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Archive for young breeder

The Cow She Wouldn’t Let Go: Alyson Doiron and Ella Win Junior Supreme at World Dairy Expo

Friday, October 9th, 2026

Nearly three years ago, Arolene Dempsey left the family. On Oct. 2, the 16-year-old who refused to forget her led her to Supreme Champion of the Junior Show at World Dairy Expo.

The seven breed champions of the Junior Show lined up on the coloured shavings Friday afternoon. One was a five-year-old Holstein from Cap-Santé, Quebec. At her halter stood a 16-year-old who, nearly three years earlier, had watched her favorite cow leave the family.

The judges picked the Holstein.

Arolene Dempsey Ella, EX-95, was named Supreme Champion of the Junior Show at World Dairy Expo 2026. Hall’s V-Lane Spectacle-ET, the Ayrshire owned by Ashton and Levi Wilcox, was Reserve Champion of the Junior Show.

Alyson Doiron wiped away tears. She’d been working toward this since she was a kid in a Quebec show barn: her own cow, her own halter, the biggest junior banner in Madison.

“I didn’t expect it,” she said, “so all the emotions came with it.”

The cow she wouldn’t let go.

Ella’s story starts with a handshake. The family co-owned her dam, Arolene Duhibou Apple Elmay, EX-94, with a partner. When Elmay calved a heifer, Alyson’s uncle Yan made the call. If the heifer turned into a good cow, they’d keep her together. If she was just okay, the partner could keep her.

She turned into a good cow.

Ella went to work fast. At the 2023 Suprême Laitier, entered by her breeder, Ferme Arolene 2020 Inc., and Ferme Jacobs, she won the winter two-year-old class, took Best Udder and Bred & Owned, and was named Reserve Intermediate Champion.

Then came the Royal.

“We owned her as a heifer and then sold her when she had just calved, to Butlerview at the Royal,” Alyson told the Expo Daily Edition.

It was a strange week to say goodbye. On Nov. 9, 2023, Erbacres Snapple Shakira-ET was named Grand Champion of the Royal for a partnership that included Ferme Jacobs and Ty-D Holsteins. In the same show, Ella won the winter two-year-olds, took Best Udder and was named Honorable Mention Intermediate Champion, entered under Jim Butler’s name.

Alyson took it hard. She was “really mad at my mom and uncle,” she said.

Butlerview later sent Ella through the International Intrigue Sale. That’s where a teenager’s grudge turned into a plan.

“I was like, I have to bring this cow back home,” she said. “And that’s how it went.”

Growing up in the Jacobs barn

Alyson knows exactly what a Supreme Champion looks like up close. Her father, Tyler Doiron, led Shakira to Grand and Supreme Champion at World Dairy Expo in 2021, then did it again in 2023.

Tyler Doiron leads Erbacres Snapple Shakira-ET at World Dairy Expo 2023, the year she won Grand and Supreme Champion for the second time. Three years later, his daughter, Alyson, made her own Supreme walk with Ella.

Her mother, Ysabel Jacobs, is a partner in Ferme Jacobs with her brother Yan and their mother, Marian Ghielen. By 2025, the farm had won 11 Premier Breeder banners at Madison and 11 more at the Royal.

Ferme Jacobs owned the top of the 2018 Royal. Jacobs Windbrook Aimo EX-95, the winning four-year-old, was Grand Champion. Jacobs Lauthority Loana EX-96-2E, the winning mature cow, owned with Pat Conroy, was Reserve. It was the first homebred Grand-and-Reserve sweep at the Royal since 1969. Eight years later, Alyson Doiron made her own Supreme walk.

That’s the bar Alyson grew up with. Great cows weren’t something she saw in magazines. They lived down the alley.

“Showing is our life,” she told the Expo Daily Edition. “In our free time, we are either showing or working with the show cows.” She’s studying agriculture so she can take over the farm one day.

Ask her who taught her the most, and she doesn’t hesitate: “My mom, my dad and Uncle Yan. They work with the cow every day.”

Two of them are the people she was furious with in 2023.

The summer it came together.

Ella has the pedigree to back up the banners. She’s by Dempsey, out of Elmay, an Applecrisp daughter who is the 10th generation of VG or Excellent dams. Go back far enough, and you reach Krull Broker Elegance, EX-96, one of the breed’s great cow families. Elmay is still showing, too. This year she won her class at Northeast Fall and was named Reserve Senior and Honorable Mention Grand Champion.

