In the past year she was already named Reserve World Champion, but in 2024, Premium Apple Crisp Lilly-Red secured the sought-after title as Red Holstein World Champion. Twelve outstanding cows from around the world competed in the vote and represented the best of the best for the Red Holstein breed. Two internationally renown judges evaluated the candidates, though it was the clear opinion of our readers that finally made Lilly-Red the winner.
MEINHARD HUBER
She became a two-time Grand Champion at the Red Holstein shows in Madison and at the Royal Winter Fair. Now she has another title to add to her resume. The well-known Premium Apple Crisp Lilly-Red of Butlerview Farms was selected as World Champion. For the fourth consecutive time, the title went to an American cow. It is not only a title, but an honour of the highest degree. Close on her heels was the Swiss cow Plattery Armani Brook of Menoud Christian. This year’s judges were Mark Rueth (Rosedale Farms) of the USA and Marcel Egli from Switzerland. Two world renown judges with good eyes for Red Holsteins. ‘It was once more a very interesting competition with many very impressive cows. My first choice was Lilly. She is an exceptional dairy cow with a very open and long body build,’ Mark Rueth shares. ‘Her dairy capacity, elegance and great udder texture put her above my second choice, Macy. Macy is a very balanced cow, who convinces with her width through her chest and rump. She uses her power, maturity and depth of rib to finish ahead of Rosalie and her wonderful udder. Rosalie is a very elegant, modern cow with an impressive udder. She stands out with her correct rump and her great rear legs. She also shows more dairy type and is longer and finer in her neck, which gives her the advantage over the powerful Lillyann. I put her ahead of the Italian Recel. But I would also like to mention the oldest cow in the competition, Brook. She is also an impressive dairy cow with a very balanced conformation,’ says Mark.
She can call herself the new World Champion. Lilly-Red was the big favourite in this year’s competition.
She was the first homozygous polled participant in this competition. Third place went to Vogue Loyola Macy-Red-PP.
DIFFERENT
‘It is a big honour for me to judge this year’s competition. I was very fortunate to have seen a lot of the cows in person this year, which did not make the task any easier for me with the individual class of all these cows,’ Marcel Egli of Switzerland reports. ‘I start off my top 5 with two cows that are very similar in their style, which led to a close placing; they are balanced, flawless dairy cows with fantastic udders and very functional feet and legs. At the end, I give the advantage to Brook over All Out because she has more power, overall width and openness of rib. Brook is the oldest cow in the competition at 10 years and 7 calvings and still perhaps carries her udder slightly higher than All Out with 2 calves. All Out fits very well in second place, and I gave her the advantage over Lilly because she has a more overall balanced conformation, is solid in her rump and a better-attached udder than Lilly. Lilly convinces with her style and dairy character, and as she shows more dairy type and with her elegance and depth of rib I put her ahead of Jazz, who shows a fantastic udder. Jazz finishes ahead of Rosalie due to her better udder balance between the fore and rear udder and slightly more overall strength than the very dairy and balanced Rosalie.’
At ten years of age, she was the oldest cow in the competition and was named Reserve Champion. The Swiss Plattery Armani Brook.
RESULT
Once again, our readers participated in the vote and this time around the results were as follows: 32.3% for Lilly, which put her far ahead of Brook in second place with 21.2% of the vote share. Macy took third with 12% of the votes, while Rosalie placed fourth with 7.5%. Lillyann (6.6%) rounds out the top five for our readers. When the reader results were combined with the official jury, Lilly was unanimously this year’s World Champion, followed by Brook and Macy. The race for fourth was close between Rosalie and Lillyann. Rosalie had a six point advantage in the overall ranking, putting her at Nr.4 and Lillyann at Nr.5.
Holstein International would like to extend its thanks to the official judges, Mark Rueth of America and Marcel Egli of Switzerland. Special thanks also go to the many readers from around the world that cast their votes and submitted wonderful comments.
