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OCONNORS PLANET LUCIA (VG-86 2yr)#1 GLPI Cow Aug ’12 - New Genomic Giant!

COMESTAR GOLDWYN LILAC (VG-89)Nominated All Canadian Sr 2yr 2008

LILA Z (EX-94 11*)2x All-Canadian n Nominated All World Cow 2011

Mapel Wood FarmsPhone: 905.648.3213mapelwood@hotmail.ca

O'Connor Land& Cattle Co.Phone: 905.686.4773info@oconnorlandandcattle.com

GenerVations Inc.Phone: 905.866.7800dave@genervations.com

Lucia & All Her Daughters Sell!

Genetics By Design SaleNovember 6, 2012 @ 10:30 a.m.Brubacher Sale Arena, Guelph, ON

2-5 P147 12,692 621 4.9% 426 3.4% kg PLANET x Comestar Goldwyn Lilac (VG-89)

CDN Aug ’12

Lucia is Bred and Owned by O’Connors, MapelWood & GenerVations

Dam of the #1 & #2 GPA-LPI NUMERO UNO’s, BOULDER’s & WILLROCK’s in the World (Aug ’12)

All 9 sons over PA: 6 over 3.00 PTAT & 5 over 2460 GTPI

Mapelwood Willrock Lovelace OConnors Willrock Lovable Mapelwood Snowman Lexus Mapelwood Boulder LimerickOConnors Snowman Lexie OConnors Boulder LunaMapelwood Snowman Lyric

LuciaDaughters

Selling!

BY BONNIE COOPER

The A.I. industry is a fast paced, com-petitive business. A small Canadian A.I.company that continues to grow andthrive in that environment is GenerVationsInc. Owner Dave Eastman is the driv-ing force behind this Campbellville,Ontario, based A.I. company. Eastman’sproven ability to source and marketbreed leading bulls and cows, combinedwith a keen business sense, a passionfor the Holstein and A.I. industry, andsupport from some great people, haskept GenerVations on the road tosuccess. This past year has been one ofthe best yet for this company withseveral high ranking proven and younggenomic bulls emerging from theirprogram.

HISTORYIt was Albert Cormier of Cormdale

Genetics Inc., Bethany, Ont., who laidthe groundwork for GenerVations.GenerVations was formed in 1999 whena partnership was established betweenAlbert Cormier and Dave Eastman. Itreplaced the previous Cormdale Geneticsdivision started earlier by Cormier, whohad established several successful live-stock and marketing businesses whilebreeding his Master Breeder CalbrettHolsteins herd at Georgetown, Ont. It was in the early 1980s that Cormier

first began to envision starting an A.I.company and registered the name“Modern Sires”. In 1990, he beganjointly proving young sires in Canadaand France with OGER, an A.I. companyin France. Together, they developed ten Superior Production bulls. In 1990,Cormier also imported the first Europeansemen into Canada and became theexclusive Canadian distributor for SersiaFrance and Holland Genetics. Dave Eastman joined Cormdale

Genetics as an A.I. sales representativein 1993 and within a year was appointedsales manager for Cormdale’s semenmarketing business. A native of EasternOntario, Eastman grew up on his family’sMapleigh Holsteins farm at Kinburn,Ont. Intrigued by bulls and bloodlines,he began looking after the farm’s

breeding program at the age of 12.Eastman graduated from the Universityof Guelph in 1991 where he had majoredin agriculture business. He gained A.I.experience prior to joining Cormdale byworking for Eastern Breeders Inc. andTransfer Genetics/Select Sires. In 1998, Albert Cormier discontinued

the Modern Sires sampling program. He split his existing export and semendivisions into two companies andoffered shares and eventual ownershipof the companies to two of his employees.Yvon Chabot of Victoriaville, Que., tookover the export department and today is the owner of Cormdale Exports Ltd.Dave Eastman became a partner in thesemen marketing division which becameGenerVations Inc. in January 1999. Fiveyears later in January 2004, Eastmanbecame GenerVations’ sole owner. Cormier has remained a valued con-

sultant, mentor and friend to Eastman. In 2004, the two men purchased acustom bull housing and semen collec-tion facility at Cardston, Alta., which waspreviously owned by Universal Genetics.Renamed Sire Lodge Inc., it has alwaysbeen home to the GenerVations’ bulls.The facility can house up to 300 bulls inindividual and group pens. In additionto the GenerVations’ bulls, the stud alsodoes custom housing of bulls for A.I.organizations in Germany and France,along with some privately owned bulls.While the number of foreign A.I. unitbulls has declined since theadvent of “genomics”, more ofthe bulls that are kept here are inactive production making it avery profitable facility.

