On January 15, 2002, Norval Acres Lad Darlene became the first dairy cow of any breed in the world to become a fourteenth generation Excellent. She had been bred and born at Norval Acres Jersey Farm, owned by the McCaig family at Huntingdon in Western Quebec and was evaluated there. Since that momentous day, two American Holsteins have attained the status of being the first dairy cows in the world to be scored as 15th generation Excellents.

On January 14, 2010 a Jersey cow named Norval Acres Vision Donna became the world’s first Jersey cow and only the third dairy cow in the world to complete an unbroken string of 15 generations of Excellent scores. Donna was born at Norval Acres in March 2004. During the Norval Acres Dispersal sale in May 2005 she sold as short-bred heifer to Brenda J. Cupples of Glenhagan Jerseys, Thorsby, Alberta.

The story behind Donna begins with a 1937-born animal who started life on Jersey Island with the name Beaulieu Bijou 10th. Imported to Canada from the home of the breed by B. H. Bull and Sons of the world-famous Brampton Jerseys at Brampton, Ontario, this cow was re-named Brampton Bijou Pinn (Imp) in the Canadian herdbook. She was the first of now 15 generations of Excellents. This line has been known as the Bijous, the Dells, the Delcys and the Dorothys at Brampton, Rothesay Farm in New Brunswick, Norval Acres, Billings Farm in Vermont, back to Norval Acres and now in Alberta. Various lines of this family have branched out to be early 90 pound a day producers, winners at Canada’s National Jersey show and All Canadians, sale toppers and have even extended to include Gil-Bar Unique Bonnie EX-94%, the first Jersey to ever claim the Supreme Championship title at the World Dairy Expo! One striking fact about this female line is that 13 of the 15 generations of Excellents have been photographed!

David Weitzel of Ontario, employed by Holstein Canada as an experienced classifier of all dairy breeds via Canada’s world-class multi-breeds classification program, had the role and privilege of scoring Vision Donna. He regarded her as easily meriting the score with consistently above average ratings. Donna has advanced from 85 points to 86 to 87 and now 90 points over the course of four lactations. She is in the process of making her best record to date with a five year old projection of almost 7,000 kilos of milk and over 370 kilos of fat at 5.4% with 280 kilos of protein at 4.0%. She has Very Good and Good Plus plus-producing daughters in the Cupples herd with the Very Good daughter projected over 8200 kilos of milk, 380 kilos of fat and 320 kilos of protein in second lactation.

Donna is sired by Enniskillen Vision who was bred by the Stenger and Sargent families at Enniskillen, Ontario. Her EX-92 dam, Norval Acres Saturn Deva topped the Norval Acres Dispersal at $17,000, selling to Pierre Boulet of Quebec. This cow was sired by Van Holme Imperial Saturn, a Semex Alliance sire. Deva is a maternal sister to the aforementioned Norval Acres Lad Darlene. They have two maternal sisters also attaining 14th generation Excellent status at herds in Ontario and Pennsylvania.

For Brenda Cupples, this latest world-leading accomplishment is a big milestone in a lifelong involvement with dairy cows that started at her parent’s dairy farm on the south end of Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Brenda and her husband Brodie maintain a dairy herd containing a multiplicity of breeds in their Central Alberta free-stall barn. Her prime cheerleader is twin sister Glenda Mutrie, who also has a nearby dairy herd containing Deerhaven Jerseys and other breeds.

For all the human families involved over the past seventy-plus years with this cow family, this is a mountain-top experience! Already news of Donna’s record-setting scoring has set people looking to the future and wondering: Who will be the first 20th generation Excellent Jersey? Congratulations to all those who have played a part in writing world Jersey and dairy history!!