 |
| |
 |
| Foundation Cow … PUGET SOUND
NETHERLAND GRACE (EX-93) |
| |
PUGET SOUND NETHERLAND GRACE
Excellent – 93
LT: 217,547 3.5%F In early 1957, with a few dollars in
their pockets (admittedly very few), and after 4 years in the business,
feeling somewhat knowledgeable about registered Holsteins, John and Glen
Tenneson were off to the Waltner Bros.’ “Puget Sound Holsteins” herd in
nearby Mount Vernon, Washington. They had previously purchased the
breeding bull, PUGET SOUND PRINCE, from Waltners, and now they wanted to
purchase their first real foundation female from this without-peer
breeding herd which was deep in early-Carnation – Colony – and Frasea
blood.
John and Glen
told Charlie Waltner that they’d like to buy a good bred heifer, so off
to the heifer lots they went. The Tenneson boys picked out a nice black
heifer and told Charlie, “That’s the one we want.” Charlie’s reply shocked them,… and
certainly brought them back down to earth with a “thud”!! He said, “You
boys can’t afford that heifer”…!! He didn’t even price her! He then
commented that the big, black unfreshened 3-year-old over in the corner
would be more in their price range. That big, black unfreshened
3-year-old was “GRACE”. Charlie priced her at $475, and so the Tenneson
Bros. decided that she would have to do! She was BIG … the trucker who
delivered her estimated her in the 1800 lb. range. She was WIDE,…
STRONG,… a bit rough in the rump, and a bit gangly on her legs. But the
rest of this tale indeed turns out to be a “Cinderella Story”!! |
| |
| (On a side note, … the big black heifer that the Tenneson Bros. had originally
liked so well … the one out of their price range?!! She was never heard
from again!!) |
| |
| Today, every single animal in the
Skagvale herd traces back to old GRACE at least once!! It goes without
saying that she is the single most influential cow in the Skagvale
breeding program,… and her influence on this herd has been absolutely
AWESOME!!! While PUGET SOUND NETHERLAND GRACE (EX-93) was the dam of
many outstanding progeny, two in turn had a profound influence at Skagvale, namely SKAGVALE CHARMING DYNAMIC (the sire of Skagvale
Graceful Hattie, through whom the HATTIE family flows), and SKAGVALE
NETHERLAND GAY, the second generation of “Excellent” cows in the GAY
family tree. |
| |
3rd Generation Excellent 
SKAGVALE DELIGHTFUL GAY
Excellent-90
LT: 236,850 4.1%F
2nd Generation Excellent 
SKAGVALE NETHERLAND GAY
Excellent-90
LT: 198,100 3.8%F
SKAGVALE NETHERLAND GAY (EX) was, in John’s
memory, the fourth “Excellent” cow bred by the Tenneson Bros.!
Although she didn’t produce many daughters (despite calving 12
times), when mated to SKAGVALE ROYAL MONARCH, she delivered SKAGVALE
DELIGHTFUL GAY (EX). This was a very closely linebred mating, as Colony Colanthus Perfection blood shows up
four times in her pedigree!! DELIGHTFUL GAY was an exceptional producer,
making over 236,000 pounds of milk in her lifetime with 4.1% Fat! Like
her dam, she calved 12 times, resulting in only 2 heifer calves.