GROWING THE COMPANYSince its formation, GenerVations

has proven some 90 bulls. Ofthese, six have become ClassExtra, nine Superior Type and 11Superior Production. That’s apretty impressive track record fora small company which startedout sampling just four bulls ayear and is now up to 20-25 bullsper year, the majority here inCanada, with a few sampled inthe United States and othercountries. They have marketedsemen to 40 different countries. Among the first bulls proven

by GenerVations was Calbrett-IH H Champion (Ex-Extra) whobecame the number one Lifetime

Profit Index (LPI) bull in Canada inNovember 2002 and a “millionaire” sirein 2007. He was the “big break” thecompany needed at the start not onlyfinancially, but to establish its credibilityin the industry. Since that time, many more respected

bulls have come through the GenerVationsprogram. (See accompanying story onthe bulls.) 2011 was a particularly goodyear. In April 2011, GenerVations hadthe highest new release proven bulls in Canada with split embryo brothersGillette Willrock (Ex-90-Extra) andGillette Wildthing (Ex-90-Extra). InAugust, they had the second highestnew release proven bull in GenervationsLobo (Ex-92-SP). They followed that upin December with the second high-est new release proven bull, GilletteWindhammer (Ex-95-Extra), who wasalso number one in the breed forconformation.Most of the bulls at GenerVations are

leased. “We have been doing that rightfrom the start,” says Eastman. “Being a smaller A.I. company, we had to bemore aggressive in terms of what weoffered breeders to work with them.Depending on the bulls and families,many of the leases are open-ended andhave been for many years. When I didthe math of lease versus non-lease, Iknew if I didn’t have the bull and hewas good, we probably wouldn’t behere today. I love signing the royaltycheques because it means the bull has

Holstein Journal, July 2012 17

Dave Eastman, the owner of GenerVations Inc.

been good for us too,” Eastman sayswith a smile. He goes on to comment,“Breeders need to be rewarded if youwant them to keep investing in cattle.You can’t expect a breeder to pay$100,000 for a cow or heifer and sell abull for $5000. I wouldn’t.”To augment his GenerVations’ prod-

uct line, Eastman has formed a numberof alliances with other A.I. companies sothat he can offer his customers a diverseline-up of bulls in not only the dairybreeds, but also beef and goats.GenerVations is currently the Canadiandistributor for Accelerated Genetics,Field of Dreams and New GenerationSwiss in the United States; Semenzoo in Italy; Aberekin in Spain; GenesDiffusion, Sersia and Coopex in France;and Masterrind and GGI in Germany.Between them, GenerVations is able to draw from more than 1200 newlyproven bulls each year. “Over the years,we have been able to import and sellsemen from a lot of high ranking,influential bulls,” says Eastman. “EveryA.I. company goes through their upsand downs, so we have been fortunatethat when we had a down period in ourprogram, our other companies have hadtheir ups, so it has always worked outthat we had product to sell.” Eastmanvalues these alliances for other reasonstoo. “If there is bull that I have neverused or missed like ‘O Man’, hopefullythe other units will have a proven sonthat I can market. Some have focusedmore on the health traits than I have, soI can pick that up from them. Workingwith a lot of companies and their per-sonnel, you get to exchange a lot ofideas and can draw on their opinion ofbulls. They become an extension ofyour company.”GenerVations has 24 full-time direct

sales representatives across Canada,along with two regional sales managers.There are eight staff members at theCampbellville office. Staff there alsoprovide office support and accountingservices for Sire Lodge and CormdaleExports. GenerVations offers their clientsa computer mating service, A.I. trainingand a number of animal health products.GenerVations has a subsidiary in Brazil.Last year, they partnered with their dis-tributor Sterling Sires Ltd. in the UnitedKingdom in a new online cattle auctionsite called www.globalcattleonline.com. Being a small A.I. company Eastman

says, “I have to be very efficient. I can’thave a lot of overhead.” Unlike a lot ofhis A.I. competitors who are coopera-tives, GenerVations is privately ownedand thus pays taxes. “I don’t have aproblem paying tax, because it meanswe have made money,” Eastman remarks,“but a lot of the competitors we are upagainst pay no tax. We have to beefficient and profitable. I look at everybull as an investment. If it costs $50,000

to prove a bull, I don’t want a lot ofduds going to beef.”

SIRE SELECTIONWhile “genomics” has added another

dimension to sire selection today, theprinciples upon which Dave Eastmanselects bulls has remained relativelyunchanged. “For me, the sire stack is the most important,” he says. “I want asmany generations of high ranking bullsin the pedigree as I can. Then put inhigh scores and production combinedwith great cows and cow families.”Eastman has always been fascinated

by genetics and loves researchingpedigrees when making matings forbulls. “I still pay a lot of attention to what I call ‘sire nicking’ or ‘sirestacks’,” he says. Eastman still likes to use proven bulls as the sires of his bulls, but adds “they have to becompetitive”. With proven bulls it’sbeen easier to predict which matingswill likely “nick” better. The challengenow with using young genomic bulls assires he says is you don’t know for surehow they are going to work. “Is theremore risk using the genomic bulls thanthe proven bulls? Probably, but maybethe reward is bigger at the other end.”And when looking to use the highestdaughters of top genomic bulls as “bull

mothers”, it adds yet another risk to theequation he says. To improve his odds and increase

marketability, Eastman has focused onsecuring bulls from well-known, com-plete and consistent cow families. “Atthe end of the day we have to rememberthat the breeders using the semen stillwant to have good animals. They arenot really banking on bulls that are ‘onehit wonders’. If I was proving 100 bulls ayear, I would have a lot more opportu-nities, but I don’t, so I have to look forbulls from cow families that breedersknow and are comfortable with.” Eastman is and has been a partner in

a number of well-known cows, most ofwhom have a connection to the bulls inhis GenerVations’ program. GenerVationswas probably one of the first A.I. com-panies in North America to own “bulldams”. Why? “The main reason for me inthe past was to produce bulls and havemore control over the matings. Growingup on a farm and liking good cattle, italso allowed me to keep that interestgoing,” replies Eastman. As part ofEastman’s partnership arrangements any of the bulls marketed through hiscompany resulting from females heowns carry the “Genervations” prefix,while the females carry the prefix of oneof the other partners. Eastman doesn’t have a problem with