By July, Ella was showing in Alyson’s name.On July 16, she was Grand Champion at the Portneuf Holstein show. On Aug. 20 at the Suprême Laitier, judge Dominic Fortier called the top of the five-year-old class a close call: a fourth-calf cow against a third-calf cow. Gouldhaven Alligator Ezroyal won it on a higher, wider rear udder. Ella, the third-calver, settled for second and Honorable Mention Grand.

A loss like that can rattle a young exhibitor. Alyson had a rule for it, and it came from home.

“The best advice they have given me is not to let one show define my cow,” she said.

Then Ella classified EX-95, and Alyson packed for Madison.

Judge Justin Burdette slaps Bonaccueil Maya Goldwyn Grand Champion of the 2013 International Holstein Show, with Tyler Doiron, one of her owners, at the halter. That evening, Maya was named Supreme Champion of World Dairy Expo. Thirteen years later, Tyler’s daughter, Alyson, won a Madison Supreme of her own.

Five days in Madison

On Sept. 27, judge Ben Wallace and associate Phillip Topp sorted 301 junior-owned Holsteins. Alyson had been on the coloured shavings before in showmanship. This was her first time leading a cow in a class there, and the cow was her own.

Wallace said Ella won the eight-cow five-year-old class handily. He placed her over T-Triple-T Side Peace for a higher, wider udder. In the senior drive, he said he couldn’t find a fault: she’s feminine, with an open rib, a beautiful rump and a great set of feet and legs. Then he got to the udder. High and wide, symmetrical and tightly attached.

He made her Senior and Grand Champion of the International Junior Holstein Show.

“We came here to Madison, and I wanted to do the junior show and just have some fun,” Alyson said. “I didn’t expect to win, but I’m really happy.”

Five days later came the open show. In a 17-cow five-year-old class under Ryan Krohlow, Ella stood second. The only cow ahead of her, Eixdale Pwrup, alongside Milk Source Genetics, went on to Grand Champion and Reserve Supreme of the whole Expo. Ezroyal, the cow that beat Ella in August, was sixth.

One show didn’t define her cow. Alyson had said it wouldn’t.

That afternoon, Alyson and Ella walked back in for the Supreme selection and walked out with the banner.

Her turn

Tyler has made that walk with Shakira. Ferme Jacobs has hung Premier Breeder banners in Madison and Toronto. On Oct. 2, the walk belonged to someone else: a 16-year-old who got mad, made a plan, and brought her cow home.

“We’re just a big family,” she said. “I love that part.”

Next comes the Royal in November. Then Ella calves again, with Madison 2027 as the goal.

Next comes the Royal in November. After that, Ella will calve again, setting her sights on Madison 2027 – only this time, she’s staying in the family.

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Curtis Vanden Berge: How Holstein USA’s 2026 Young Breeder Built a 2,800-Cow Herd Around Components

Tuesday, June 2nd, 2026

Most 2,800-cow dairies chase volume. Curtis Vanden Berge chased components — and hit 4.17% fat while one cow, Halogen 516-ET, seeded 200-plus descendants in his Bakersfield barn.

Curtis Vanden Berge

When Holstein Association USA CEO Lindsey Worden called with the news, Curtis Vanden Berge didn’t see it coming. “When CEO Lindsey Worden called me to tell me the news, I was truly surprised,” he says. “It’s nice to be recognized for the work we do every day.” 

That recognition is the 2026 Distinguished Young Holstein Breeder award, which he’ll receive at the National Holstein Convention in Orlando in June. But the real story has been building for decades on a family dairy that uprooted once, expanded, and grew into one of California’s most genetics-driven Holstein herds. 

Leaving Mira Loma, Building in Bakersfield

Curtis didn’t “find” dairying — he grew up in the middle of it. He was raised on his family’s dairy near Mira Loma, California, where his father and grandfather sparked his passion for dairy farming and genetic progress. 

In 2004, the family relocated to Bakersfield, expanding the farm and creating opportunities for the next generation. By 2010, Curtis had stepped into day-to-day management at Vanden Berge Dairy. Five years later he became a partner. Today the operation is run by Curtis and his wife Stacey, alongside his brother Trevin and his wife Heidi, while Curtis and Stacey raise their three children — Case, Tessa, and Payton — on the farm. 

