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The events leading to the acquisition of the young calf, Starbuck, can be considered a perfect illustration of the old adage, "being in the right place at the right time".
To set the scene, it should be mentioned that each spring CIAQ sent representatives to Ontario to make mating contracts on cows which were of particular interest and to inspect young bulls. Robert Chicoine and Harley Nicholson made such a trip in May 1979.
The following is the story of a very unexpected yet memorable meeting on 8 May 1979 as recounted by Robert Chicoine.
"During our spring trips we would usually spend at least one day east of Toronto in Ontario county since there was a good concentration of high-quality herds in the area such as Roybrook, Werrcroft, Flettdale, Loa-de-Mede, High Point, Val-Leigh and Hanover Hill, to name just a few.
Late one afternoon after a long day on the road, Harley and I ended up in the Port Perry region and our plan was to spend the night in Oshawa. It was a particularly mild and sunny day and we were in no hurry to retire to our hotel. We therefore decided to have dinner at the first restaurant we came across in order to make the most of that beautiful day.
Much to our surprise as we entered the restaurant, we came face to face with Peter Heffering of Hanover Hill Holsteins who was finishing his meal.
After the usual exchanges concerning the weather and other subjects of a general nature, Pete informed us that his evening was free and that he would be happy to show us his herd after our meal, should we be interested. Of course we accepted as it was always a pleasure to visit Hanover Hill and to appreciate its superb collection of cows.
One of the first cows we saw as we entered the barn was A Anacres Astronaut Ivanhoe, a tall cow with impressive production records. She had just calved two weeks before and seemed in great shape. On 26 April 1979 she had given birth to a son by Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation. In response to our question, Pete told us he had no commitment on the calf and that he was available for sale. He showed the calf to us at once since he was in a pen located just in front of his dam. Harley and I shared the same reaction - we felt that the calf had exceptional stature.
The situation was the following : we had in front of us a young sire who had captured our interest on the spot, we liked his dam and the asking price was fair. The problem was that he was an Elevation son and we had already decided that we had enough sons from this sire in our proving program and that we should be diversifying. In fact, our first Elevation sons were born in 1973 and some of them were already proven at the time we saw the young Starbuck.
After an extensive visit of the herd and after discussing the possibility of a couple of selective matings with other cows, we agreed with Pete that we would give him an answer in a few days concerning the bull. However, we explained that our problem was to decide whether or not our organization wished to test another Elevation son.
After lengthy discussion and serious reflection at CIAQ, it was decided the young bull would be bought. I must admit there were some rather unscientific reasons considered in taking the decision, for example, the fact that the Hanover Hill prefix was becoming more and more popular and that we still had no sires bearing that prefix in our stud. Another reason was that maybe this first purchase with Hanover Hill would open the door to other transactions in the future.
A letter dated 16 May 1979 was sent to Peter Heffering confirming our intention to buy the young son of A Anacres Astronaut Ivanhoe by Elevation with, of course, a clause stating that he had to successfully undergo our inspection in the fall. We also suggested a couple of selective matings with other cows.
A note dated 28 May and signed by Pete confirmed the acceptance by Hanover Hill of our proposal. There is no need for me to stress the fact that Starbuck did not have any difficulty passing our inspection on 15 November 1979 when we returned to see him. He was still exceptional staturewise and he was already showing lots of style and angularity while at the same time showing excellent bone quality.
At CIAQ we are of course very proud to have had Starbuck in our stables. However, when I ponder on the story of his purchase, I must remain very humble and remember that nothing had been planned from our part. We were simply in the right place at the right time.
We are therefore most grateful to Peter Heffering, the great artist of Holstein breeding. He is the one who planned the mating which resulted in an exceptional sire who has made an historical impact on CIAQ and on Holstein breeding all over the world."
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