A.I. units owning their “bull mothers”.“Why can’t they? They invest a lot in the industry,” he says. “The mandate ofevery A.I. unit is to be profitable. I amsure the other A.I. units have done theirrisk analysis and determined that theyare better off investing $2 million infemales to make their own bulls, thanleasing bulls and paying out millions inroyalties. It is just a sound businessdecision. Even if you own the females,you still have a responsibility to puttogether a line-up of the best andhighest bulls you can.” A prime example of the “complete”

cows or cow families that Eastman hasinvested in is Lylehaven Lila Z (Ex-94-11*), the two-time All-Canadian “Durham”who sold for $1,150,000 in 2005. Anamazing brood cow, she has had astring of sons at GenerVations includingfive who are scored Excellent. Eastmanis a partner in several of Lila Z’s daugh-ters, the most prominent being ComestarGoldwyn Lilac (VG-89), the “Goldwyn”who was nominated for All-Canadiansenior 2-year-old in 2008. An equallygreat transmitter who can cross with avariety of top bulls, Lilac has many sonsat GenerVations including GenervationsLexor, the July 2010 “Man-O-Man” sonwho was the number one GPA LPI bullin the world in August 2011. A thirdgeneration member of this family thatEastman is excited to be working with isOconnors Planet Lucia (VG-86-2y). This“Planet” daughter from Lilac has a +3363

18 Holstein Journal, July 2012

LYLEHAVEN LILA Z (Ex-94-11*)This world famous two-time All-Canadian“Durham” daughter has many sons andgrandsons in the GenerVations A.I. program.She was the first animal that Dave Eastman of GenerVations bought into as a potential bull dam in 2004. She has had five sons score Excellent at GenerVations, includingGenervations Lexicon (Ex-90-SP).

SIRE LODGE INC.This custom bull housing and semen collectionfacility at Cardston, Alta., is owned by DaveEastman and Albert Cormier and is home tothe GenerVations Inc. bulls. The facility alsohouses bulls for other A.I. organizations inGermany and France.

GPA LPI. “I think Planet Lucia is theperfect package.” says Eastman. “Shehas everything you could want in herpedigree, plus the ability to transmit. Wehave tested four or five of her sons that have Direct Genomic Values (DGV)over +3900, with the highest at +4500. Idon’t think there are too many ‘Planets’in the world that are from three gener-ations of All-Canadian or nominated All-Canadian dams.” He goes on to say, “With genomics,

animals who can transmit have a muchlonger marketing life span than before.If you have great cows that can transmit,you can just keep throwing the newbulls at them and if they can still makeoffspring with high numbers you will becompetitive.”

GENOMICSA few years ago, GenerVations faced

one of its biggest challenges. BecauseGenerVations was not part of the orig-inal group of A.I. companies involved inthe North American genomic researchproject, it did not have full access togenomic testing of its bulls. In thesummer of 2010, GenerVations was ableto expand its existing alliance withAccelerated Genetics in Wisconsin,giving them the opportunity to test moreof their young bulls for genomics. “Idon’t know if we would even be inbusiness today if we hadn’t been able todo this, because everything has movedthat quickly on genomics,” admitsEastman frankly. “The females we hadtested for genomics tested extremelyhigh, so I hoped that a lot of the bullswould too since they were full sibs. As it turned out, we did have a lot of highones. One of our best times was lastAugust when ‘Lexor’ was the highestyoung bull in the world for genomics onthe Canadian base and GenervationsEpic (‘Super’ x Tramilda-N Baxter Emily-ET) was the highest bull in the world onthe U.S. base. For a small program thathadn’t probably tested 50 bulls genom-ically to have ranked that high, whenyou are competing against thousandsand thousands of bulls, really validatedour program. And the other nice partwas that these bulls also carried ourprefix and were from our breedingprogram.” During our interview, Eastman shared

many of his thoughts on genomics withus and how it is changing the A.I.industry. Marketing Genomic Young Bulls –

GenerVations is still relatively newwhen it comes to marketing semen fromyoung genomic bulls (bulls that don’thave a proof), but Eastman has observedseveral things. “The top bulls on the listgenerate great demand and money andthey have a longer production life, butonce you get down the list, the demandreally drops off quickly,” says Eastman

who had four bulls in the top 25 of theGPA LPI Young Bull List in April. “Whilethe geneticists tell us there is not a lot ofdifference amongst the top group ofbulls, everyone wants number one. Ihave resigned myself to the fact that youwill get good money from the top oneor two bulls, or a bit of a premium if abull is the top son of a sire, but the restare just bulls.”A.I. Business Model – Genomics is

rapidly changing the whole businessmodel for A.I. units. “If it gets to thepoint that genomics is as accurate aseveryone hopes it is, I don’t know if weeven need to sample as many bulls aswe do,” says Eastman. If that happens,the role and number of sire analysts willalso change he says. Genomics in Other Countries –

