”