JANESVILLE, Wis. — In 1984, a bull was born at Towns Farms that would earn worldwide recognition. His name was Townson Lindy-ET. Known for transmitting desirable type and protein, Lindy would go on to sire more than 30,000 daughters in North America.
Lindy’s legacy came full circle at Towns Farms Inc. in 2024 when another of his offspring entered the world. Townson Lindy Rose-ET was born Sept. 12. The heifer is a result of an embryo flushed in 1999.
“Technically, she’s 25 years old,” Pat Towns said.
Pat and her husband, Mark, along with Mark’s brother and sister-in-law, Scott and Nancy Towns, milk 475 cows at Towns Farms near Janesville.
“Nancy wanted to make the embryos,” Mark said. “We used to do a fair amount of embryo transfer work, but this is the first we have done on our farm since 1999 before we expanded. With these embryos, we were hoping to get heifer calves.”
The embryos were made at the family’s second farm, where Scott and Nancy milked cows before the two farms converged. The dam of the embryos is Fertile-Ridge Tony Roseann. The Towns’ A.I. technician, Marley Malkow, was the inspiration behind finally implanting the embryos after all these years.
“She saw them in the tank and said, ‘Let’s do it,’” Mark said.
The Towns family put in three Lindy embryos. In addition to Lindy Rose, there was a bull calf born in June that was sold when he was a couple of days old. The third pregnancy was lost.
“Lindy was known for pretty cows,” Mark said. “A lot of people had show cows sired by him. They were good producers too.”
Mark said Lindy won the get-of-sire class at World Dairy Expo and also sired several class winners at Expo.
Even though her genetics are far older, Lindy Rose does not look different than her herd mates.
“It would be fun to show her if we thought she was good enough,” Mark said. “She’s a nice heifer, but I’m not sure she’ll be a show heifer. I’m interested, with how old the genetics are, if she can still be a decent producer. Modern breeding would say she’s going to be way behind.”
Mark said their breeding philosophies have changed a lot from when they milked in the tiestall barn, when the focus was on the registered business.
“We had a nice herd, but we were always looking for that outstanding cow,” he said. “Now, it’s the other way around. We can’t afford to miss any production.”
Lindy was sired by S-W-D Valiant. His dam was Townson Elevation Lindy EX93-4E — a Gold Medal Dam and Dam of Merit.
“We were thinking the bull was going to be sold to a neighbor for a jumper bull,” Mark said.
Instead, Lindy was purchased by Lowell Lindsay at United Breeders in Canada.
He had only 38 daughters in his initial proof, but his number of offspring grew quickly as the bull’s popularity caught on. Lindy’s semen was marketed in 48 countries with sales of over 1 million units.
“Lindy was a good type bull,” Mark said. “He came out at a time when people thought butterfat was not as important as protein. Protein was his strength, and he offered a combination of type and protein.”
In 1990, Lindy’s predicted transmitting abilities climbed to +18 for protein, putting Lindy in the top 1% of the Holstein breed, and his type ratings followed in pursuit. By 1994, he was +14 for type, and his protein rating had soared to +19. Lindy ended his career at over 16 years of age.
“We didn’t use much Lindy on our farm,” Mark said. “He retailed for $50 per straw. He was expensive.”
Lindy also had two full brothers in A.I.
“They were proven but never made the lineup,” Mark said. “That tells you how fickle genetics are.”
In 2001, two bulls were honored at the Royal Agricultural Winter Fair in Toronto, Canada, with Lindy being one of these along with Hanoverhill Starbuck.
There are still a few Lindy embryos left in the semen tank at Towns Farms. After successfully tapping into a piece of history, Mark and Pat are pondering what to do with the remaining eggs.
“When they’re in the tank that long, it’s amazing how they can last,” Pat said. “It’s like back to the future.”
Mark and Pat dug into the archives and took a gamble with genes of the past and said they are excited to see how this experiment turns out.
“It was a fun thing to do,” Mark said. “In a herd of 900 cattle, one heifer is not going to change the world. We want to make our cows count, but if one doesn’t turn out, it’s no big deal. No doubt Lindy Rose will be a nice animal, but if she’ll be exceptional, we have no idea.”
Pat agreed.
“Hopefully she’s an outlier,” she said.
The Lindy legacy lives on in his newest daughter that makes her home where it all began more than 40 years ago. The Towns family is taking a step back in time as they revive the bloodline of a bull that put their farm on the A.I. map.
“We’re going back to our roots,” Mark said.
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