“There are a lot of other countries in theworld that are not where we are interms of genomics,” Eastman points out.“If you talk to some of the other A.I.companies regarding their percentage ofsemen exports on genomic bulls it islow. Some of our biggest importingcountries still will only take semen fromproven bulls. When that changes, however,then I think proven bulls will be done.”Open Genomic Testing of Bulls –

In 2013, genomic testing of bullsbecomes open to breeders. “I don’tthink there will be as many breederssampling their own bulls as whateveryone anticipated,” says Eastman,“because they won’t have the distri-bution network. If the bull is numberone, a breeder will be able to sell a lotof semen for a good amount of moneyfor a short period of time; but after thatyou need distribution. I don’t know howmany farmers are prepared to get in thebusiness of shipping 10 vials of semento a farm, collect their money and stillhay at the same time. It’s complicatedand it costs to house a bull and producesemen. Breeders are going to need towork with a good partner.” Eastman foresees more breeder

owned, high genomic bulls sellingthrough public auctions. “If you tested a

bull and he was one of the highest bullsin the world, what would you take forhim?,” he asks. “Before when bulls soldpublicly there was no real scienceinvolved in how you were going to getyour money back. The model todaywould indicate you have a betteropportunity.” Because more breedersmay not be accepting A.I. contracts onbulls before they are born, Eastmananticipates he will be forming morepartnerships with breeders after the bullis born and tested. “Instead of investingin females, I maybe need to save mymoney to invest in live bulls and justbuy the high ones,” he says.GenerVations, along with some of

their partners, have syndicated severalbulls in recent years. At the 2010 Sale ofStars, they sold a 50% stake in a firstchoice genomically tested male by“Windbrook” or “Snowman” from WiamyKyana Bolton (VG-88), a high indexing“Bolton”, for $100,000. At the A.D.I.Global 3rd Edition Sale in 2009, apackage of ten bulls from some of thehighest genomic cows in the breed soldfor $750,000. All of the bulls have beenleased to GenerVations with an open-end lease agreement.

“I am excited about everybody beingable to genomic test,” says Eastman,“because there are going to be a lot ofbulls that have never been tested. Wehave found from the limited number ofbulls we have tested that you can havesome ‘outliers’, animals that you mightnot consider high, but might have theability to throw high. When I am look-ing at bulls and families that is what Ireally watch for.” Lylehaven Lila Z is agood example he says. “When genomicsfirst came out, Lila Z didn’t test high andeveryone thought the family was done.But guess what? She has had so manyhigh ones and has been able to throwwhat I call the ‘Hail Mary’s’. Last summerthree of her grandsons from threedifferent cows were among the highestbulls in the breed – ‘Lexor’ at numberone GPA LPI Young Bull, Gen-I-BeqLavaman at number two, and WillsboroLarson-ET as the number one RedCarrier.” On the other hand, Eastmansays, “Genomics has also eliminatedsome families that were prominentbefore because they didn’t have theability to transmit.” New Families – While Eastman has

concentrated primarily on well-knowncow families when sourcing bulls, hesays, “I still believe there are someexciting families out there that haven’tbeen developed. That is why I encour-age dairymen to genomically test theirfemales.” Such discoveries can lead tocows like Wiamy Kyana Bolton, a cowEastman purchased and owns part of, or the more recent Alexerin Oman 993(GP-83), both of whom Eastman hascontracted sons from. The latter, an

Holstein Journal, July 2012 19

COMESTAR GOLDWYN LILAC (VG-89)A “Goldwyn” daughter from Lylehaven Lila Z(Ex-94-11*), she has been a popular bull damin the GenerVations program. Nominated forAll-Canadian senior 2-year-old in 2008, she isthe dam of Genervations Lexor, a “Man-O-Man” son who was the number one GPA LPIbull in the world in August 2011.

Gillette WILLROCK (EX-EXTRA)250HO0902 CANM7816548 aAa 234

Marion x 2011 Cow of The Year - Gillette Blitz 2nd Wind (VG-88 34*)

Gillette WILDTHING (EX-EXTRA)250HO0903 CANM7816547 aAa 531

Marion x 2011 Cow of The Year - Gillette Blitz 2nd Wind (VG-88 34*)

n Over 200 Daughters in 9 out of 10 Provinces n Complete Outcross and High Fertility

Troitrefles WILDTHING Marion (VG-87)Ferme Troitrefles Inc. - Embrun, ON

2nd Lactation

Swisskess WILLROCK Paulex (VG-87)Swisskess Inc. - Clarenceville, QC

2nd Sr 2yr Bedford 2011

n Easy to Use, no Holes Proof

GenerVations LEXICON (EX-90 EXTRA)250HO00896 CANM103974921 aAa 234

Goldwyn x 2x All-Canadian ‘Lila Z’