However, the crossing of DELIGHTFUL GAY to Forest Lee Centurion Rocket
(an outcross mating), made SKAGVALE GAY ROCKETTE (EX-93), who is without
doubt a “Queen Brood Cow”!! |
| |
|
4th generation Excellent…
SKAGVALE GAY ROCKETTE
Excellent-93
LT: 218,810 3.6%F
SKAGVALE
GAY ROCKETTE (EX-93) was a huge cow, … the proverbial powerhouse,
being deep, long and wide. She produced 4
“Excellent” daughters and an “Excellent” son, creating the
first real ‘branching’ in the GAY family tree. Three of her four
“Excellent” daughters at Skagvale all had own daughters who passed
along the true GAY type: Skagvale Telstar Gay (EX-92), Skagvale
Maple Gay (EX-95), and Skagvale Tempo Gay 2nd (EX-91). (Her fourth
“Excellent” daughter, Skagvale Lenmary Gay, never had any
daughters.) |
5th generation Excellent…
SKAGVALE MAPLE GAY
Excellent-95
LT: 156,210 3.8%F
SKAGVALE MAPLE GAY (EX-95), a Citation R Maple
daughter, was Skagvale Farm’s very first homebred 95 point cow! She
was the result of another cross to intense Rag Apple blood, and was
the dam of seven “Excellent” daughters and two “Excellent” sons. Her
11 classified daughters averaged 88.9 points (7 EX, 3 VG, 1 GP)! Of
her 7 “Excellent” daughters, the most well-known is probably SKAGVALE ELIE GAY-ET (EX-93), a Marshfield Elevation Tony daughter. |
6th generation Excellent…
SKAGVALE ELIE GAY-ET
Excellent-93
LT: 164,460 4.0F 3.4P
“OLD ELIE GAY” (EX-93) was a great big cow
with a tremendous uphill run, a wide chest, a deep powerful body and
a beautiful udder. Her rump was one of those “box car rumps”. (In
fact, a Canadian classifier who saw Elie Gay said that there was no
way in heck that she was a Mars Tony with a rump like that!! Of
course, being an ET calf, she had been blood-typed!) Although Elie
Gay had four “Excellent” daughters and two “Excellent” sons, her
most well-known offspring are SKAGVALE CASSIE ELIE GAY (EX-92) and
SKAGVALE COUNTRY ELIE GAY (EX-95).From Old Elie Gay stems the entire
“Elie Gay” family for which Skagvale is particularly well-known
today. |
7th generation Excellent…
SKAGVALE COUNTRY ELIE GAY
Excellent-95
5y 365 3x 34240 3.7 1283 3.1P
LT: 117,320 3.6F 3.2P
SKAGVALE
COUNTRY ELIE GAY (EX-95) has been a dominant breeding force
through the maternal lines of the “Elie Gay” family. A tremendous
show cow in the Pacific Northwest in the early 1990s, she was twice
named Grand Champion at the Washington State Show. Additionally,
COUNTRY ELIE GAY was the third female bred by Skagvale Farm to score
Excellent-95 … and is in turn the dam of a 95-point daughter (making
3 out of 4 generations of 95 point cows… a rarity in pedigrees
anywhere!!)! To date, COUNTRY ELIE is the dam of five “Excellent” daughters (including an
EX-95, an EX-94, & an EX-92)!! Her sire, Skagvale
Countryman-ET (bl) is deep in Colony blood, and was used extensively
at Skagvale with fabulous results. COUNTRYMAN’s dam was C Colony
Vale FA JM Maxime (EX-94), a legendary show cow throughout this area in the 1980s. Maxime was
an important cog in the progress of the Skagvale breeding program…
not much of a surprise, really, considering that Colony has been a
principle source of seed stock for Skagvale since the beginning.
COUNTRY ELIE GAY was an amazing flush cow, therefore making it
possible for us to merchandise many, many daughters across the globe
while maintaining a nucleus of daughters at Skagvale for our own
breeding purposes. Her daughters have repeatedly sold in the
5-figure range in high-powered sales such as the World Classic and
Convention Sales. |
| |
|
| Pictured below are several of
Country Elie Gay’s daughters and granddaughters… |
| |
|
|
8th generation Excellent… |
8th generation Excellent… |
Potential
8th generation Excellent… |
SKAGVALE LEE ELIE GAY-ET
Excellent-94
6-07 365 2x 41,210 3.8 1552 2.9P
LT: 167,720 3.6F 3.0P
Owned with Legend Dairy Farms
* currently in the Skagvale herd |
SKAGVALE MILAN ELIE GAY-ET
Excellent-92
4y 343 2x 26060 3.6 941 2.9P
* currently in the Skagvale herd |
 SKAGVALE STORMATIC ELIE-ET
Very Good – 89
1-11 307 2x 20,550 3.4 697 3.0P
Owned by Legend Dairy Farms |
| |
8th generation Excellent… |
|
 |
SKAGVALE PREFERRED ELLY GAY
Excellent-95
7y 365 2x 36580 3.8 1390 3.2P
LT: 145,010 3.6F 3.3P |
 |
| 9th generation Excellent… |
 |
Potential
9th generation Excellent… |
SKAGVALE CLP ELLY-ET
Excellent - 92 2nd lact.
3-03 365 2x 39,320 3.5 1387 3.0P
* currently in the Skagvale herd |
|
Potential
9th generation Excellent… |
SKAGVALE CLASSY ELLY GAY-ET
Excellent-91
3y 365 2x 28210 3.7 1032 3.2P
|
SKAGVALE CLP ELLY 2-ET
Very Good – 87 2yr
2-00 209 2x 15650 3.8 600 2.9P
* we lost her unexpectedly last Fall |
Potential
10th generation Excellent… |
|
|
SKAGVALE HHR ELLY GAY-ET
Very Good – 87
2-03 281 2x 20750 4.1 856 3.0P
Owned by Legend Dairy Farms
|
|
|
| |
| Return to the top of the page... |
|
|
|
|
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)
;)