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Illinois Award Winner Stories 2011

Senior Breeder: Tomy & Kathy Neisen, Senteka Holsteins, Fowler, Ill.

The 2011 Senior Breeder award was presented to Tom and Kathy Neisen, Fowler, Ill. The award was donated by the Erbsen Family in memory of the late Kenneth Erbsen.

Tom and Kathy both grew up on dairy farms. In 1969, they married, and Tom began working at Moorman’s Dairy Research Farm in Quincy, Ill. His main responsibilities there were milking and breeding. It is during this time that Tom decided he wanted a dairy farm of his own.

In 1981, Tom and Kathy started their own herd. Kathy said starting their own farm “was something we both knew, and it’s something we are both passionate about.”

Currently, Senteka Holsteins has a herd average of 23,495 on 75 cows. Their last BAA was 104.6 with two Excellent and 26 Very Good.

Tom’s breeding philosophy is simple: fancy cattle with outstanding udders and functional feet and legs. He tries to breed cows that are nice to look at and enjoyable to milk. They concentrate on milk quality and production. Tom said, “Bottom line, the milk check pays the bills!” Tom has been doing all the mating on the herd for the past 30 years. He also does all the hoof trimming and breeding. Tom and Kathy have managed the operation themselves, never with the help of a herdsman, just their three children, Trent, Lance and Niki.

Through Tom’s management and breeding practices, the family has had show winners at their local fairs for many years. When Tom and Kathy’s three children were younger, they would take a family trip to the PDCA calf sale to select 4-H projects. Kathy said this helped teach their children values, work ethic and responsibility.

Today, they can still trace animals currently in the herd to two animals they started with in 1981. Bressners Star Fran EX-90 3E produced 148700 3.8 5668 3.1 3712 lifetime. Fran had six daughters who have greatly influenced the herd. Hinoli Mars Dolly VG-85 produced 167960 3.0 5039 2.7 2968 lifetime and had four daughters.

Offspring from these two cow families continue to lead the way for the Neisens. They have won Grand Champion and Production classes at the Mississippi-Valley District Show and Adams County Fair.

This past year, Senteka Mr Sam Darmee GP-83 was named Grand Champion of the Mississippi-Valley District Show. Reserve Grand Champion of the same show was Senteka Garret Janie VG-85.

Tom and Kathy are excited for the future of their herd. They have several Roy and Jasper young cows that look promising and have been shown at the local level.

Tom and Kathy are active in the Mississippi-Valley Holstein Club. Kathy’s father, Orville Loos, actually helped start the club. Kathy also runs a successful catering business. They have been named Premier Breeder and Exhibitor multiple times at their district show and are involved in other club activities.

Junior Breeder: Steve & Emily Laesch, Laeschway Dairy, Greenville, Ill.

The 2011 Junior Breeder award was presented to Steve and Emily Laesch of Greenville, Ill., during the banquet of the Senior Holstein Convention on December 2, 2011. The award was donated by the Erbsen Family in memory of the late Kenneth Erbsen.

Steve Laesch grew up on a Guernsey and Holstein farm near Normal, Ill. He went to University of Illinois and graduated in 1992. While in college he was an Illini Dairy Club member and was on the U of I Dairy Judging team, being a member of the winning collegiate team at World Dairy Expo in 1991. While at the U of I he met Emily Schaufelberger and they were married in July of 1992.

Steve worked for Rolling Lawns Farm until 1994, then went to work with his father-in-law, Ron, where his responsibility was caring for the cows. When Steve married Emily he also inherited some registered Holsteins that Emily had started as a 4-H and Jr. Holstein project.

In 1995, Steve and Emily were blessed with a son, Joshua, and in 1998 Rebecca was born. In March of 2005, Ron and Karen built a house a half mile away and Steve and Emily moved to the dairy farm. Steve became more involved in management and herd decisions and in January 2006, he and Emily became sole owners and operators of Laeschway Dairy where they began making improvements to the dairy.