Gillette WINDHAMMER (EX-95 EXTRA)250HO00914 CANM8932157 aAa 315

Bolton x 2011 Cow of The Year - Gillette Blitz 2nd Wind (VG-88 34*)

www.genervations.com

n Proof Continues To Go Up! n Siring Show Winners n 2 Full Sisters All-Cdn Nominees

n

High Type & Fertility n

Complete Outcrossn

Sire of Sons & Show Winners

Sennhof WINDHAMMER Fabiana (VG-86 2yr)Schlegel Family - St-Camille, QC

Homtosta LEXICON Ebony (VG-89 2yr)Owned by: Milk Source - WI USA

2nd Sr 2yr & HM Int Champion -WI Dist 7 Show 2011

Jr Champion - WI Dist 7 Show 2010

2nd Lactation

“O Man” daughter from an EasternOntario herd, is currently the numberone protein cow in Canada and number20 on the GLPI Cow List. An earlier family that Eastman found,

owned and developed was the “Shottle”,Wabash-Way Evett-ET (VG-86-2y-DOM-1*), and her “O Man” dam, Crockett-Acres Elita-ET (VG-87-USA-DOM-GMD-2*). They are the eleventh and tenthgeneration Very Good or Excellent,respectively, in the Whittier-Farms LeadMae-ET (Ex-95-3E-USA-GMD-DOM)family. “Since we had missed ‘O Man’, Itried to find his most complete daughterto work with and that lead me to Elita,”says Eastman. “The family had a greatsire stack and genomics has confirmedits exceptional transmitting ability.” Thisfamily has produced such bulls asTramilda-N Escalade-ET (Ex-90), thenumber one GTPI “Baxter” son in the world, and the earlier mentioned “Epic”. It has also given rise to suchfemales as Calbrett Planet Eve (VG-85-2y), the “Planet” from Evett who sold for$100,000 at 2 months of age in the 2009Cormdale & Partners Dispersal. Two of Eve’s “Snowman” calves were thenumber one GPA LPI heifers in Canadain April. Genomics will make it easier for A.I.

companies to source more of their bulldams in foreign countries. With a grow-ing number of European females nowbeing tested for genomics in NorthAmerica and ranked on a TPI scale,Eastman says, “We are able to identifythe dams upfront that will do best in our system.” With many of these foreigndams ultimately tracing back to NorthAmerican genetics, the comfort level inselecting bulls from these cows is muchhigher. While many people are worried about

an increase in “inbreeding” as a result ofgenomics, Eastman isn’t. “I am not ageneticist, but I study it a lot. If you lookat ‘Goldwyn’, he has as much inbreedingas anyone and look at how great he is.There will always be new bulls thatcome along. The more we talk aboutinbreeding, the more we encouragepeople to crossbreed.”

Large Herd Advantage – Eastmanbelieves “large” herds will be better ableto capitalize on high genomic femalesand families because of their managementstyle and ability to supply large numbersof embryo transplant (ET) recipients,while also absorbing those females thatdon’t test high. “It is all about numbers,”Eastman says. “Some animals may notbe extremely high, but they can throwthem. If you have a lot of your ownrecipients, you can flush heifers like thatand you are going to get some surprises.With the price of quota being cappedand land becoming more expensive,there is more and more interest fromlarge commercial herds looking to invest

in better genetics because that is a wayto improve their herd and also increasetheir returns. They can have a hugeadvantage because they have such a bigbase to work from.”

LOOKING AHEADThe sustained growth that GenerVations

has experienced year after year is verygratifying for Eastman. “The success wehave had with the bulls, and some of thefemales, has given our customers a lotmore confidence in working with us.” Eastman credits his company’s

success to “great people” – the staff,distributors and customers. He is gratefulfor his extremely supportive family –wife Wendy and son Samuel. He is alsoindebted to his many partners on thecattle he has owned like Albert Cormier,Mapel Wood Farms and O’Connor Land& Cattle Co., with whom he has ownedthe majority of his animals, and themany other smaller partnerships he hasshared with some wonderful people.Not owning a farm himself, thesepartnerships have allowed Eastman toinvest in the prominent cow families headmires, while also spreading his risk. “Iwould not have been able to invest inthese cow families to the level that I have, and reproduced them to theextent that we have, without mypartners,” he says. On November 6th, Eastman, Mapel

Wood and O’Connor Land & Cattle willbe selling many of the females fromtheir partnership in a sale, many ofwhom have produced bulls for theGenerVations program. Among thenotable animals that will be selling inthe “Genetics by Design Sale” at theBrubacher Sale Arena, Guelph, Ont.,will be Comestar Goldwyn Lilac,Oconnors Planet Lucia and WiamyKyana Bolton. Looking ahead Eastman says, “I still

have aggressive plans for GenerVationsin terms of growth.” He expects most of his growth in semen sales to comefrom the export market, from countrieslike Brazil, China and Turkey who canutilize millions of doses of semen a year.Eastman also wants to utilize more ofthe modern technologies when mar-keting, particularly the “social media”technologies because of its ability toreach so many people immediately.“You have to appreciate the past andhistory, but you have to use all thetechnology you have today if you wantto stay competitive,” he says. GenerVations may be a small, pri-

vately owned A.I. company, but there is certainly nothing small about thesuccess it is achieving. With owner DaveEastman’s commitment and passion for genetic improvement, you can beassured Genervations will continue tokeep pace with today’s changing A.I.industry. �

20 Holstein Journal, July 2012

OConnors Planet Lucia (VG-86 2yr)#1 GLPI Cow Aug ’12 - New Genomic Giant!

