OMEMEE — He’s such a young man, only 35, to have reached his goal so early in life. But Holsteins Canada has informed Brad Hawman along with his brother Tom, who has struggled for 10 years longer, they have won a Master Breeder’s Shield.

"We’ve worked for this all these year," Brad said. "It feels good to be (ranked) with all those great herds."

But Canada-wide honours are not new to the herd. In 2007, Tomalynn Farms had All Canadian Breeders herd. His Tomalynn Stardust Doris was a five-star brood cow and classified Excellent. She is the dam of Hawman Leduc Della, an almost perfect 10, classifying Excellent 95. She was three-time All Canadian, as a two, three and four-year-old.

But she’s gone the way of most great local cows, sold to outside bidders, a Brit and an Albertan, and lives on Marsan Farms in Alberta. She’s 7-years-old.

Thirty-four per cent of the points for the Master Breeder’s Shield came through her family. Master breeder points are given for all-round herd performance: conformation, reproduction and production.

The Hawmans breed mostly for type, believing that if you provide the right ration and emphasize cow-comfort production will fall in line. The herd of 40 milking cows is classified as 10 Excellent, 27 Very Good and 4 Good Plus, making it one of the top classified herds in Ontario.

Brad says they don’t push high milk production, believing it to be more economical and better to have a cow produce over a long period of time. Nonetheless, his cows produce on average 9860 kilograms of milk over 305 days. The Breed Class Average (BCA), the index that measures a herds’ production against other herds, is very respectable: 206 for milk, 225 for fat and 206 for protein. The fat level is four per cent and the protein level is 3.3 per cent.

The ration consists of high moisture corn cob meal, with corn silage and pelletized top dress.

"We feed lots of hay," Brad says, pointing out that hay is the basis of the diet. They feed 1st and 2nd cut baleage.