BLANCHARDVILLE, Wis. — Growing up, Trent Hendrickson discovered his passion for dairy cattle. On his parents’ farm, Jeffrey-Way Holsteins, Hendrickson took the reins as tour guide, showing people around. Now, he has the reins on his own farm and a herd he has developed as one of the top herds nationally.
This year, Hendrickson earned the 2024 Distinguished Young Holstein Breeder award from Holstein Association USA. The award is presented to breeders between the ages of 21 and 40.
“The award is something that we dreamed about but never realized we could win,” Hendrickson said. “I am really honored. It was a goal of ours, and accomplishing it meant a lot.”
Trent, along with his wife, Kelsey, farm with their four young children, Trevor, Grace, Lee and Jeffery. The family currently milks 380 cows on their farm, Trent-Way Genetics, near Blanchardville. Cows are milked twice a day in a tiestall barn, averaging 28,000 pounds of milk, with tests of 4.2% butterfat and 3.2% protein. Hendrickson has bred 85 Excellent cows and put the farm among one of the top Holstein herds nationally, earning a 109.5% BAA.
Hendrickson was recognized at the Holstein Association’s annual convention June 24-27 in Salt Lake City, Utah.
“It was my first time on an airplane.” Hendrickson said, “It was pretty out there. It was over 100 degrees, but seeing the snowcaps on the mountains was an interesting experience.”
Hendrickson was named a delegate for the national convention, and while in Salt Lake City, he sat in on meetings to develop a better understanding of how the Holstein Association operates.
“My goal is to get more involved with the dairy cattle breeding aspect, taking on more of a leadership role at some point,” he said.
Hendrickson traces his passion for the dairy industry and genetics back to his roots.
“Growing up, my parents had a really good herd of cows at Jeffrey-Way Holsteins,” he said, “They were very successful with their T cow family and always had a lot of foreign visitors. I loved being the tour guide and seeing their eyes light up. That’s my favorite thing about our current farm too. When people walk into our barn, and their jaws drop. That’s been my real passion.”
At Trent-Way Genetics, Trent and Kelsey focus on Red & White genes.
“Ninety percent of our herd is Red or Red factor,” Hendrickson said, “That’s been our biggest focus. That gene pool is really small, so we focus on bringing in generational type bulls to match up with our Reds.”
Sometimes the trait looked for does not present itself in all generations. Because of that, Hendrickson takes his time when selecting what is going into their next generation.
“We’ll get black and white calves, but we always make sure they’re a Red carrier,” Hendrickson said “We want to keep the Red factor going.”
The focus at Trent-Way Genetics is not on creating an extreme cow, but rather, on developing an animal that is solid in all aspects. This includes focusing on health traits, somatic cell count, positive components and milk production.
“One of our focuses is phenotypical,” Hendrickson said. “Being right-sided linear with good feet and legs and a good udder is important to us. We want a balanced cow. We focus on type, but we try to bring in that type and commercial and meet in the middle.”
As part of developing a balanced cow, Hendrickson said foresight is not just for the here and now, but also for the future of the cow and the breed.
“Longevity is our goal,” Hendrickson said. “We want old cows. Old cows help make you money, and we want to breed cows that last a long time. We also want to breed the kind of cows that can fit into any situation from free stall to headlocks and that aren’t too big for parlors.”
Giving customers an option to build Red genetics into their own herd is something Hendrickson strives for as well.
“My dream is to be that renowned breeder that bred a lot of good customer satisfaction bulls,” Hendrickson said. “We want to be known as someone who helped improve the Red & White breed or the Holstein breed in general. We want to pass on genetics we think are helpful for the industry.”
That dream is being realized with Trent-Way-Js Rompen-Red-ET, a bull Hendrickson bred that is at stud for Select Sires Inc.
“We get messages from people about how happy they are with his offspring,” Hendrickson said.
All bulls bred by Trent-Way Genetics trace back to the Roxy cow family. A current dam at their farm with sons in A.I. is Trent-Way Parfect Essay-RC VG-87. She recently produced 32,000 pounds of milk with tests of 5.2% butterfat and 3.4% protein.
“She emphasizes what we want right now and the cow we’re trying to breed with high components, good milk and good type,” Hendrickson said, “She’s special to us, and I think we’ll have a lot of A.I. interest in her sons and grandsons.”
Along with the high genomic breeding, Trent-Way Genetics still dabbles in show-type breeding. The family had a heifer that was a Reserve Junior All-Wisconsin Summer Yearling. This year, Trent-Way Genetics will have two heifers at World Dairy Expo.
When Trent and Kelsey started their journey in 2011, they had 55 cows. Today, that number is upwards of 380. With the increase in herd size comes an increase in facilities.
The couple is currently in the process of adding 400 feet to the freestall barn, complete with a dry cow area.
“The main goal right now is to take care of the cattle we have and make sure they’re comfortable,” Hendrickson said, “We want to maintain what we have.”
The extension of the freestall barn is just a part of what Hendrickson and his family plan to do. They also have thoughts of adding a parlor.
Along with taking care of their herd, they have their sights set on more.
“Our next step would be to get into marketing more high-end cattle,” Hendrickson said, “I would possibly like to do a sale every year, and to do that, we need to have nice facilities.”
The Hendrickson family knows the work that went into growing their herd to the caliber it currently is to gain national recognition.
“To be honored by the Holstein Association — the people we’ve looked up to while we’ve developed our own herd of cows — is a dream come true,” Hendrickson said. “It’s pretty awesome to get that recognition and have those people recognize you.”
Comments
No comments on this item Please log in to comment by clicking here