Sandy Valley Planet Melody (VG-87 2yr)#6 GLPI Cow Aug ’12

Wiamy Kyana Bolton (VG-88)#4 GLPI Cow Apr ’12

GenerVations MOM Lola (VG-86 2yr)#83 GLPI Cow Aug ’12

For a small A.I. company, GenerVationsInc. at Campbellville, Ont., has had animpressive track record of proven bullsreturned to service resulting in six Class Extra, nine Superior Type and 11Superior Production awards. A look atsome of their best bulls reflects thestrong emphasis GenerVations ownerDave Eastman has always placed on“sire stacks” and “great cow families”when selecting bulls for his program.The bull that first established

GenerVations’ credibility as an A.I. com-pany was Calbrett-I H H Champion(Ex-Extra). “Champion” was among the first four bulls that GenerVationssampled in its first year of operation.Sired by “Rudolph”, he was a son ofSkys-The-Limit Claire-ET (Ex-12*-DOM),the “Horton” backed by four VeryGood-USA dams. Claire was Reserve All-Canadian and Reserve All-Americanjunior 3-year-old in 1997 after beingintermediate champion at World DairyExpo. “Champion” received his firstCanadian proof in August 2002, debut-ing at number 2 on the Lifetime ProfitIndex (LPI) list. In November 2002, hebecame Canada’s number one LPI bull,a post he would hold for four consec-utive sire summaries. In July 2007, heproduced his one millionth unit ofsemen. He was the first third generationsire in the world to have produced overone million units of semen, following inthe footsteps of his sire and grandsire(“Aerostar”). A bull who enjoyed wideappeal, “Champion” was a “complete”bull siring high production, showwinners, and exceptional health traits.He was used globally as a sire of sonsand his name appears in the pedigreestoday of many high genomic animals.

“Champion” sired six offspring whowon two All-Canadian and six ReserveAll-Canadian awards, as well as threeReserve All-American awards. Amonghis best known daughters was Gen-I-Beq Champion Bally (Ex-95-4*), theReserve All-Canadian junior 3-year-oldin 2007 who sold for $182,000 in the2009 Cormdale & Partners Dispersal.Here in Canada, “Champion” has 11,487classified daughters with 406 Excellentand 2613 Very Good. His 12,635 milkingdaughters have a Mature Equivalent(ME) average of 11,849 kg milk, 3.7%fat, 3.1% protein (224-222-221). A cloneto “Champion” was born in December2003 and later scored Excellent-95,becoming the highest scored clone inthe world. Valleyriver Ruben Redman (Ex-

ST) was a leased bull with GenerVationscarrying the marketing rights on thispopular Red & White bull. Bred by JohnGillies of Valleyriver Farms Ltd., Bognor,Ont., and owned with Larry Bennett,Caledon, Ont., “Redman” was sired by“Rubens”. He was from a Very Good-87,3-Star “Chief Mark” dam who was backedby three more Very Good dams by“Triple Threat”, Citation R Maple and“Rockman”. While “Redman” did notqualify for a lot of markets because ofhis health status, he enjoyed strongdemand from dairymen in Canada, theU.S. and Japan. “Redman” received hisfirst official proof in November 2004 andranked number 17, immediately earningSuperior Type status with his +15 con-formation rating. He would be Canada’sleading LPI Red & White sire for severalproof rounds. “Redman” proved earlyon that he could sire the fancy kind. He has sired many All-American Red &White nominees, and here in Canada

has had two offspring who have wonthree All-Canadian Red & White awards.His most famous daughter is BlondinRedman Seisme (Ex-95-USA). Grandchampion at the Royal Winter Fair Red& White Show in 2010-11, Seisme wasSupreme Champion at the Royal in2010, grand champion at the GrandInternational Red & White Show atWorld Dairy Expo in 2010, and has beenAll-Canadian Red & White senior cow the last two years. A high fertility bull, “Redman” sires daughters with great udders and high fat and protein percentages. Eighty-one percent of his 2797 classifieddaughters in Canada are Good Plus orbetter with 86 Excellent and 784 VeryGood. His 3023 milking daughters havea ME average of 10,387 kg milk, 3.8%fat, 3.2% protein (196-202-203). Three brothers that GenerVations has

recently earned Class Extra awards onare Gillette Wildthing (Ex-90-Extra),Gillette Willrock (Ex-90-Extra) andGillette Windhammer (Ex-95-Extra).Bulls that resulted from contract matingsmade by Genervations, and offering“outcross” blood, they are sons of GilletteBlitz 2nd Wind (VG-88-35*), the 2011“Cow of the Year”. 2nd Wind, the “Blitz”daughter from the well-known Braedale

