THE DUCKSCOUT STORY   By Jim Repard

  The Duckscout story starts in the spring of 1981.  Hanover Hills Sales and Service was managing a dispersal in New Jersey. At that sale Pete Heffering bought a few stale cows and sent them to Jay Repard’s to hold and merchandise when the time was right.  The cattle arrived at Jay’s farm and a few weeks had gone by when one of the supposedly pregnant cows came back in heat.  The cow was Ideal Lucky Dotty.  She was scored VG with a VG Dam.  The decision was made to breed the cow to Loc-Lin-Ma Elevation Mariner (of course!).  Dotty became pregnant and in March of 1982, a black heifer calf, Merry-Air Mariner Dotty, was born.

                Jay sold the calf to a neighbor, Gary Westerman, who was raising heifers.  Lucky Dotty, the proud mom, entered the milking string in Jay’s barn.  A shortsighted classifier arrived and decided Lucky Dotty should be scored G+ instead of the VG that everyone expected.  Maybe “out of condition” would have been more appropriate, as she was just fresh.

                 Lucky Dotty then went to Wisconsin with a group of cows to a friend, who in turn sold her to his neighbor.  Two years later Jay received a copy of an advertisement in the Wisconsin Holstein News. Lucky Dotty was then scored VG 88 and the mother of a winning Jr. Calf.  Lucky Dotty later went on to be scored EX-2E.

Back in Bloomfield, Mariner Dotty was growing nicely.  I was picking for the NY State Sale in April 1984, and suggested to Gary Westerman that Mariner Dotty should be consigned. He agreed, and she went to Syracuse.  At the sale Mike Putman and his brother Dale bought Dotty, and in June  Deer-Meadow Duckscout was born.  Gary Westerman had the foresight to breed Dotty to Valiant.  We all knew that Valiant worked great on Elevation bloodlines.  Mariner Dotty calved in nicely, scored VG as a 2-yr. old, and the Duckscout was doing well also.  How this calf became named “Duckscout” is another story for another time!

                In the winter of 1985, Jay was on a buying trip and he stopped at Dale’s farm and had to have Mariner Dotty. Dale priced Dotty and Duckscout to Jay, subject to Mike’s approval.  Mike, not having seen Dotty since the sale and never having seen Duckscout took Jay’s word on how good they were, and the deal was made.  Jay bought Mariner Dotty, Mike got Duckscout, and Dale got cash. The pair arrived in Bloomfield looking great.  Mike showed Duckscout at the Spring Show to a respectable 8^th or 9^th.  One week later, Rick Silvia visited Jay’s farm, spotted Duckscout and had to have her.  The timing was excellent as it was time for Mike to pay his income taxes!

                Rick showed Duckscout to a second place finish at the NY State Fair.  In 1986 she calved with very promising twins.  Duckscout was then sold to Paul and Charlotte Mattis for Charlotte’s son, Jamie Hicks.  They bred Duckscout to Warden, resulting in a heifer calf that was 2^nd place senior calf at the Spring Show. 

In January 1989, Mike was then working for the NY Holstein Association and was selecting for the State Sale.  He stopped at the Mattis farm and there was the Duckscout, recently fresh and looking awesome!  He asked if they had a price on her, and they said no.  Mike immediately called John Buckley in Canada and suggested he should see this cow.  John said without a price established he would not make the trip.  So the deal went on the back burner.  One month later, Buckley called Mike reporting that he thought he saw that cow at Jim Wright’s farm. He said “Next time make dam sure I make the trip when you find one like that!”  Wright called Mike to inquire about the cow’s pedigree.  I had ordered a pedigree from Brattleboro and found that the Granddam had been listed wrong, which was eventually straightened out.  Mariner Dotty was by then scored EX and owned by Ron Dechow. 

                That spring Judge Bert Stewart placed the Duckscout  3^rd 5 yr. old at the Spring Show, standing behind 2 cows, one nominated All-American, and the other nominated All-Canadian the year before.  In July  1989 Duckscout was sold to George Luza in Brazil for $40,000, a good deal  more than what the  Mattis’ turned down the previous January. At the 1989 Brazilian National Holstein Show she was Senior Champion and Grand Champion as well as Best Uddered.  She went on to be scored EX-95. The Mattis’ and Jamie Hicks still had several members of the cow family.  One was a Chief Mark “Daffy Duck” that was extremely successful in her own right, both as a show calf and a bull mother.  The Duck cow family became a real success story for Dutch Treat Farm, and carries over now into the Jamaica Holsteins herd, owned by Jamie and Diane Hicks.

                This story is important because it reminds us that a good cow family can be developed with proper matings and the persistence to see it through to the end.  Many people don’t take the time to follow their animals when they leave the herd.  You may have a great cow family like this one. It is important to keep a file on that family and add any information that pertains.   You never know when you might benefit from that information.  I am reminded of the fabulous books written by Horace Backus. Your cow family legacy may not make the history books like Ella, or Milly or Ivanhoe did, but is interesting none the less, as it probably involves so many different people and events.  And you never know -you could have the next “Duckscout” success story! 

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