Since that time, Steve has built a commodity shed, built a calf barn for weaned calves, remodeled the tie stall barn into an individual calf barn and replaced the old belt feed bunk with a covered drive through feed alley for dry cows and old barn cows. He was an influential part of building their three row free stall drive-through barn in 2000.

Through Steve’s management and breeding they developed Schaulane Outside Barbie EX-90 2E GMD DOM from an Excellent Lindy. This family originated from Emily’s first 4-H calf, Bluff-Ridge Dutchoe Barbie, purchased in 1978 at the PDCA Calf Sale. Barbie’s best record at 6-07 is 42,280 3.7 1549 3.0 1266 in 365 days. Steve sold 10 bulls to A.I. studs as well as marketed embryos overseas. Currently, she has 10 Very Good and one Excellent daughter.

Steve had the chance to sell some of her daughters in a few national sales, which sparked even more interest in her. Her daughter Schaulane Boliver Brandi-ET VG-86 sold in the 2007 Planet Holstein Sale to High Mountain Genetics of Ogden, Utah. Brandi best record is over 32,000 lbs. milk with a 3.4% fat test and 3.0% protein test. She is the dam of popular genomic young sire from Accelerated Genetics, Laeschway Jet Bowser GTPI +2138.

Jet Bowser has gained some following in the field of genomics. He has some early daughters that have also tested high, including five on the Top 200 Genomic list. His highest daughter at +2475 GTPI is Sandy-Valley Bwsr Violet-ET. She is #51 on the Top 200 List of Genomic Females after the December 2011 run. However, he does not have any proven daughters to this point. Steve is excited to see what he daughters will do when the first ones calve out this coming spring.

With the implementation of genomics, Steve is using more young sires than ever before, but only if they meet his breeding goals. He selects high type bulls with a focus on udder and feet and legs. He will use a high GTPI sire if the Type is high enough. He has calves being born by proven bulls Braxton, Guthrie, Sanchez, Fever and Jordan; young sires by Time and Atwood. For breeding, he is using Demspey, Hero and Sid as well as the young sires Bradnick, Shamrock and Magnus. Steve believes in using a little bit of a lot of bulls instead of a lot of just a few bulls.

They now milk 125 registered Holsteins with production of 22,400 lbs. milk and BAA of 104 with 2 EX and 28 VG cows. Currently, Steve is working with a Very Good Shottle out of the Elegance family, Very Good Baxter from an Excellent Durham and an Armstead sister to Bowser.

He has also recently flushed Two-Fine Goldwyn Dor 2541 VG-88 DOM owned with Jerry Gaffner, Larry Kleiner and Steve Berlin. She has a +1961 GTPI and produced over 40,000 lbs. milk, one of Goldwyn’s top production daughters. She has a Million bull at Select Sires and a Bowser daughter sold to Select Sires.

Steve continues marketing his animals through local and club sales as well as selling embryos. Over the next few years, he plans on keep the herd size the same but wants to focus on marketing genetics more.

Steve and Emily are active members of Our Redeemer Lutheran Church where Steve has been on the board and served as chairman. Emily teaches Sunday School and serves as an organist along with helping with many other activities. Steve has served as DHIA delegate from his district and is currently on the Gateway Club board of directors. He’s also helped coach

baseball and basketball teams in the area. Emily is a secretary at Greenville High School.
Joshua and Rebecca have taken over the showing responsibilities for the farm where they regularly exhibit in 4-H and at the Gateway District Show and the Bond County Fair where they each have had Champion cow. Joshua has also shown at the State Championship show and at Section 19 FFA Fair for 2 years. In June he was recognized for being the top individual judge at the 2011 FFA State Dairy Judging contest.

Steve and Emily are good examples of young dairymen being involved in their industry and their community. They have hosted many local, state and even international groups wanting to know more about dairying in the U.S., the most recent being a group of veterinarians from Holland and Spain this past September. They are extremely busy supporting their children in school activities where Josh plays basketball and baseball and is an officer in the Greenville FFA chapter. Rebecca plays volleyball, is a cheerleader and drum major for the Jr. High band.