Holstein Journal, July 2012 21

GILLETTE WILDTHING (Ex-90-Extra) GILLETTE WILLROCK (Ex-90-Extra)

GILLETTE WINDHAMMER (Ex-95-Extra)

MAPEL WOOD BOULDER (VG-86-1yr)VALLEYRIVER RUBEN REDMAN (Ex-ST)CALBRETT-I H H CHAMPION (Ex-Extra)

much faster than that!” “Brewmaster” isan August 2010 “Garrett” son with a+2987 GPA LPI. The two bulls are sonsof Gen-I-Beq Shottle Bombi (Ex-92-USA-2*), the high indexing “Shottle” from anExcellent-90, 3-Star “Champion” dam. GenerVations has sampled numerous

sons and grandsons of Lylehaven Lila Z(Ex-94-11*), the two-time All-Canadianby “Durham” who has become highlyregarded as a brood cow. Lila Z has hadfive sons score Excellent at GenerVations,four of them attaining Excellent on thesame day in June 2009. The highestscored is Genervations Lyndon at 96 points. Probably Lila Z’s best son to date is

Genervations Lexicon (Ex-90-SP).Backed by three generations of Excellent-94, show cows, this “Goldwyn” sonreceived his first proof in August 2011when he debuted at number 40. Hisproof has continued to go up since thenand he currently stands at number 21with a +2040 LPI. In April, he earned aSuperior Production award on his solid+1169 milk, +52 fat, +49 protein, whilealso being +12 conformation. Of his 88 classified daughters, 74% are GoodPlus or better, with 11 at Very Good.

“Lexicon” has produced several first-crop show daughters like HomtostaLexicon Ebony (VG-89-USA), who wasfirst winter yearling and junior cham-pion at Wisconsin Championship Showin 2010 and then second senior 2-year-old and honourable mention inter-mediate champion at the WisconsinDistrict 7 Show in 2011. Of the Lila Z grandsons that GenerVations

has tested, Eastman is currently the mostexcited about Genervations Lexor.This July 2010 “Man-O-Man” son is fromComestar Goldwyn Lilac (VG-89), thehigh indexing “Goldwyn” who wasnominated for All-Canadian senior 2-year-old in 2008. Lilac, who as a calftopped the 2006 Comestar Class ExtraSale at $60,000, was at one time thehighest genomic tested female who hadever been nominated for All-Canadianor All-American. “Lexor” was the num-ber one GPA LPI bull in the world inAugust 2011. He currently has a +3278GPA LPI and ranks number 5 in Canadaamong young Holstein bulls, along with being number 2 in Germany andnumber 5 in the U.K., placings whichhave sparked increased internationaldemand for his semen. Another young genomic bull that

Eastman is delighted to have in hisroster is Genervations Epic. “Epic” is aMay 2010 “Super” son from Tramilda-NBaxter Emily-ET (VG-85-2y), a twelfthgeneration Very Good or Excellent“Baxter” from the Whitter-Farms LeadMae-ET (Ex-95-3E-USA-GMD-DOM)family. Dave Eastman was previously apartner in Emily and many other femalemembers of her noted cow family. “Wefound and bought into this family beforegenomics,” he says. “It had everythingwe wanted, a great sire stack with all thegood bulls. Then when genomics cameout it validated the family.” “Epic” wasthe highest young bull in the world for genomics on the U.S. base (TPI) inAugust 2011. Here in Canada he iscurrently at +2991 GPA LPI and hasbeen very popular with dairymen.These and many more bulls have

helped to build GenerVations. Withmany more promising bulls in thepipeline, GenerVations appears poisedto remain a source of innovative geneticsfor years to come. �

22 Holstein Journal, July 2012

GENERVATIONS LEXICON (Ex-90-SP)

GENERVATIONS LEXOR

GENERVATIONS EPICMAPEL WOOD BREWMASTER

Gypsy Grand (VG-88-37*) family, is aformer number one LPI cow and thedam of many high indexing daughtersand granddaughters. “Wildthing” and “Willrock” are iden-

tical twins by “Marion” who are theresult of a split embryo. In April 2011,they were the highest ranking newrelease bulls in Canada and the first splitembryo bulls to receive identical geneticevaluations based on a pooled group oftheir daughters. Number 5 on that initialLPI Bull List, they have remained amongthe top 40 LPI bulls ever since. Highfertility bulls with a “no holes” proof,they currently have an +1814 GLPI andare +10 conformation and +1670 milk.The pair have a total of 217 milkingdaughters in nine Canadian provinceswho have a ME average of 11,394 kgmilk, 3.7% fat, 3.1% protein (215-214-216). “Wildthing” has 12 Very Gooddaughters and is 77% Good Plus andbetter on 100 classified offspring. Adaughter of his, Donnelly Wild Rose(VG-87), was nominated for All-Atlanticjunior 3-year-old last year. “Willrock”has seven Very Good daughters and is62% Good Plus or better on 89 classifiedoffspring. His highest scored daughter isSwisskess Willrock Paulex (VG-87), whowas second senior 2-year-old at ExpoBedford in 2011. “Windhammer” is the very popular

