Grand-View BBBK Dreamer, a 10-year-old Ayrshire bred and developed by Grand-View Ayrshires of Cecil, has been named the 2016 Wisconsin Cow of the Year. Dreamer will be recognized with this honor during the International Ayrshire Show at World Dairy Expo.

The Cow of the Year ceremony is scheduled for approximately 2:30 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 6, at the Alliant Energy Center. DATCP Secretary Ben Brancel and the 69th Alice in Dairyland, Ann O’Leary, will present the award. World Dairy Expo continues through Oct. 8.

SPECIAL ANNIVERSARY: The 50th annual World Dairy Expo runs Oct. 4-8 at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.

Each year, the Wisconsin Purebred Cattle Association selects a cow to represent her breed as the Cow of the Year at World Dairy Expo. The honor is rotated annually among the seven major dairy breeds.

Grand-View Ayrshires, owned by Tim and Katie Busch, is recognized internationally as a top Ayrshire breeder. Dreamer’s sire is Blackadder BB Kellogg, and her dam is Grand-View Cornelius Drama EX 91. This family has produced a string of nine Excellent-scored generations — one of only two families in the breed to obtain this distinction, according to breed representatives.

Classifiers have consistently noted Dreamer’s superiority in the breed, scoring her as Excellent four times. In 2015, Dreamer achieved the maximum score of 94. As a heifer, she was named honorable mention All-American fall yearling, and at age 3, she won the Futurity winner at World Dairy Expo. More recently, she was nominated All-American aged cow.

TOP COW: Grand-View BBBK Dreamer has been named the 2016 Wisconsin Cow of the Year. Dreamer will be recognized during the International Ayrshire Show at World Dairy Expo at 2:30 p.m. on Thursday, Oct. 6, at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison.

In addition to the merit Dreamer has shown in her own right, she has produced daughters that are building an incredible legacy. Dreamer has 14 classified daughters to date: six EX, seven VG and one GP-84. Three of those daughters are at the maximum score for their age, and two, Diamond and Dea, followed in their mother’s footsteps as Futurity winners at World Dairy Expo.

Diamond has also been recognized as honorable mention All-American spring yearling and reserve All-American junior 3-year-old, as well as honorable mention intermediate champion at World Dairy Expo. This Dreamer daughter made history by becoming the first cow in the breed to be ninth-generation Excellent.

Dea, another all-star daughter of Dreamer, was honorable mention All-American as a spring yearling. As a junior 2-year-old, Dea was reserve All-American. She was grand champion at the Wisconsin State Show, first place at World Dairy Expo, and went on to become All-American as a junior 3-year-old.

Another daughter, Dells, also has excelled, earning reserve grand champion honors at the Ohio Spring Show, and grand champion honors at both the Wisconsin State Show and the Maryland State Fair. At the 2015 World Dairy Expo, she was the second-place senior 2-year-old.

“Diamond, Dea and Dells represent the show ring dominance that is typical for Dreamer and her family,” says Richard Franta, Wisconsin Ayrshire Breeders' Association board member. “Certainly, it can be expected that many more Dreamer daughters will be stars in the show ring. We are proud of Tim and his accomplishments in the Ayrshire breed. He has been progressive in his advertising, merchandising and breeding style. His work on his herd, Grand-View, is recognized worldwide, and the Ayrshire breed is proud to have him in it.”

“Dreamer is the foundation of a breeding legacy,” says Tim Busch. “Year after year, she has been a star in the show ring and at home in the barn, and her daughters and granddaughters have been following in her footsteps.”

Source: DATCP