2,800 Holsteins, Three Times a Day, Components First

Vanden Berge Dairy now milks about 2,800 Holstein cows in California’s Central Valley, running three-times-a-day milking. 

The numbers behind the award aren’t fluff:

  • Rolling herd average: 27,895 lb milk 
  • Fat: 1,163 lb (4.17%) 
  • Protein: 928 lb (3.33%) 

That profile isn’t accidental. Curtis is driven to continuously improve herd genetics, focusing on increasing components and making sure each generation is better than the last. Higher fat and protein pounds are the priority — and in a market where components carry more of the milk cheque every year, that focus lines up with where progressive Holstein breeders have pushed for the past decade. 

The Cows Behind the Strategy

The genetic shift took off when the first group of Registered Holsteins arrived at Vanden Berge Dairy nearly 15 years ago. One cow in particular, Longfellow Boxer Bianca, showed Curtis what Registered Holsteins could do — her performance in the herd demonstrated their value firsthand. 

Another foundation piece is Seagull-Bay Halogen 516-ET, whose influence keeps spreading through the milking string and heifer pens. Curtis can trace more than 200 descendants of that cow in the herd today, including Vanden-Berge Trpc Daphne-ET EX-90 — proof you don’t have to choose between commercial performance and high-end pedigrees. 

Genomics, Embryos and Beef-on-Dairy — With Discipline

On the tools side, Curtis isn’t dabbling. Vanden Berge Dairy leans on:

  • Genomic testing to sort heifers early and line up matings that move indexes, not just pedigrees 
  • Embryo transfer and IVF to multiply the most profitable cow families faster 
  • Beef-on-dairy to turn lower-genetic-value pregnancies into higher-value calves instead of replacements they don’t need 

That package, combined with Holstein Association USA’s programs and services, gives Curtis a feedback loop: what the cows look like, what they produce, and how it ties back to mating decisions made years earlier. It’s the same shift across top Holstein herds — genomics isn’t a “technology project” anymore, it’s just how breeding decisions get made. 

More Than Genetics: Association Leadership

This award doesn’t just recognize a numbers game. Curtis has been active with the California Holstein Association for years, serving on the board and two years as president — no small commitment while managing a large Western herd. 

That role has put him in the middle of the big questions: how to keep Registered Holsteins relevant to large-pen commercial setups, how to protect breed identity and data integrity in a world of crossbreeding and beef-on-dairy, and how state associations stay valuable when breeders are stretched thin. 

Why This Young Breeder Award Matters

The Distinguished Young Holstein Breeder Award targets breeders ages 21 to 40 who run a profitable Registered Holstein herd and contribute back to the industry. Winners receive travel and lodging for up to two people to the National Holstein Convention, complimentary tickets to the Awards Luncheon, a $2,000 cash award, and a plaque — plus their name engraved on a permanent plaque at Holstein Association USA headquarters in Brattleboro. 

Recent recipients include Tim Rauen of Iowa, Trent Hendrickson of Wisconsin, and Ty Etgen of Ohio. Curtis joins that list at a moment when Western dairies face hard scrutiny on water, emissions, and economics — and a 2,800-cow, components-driven Holstein herd run by a breeder comfortable with both genomic data and a board agenda is exactly the kind of operation that will help decide what the Holstein cow looks like fifteen years from now. 

Curtis Vanden Berge will be recognized as Holstein Association USA’s 2026 Distinguished Young Holstein Breeder during the National Holstein Convention in Orlando, Florida, on Wednesday, June 24. 

Key Takeaways

  • Components are the play. Vanden Berge runs nearly 28,000 lb of milk at 4.17% fat and 3.33% protein because fat and protein pounds are what cash the milk cheque — not raw volume.
  • Genomics, IVF, and beef-on-dairy only pay when they’re part of one system. Test heifers early, multiply your best cow families, and breed the bottom end to beef instead of making replacements you don’t need.
  • One cow can carry a herd. Halogen 516-ET left 200-plus descendants in this string — proof that finding and propagating your best family beats chasing the hot bull every proof run.
  • The award rewards more than numbers. Curtis built it with herd results plus state-association leadership, and that combination is what gets a young breeder recognized at the national level.

The Sunday Read Dairy Professionals Don’t Skip.

Every week, thousands of producers, breeders, and industry insiders open Bullvine Weekly for genetics insights, market shifts, and profit strategies they won’t find anywhere else. One email. Five minutes. Smarter decisions all week.

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