“Bolton” son of 2nd Wind. He is a splitembryo brother to Gillette Stanleycup(Ex-94-Extra) at the Semex Alliance andthus the two share the same genetic eval-uation. “Windhammer” and “Stanleycup”were the number one bulls forconformation in Canada at +19 whenthey made their debut in December2011 and ranked number 11 on the LPIBull List. Currently number 26, theyhave a +2003 GLPI and are +15 confor-mation. Their 199 milking daughtershave a ME average of 11,609 kg milk,4.0% fat, 3.1% protein (219-235-218).Seventy-three percent of “Windhammer’s”102 classified daughters are Good Plusor better with 12 at Very Good. Hisdaughters have exceptional udders, areclean legged and dairy, and have morepower, depth and openness of rib thanthe daughters of his sire. A bull whooffers the “total package”, he is siringsome show winners. GenerVations is currently sampling

some promising, high genomic youngbulls from another branch of the Gypsy Grand family – Mapel WoodBoulder (VG-86-1yr) and Mapel WoodBrewmaster. “Boulder” is a March 2010“Man-O-Man” son with a +3178 GPALPI. He already has a December 2011son from Oconnors Planet Lucia (VG-86-2y) (“Planet” x Comestar Goldwyn Lilac)with a DGV of over +4500 who wasmade before “Boulder” even had anyfrozen semen available. As DaveEastman remarks, “You can’t make them

Mapel Wood FarmsPhone: 905.648.3213mapelwood@hotmail.ca

O'Connor Land& Cattle Co.Phone: 905.686.4773info@oconnorlandandcattle.com

GEN-I-BEQ SHOTTLE BOMBI (EX-92)Shottle x EX Champion Sister to Goldwyn

COMESTAR GOLDWYN LILAC (VG-89)Nominated All Canadian Sr 2yr 2008

#9 GLPI Cow April ’11

Bombi & Lilac Genetics Sell in the

Genetics By Design SaleNovember 6, 2012

Brubacher Sale Arena Guelph, ON

Great Bulls Come From Great Families!

Lilac & Bombi are some of the highest transmitting cows in the breed today.

GenerVations LEXOR (VG-85 1yr)

250HO00993 CANM10973676MAN-O-MAN x Bombi

04/12 GPA-LPI +3178 +2324 GTPI Offspring Tested as High as +4500 DGV

250HO01011 CANM11161722MAN-O-MAN x Bombi

04/12 GPA-LPI +3018 +2279 GTPI

250HO01009 CANM11161715GARRETT x Bombi

04/12 GPA-LPI +2987 +2335 GTPIRanks Very High in France at 189 ISU

We are pleased to work with GenerVations on marketing these leading young bulls and look forward to future genetic developments.

Mapel Wood BREWMASTER (VG-851yr)Mapel Wood BANDANAMapel Wood BOULDER (VG-86 1yr)

04/12 +3278 GPA-LPI +2393 GTPITopping Genomic Lists Worldwide:#2 in Germany #5 in Canada #5 in UK

04/12 +2964 GPA-LPI +2459 GTPI#1 GTPI & NM$ Bull at GenerVations#1 Active GTPI Son of #1 TPI Proven Sire ‘Freddie’

GenerVations LINGO

04/12+2904 GPA-LPI +2358 GTPIFull Brother to LEXORRanks Very High in France at 189 ISU

GenerVations LATIMER

GenerVations LEXOR (VG-85 1yr)250HO01010 CANM11098658

MAN-O-MAN x Lilac

GenerVations LATIMER250HO01024 CANM11161769

FREDDIE x Lilac

GenerVations LINGO250HO01008 CANM10973705

MAN-O-MAN x Lilac

Granddam WABASH-WAY EVETT (VG-86 2yr 1*)

Former #3 GLPI Cow in Canada

DamTRAMILDA-N BAXTER EMILY (VG-85 2yr)

Photo Reversed

Former #1 GTPI Sire in the World

Extremely High Fertility +4.2 SCR

Everyone’s Raving About The Fancy Calves!

+2436 GTPI +2991 GPA-LPI

Tramilda-N ESCALADE (EX-91)250HO00933 USAM139232802 aAa 234

#1 GTPI Baxter Son in World & Full Brother to EPIC’s Dam

GenerVations EPIC (VG-87 2yr)250HO01002 CANM11104016 aAa 432

Super x Emily

PO Box 568Campbellville, Ontario

Canada L0P 1B0Phone: 905.873.8700

Fax: 905.877.1394 info@genervations.com

www.genervations.com

GenerVations EQUINOX (VG-85 2yr)250HO00995 CANM10963295 aAa 213

+2246 GTPI 707 NM$

GenerVations ENSIGN (VG-86 2yr)250HO00989 CANM10887714 aAa 342

#14 Active GPA-LPI Sire in World Apr ‘12 +3178

Man O Man x Emily Man O Man x Emily Baxter x Evett

GenerVations has numerous high ranking sons

from these great cows by Planet, Bolton,Million, Man O Man, Super and Baxter.

Contact us for more details.

Full Sister to EvettWABASH-WAY EMILYANN (VG-88 2yr)

Former #1 GTPI Cow in USPhoto Reversed