By Dru Mercer

When talking about the history of Indiana Holstein Breeders one family truly defines the epitome of excellence. Consider the number of Holstein breed first that the Bottema family developed is a testament to their breeding genius.

2) The Bottema family bred the first cow in the Holstein breed to exceed 300,000 pounds of milk lifetime, Zeldenrust Pontiac Korndyke, EX-95. Pontiac finished her lifetime production credits with 306,051 pounds of milk and 11,640 pounds of fat. Pontiac was sired by King Bessie Korndyke Sir Pontiac and her dam was Zeldenrust Jeannette Cornucopia. In fact, Pontiac would complete six generations of homebred cows. Pontiac would earn GMD status in thanks to having 14 natural calves. All calving would be single calves. One of her most famous offspring was Zeldenrust Proud Mistress, EX. In 1961 Proud Mistress was named grand champion at the Indiana and Kentucky State Fairs, Reserve Grand Champion at the International Show in Chicago and finished being named High Honorable Mention All-American Aged cow.

3) Zeldenrust Mistress Roxann was the first cow in the Holstein breed to earn the distinction of EX-97-4E. Roxann would also be nominated All-American in 1962 as well as being a two time national champion for milk production.

4) Cash-Mar Xmas Perfect was the first cow in the breed to be GMD and have three offspring scored EX.

Cassius Bottema would immigrate to the United States from the Netherlands. He would wind up purchasing the family farm and begin his ties to Indiana in the late 1890’s. He would develop a herd of Holstein cattle that not only raised the standards in the show ring but also in the milk pail. Cassius would have three daughters and three sons. All three sons, Ray “Cash” and Mark would follow their father into the Holstein fraternity.

Cash would combine his loves of showing and merchandising to establish a Holstein empire that would rise to include 30 employees, over 1500 head of cattle and 1000 acres of farm land, keep in mind this was in the 1950-1970’s. As a show ring leader, Cash would accumulate 76 All-American nominations, of which 52 were homebred. Over the course of his career he would classify 3466 animals with 16% scoring EX and 38% VG. Today, Cash remains fourth all time for breeding and developing the most animals to score EX-95 or higher. He would own nine and bred five of those. In 1974 the Cash-Mar show string would travel over 8000 miles accumulating Premier Breeder banners at World dairy Expo. Premier Breeder and Exhibitor banners at nearly every state fair including, Indiana, Ohio Illinois, and Wisconsin. They won Grand Champion bull at Harrisburg and Madison national shows, and the reserve junior champion at the Western

National in Fresno California. In fact the entire show string that attended the Western National that year was all offspring of the great Fond Memory bull.

Some of Cash’s all time favorite show ring leaders included Cash-Mar Ormsby Jerry, EX-95. Jerry was nominated All-American four times and sired two sons that were both scored EX-95 as well. Cash-Mar Jerry Delight was EX-95 and a three time All-American winner, and Boontuck Ormsby Pat, EX-95 also a three time All-American and once Reserve All-American winner. Cash-Mar Lovely Lady, EX-96 was the first cow to be named grand champion at the Ohio state fair for three consecutive years. In 1959 Lovely Lady was reserve All-American four year old and in 1960 she was Honorable Mention All-American. Cash-Mar Triune,EX-95 was twice nominated All-American in milking form and had a top record over 23,000 pounds of milk. MacBarr Alertness Daisey was EX-95 and in 1956 and 1957 was grand champion of the National Cattle Congress and was named best udder. This remarkable feat was accomplished after “Alert” had already made over 100,000 pounds of milk lifetime.

As much as Cash loved to show he loved to merchandise and go out of his way to help young dairy farmers start out. Often Cash would loan cows to struggling beginning dairy families. He always went out of his way to help local 4-H kids and children of all his employees. Cash was truly a gentleman and cared for the welfare of others before himself.

Cash had a son, C.M. III that would graduate from Purdue and return to the farm to work with his father. C.M.III was in charge of caring for the show animals, all breeding and taking care of the hay help. C.M. III would establish his own prefix and would breed several All-American nominated animals himself. The most memorable is Cash-Mar-CM Astronaut Socks. Socks was nominated All-American three times in milking form.

Cash’s brother Ray would also breed an outstanding herd of cattle. In 1936 Ray showed Zeldenrust Hengervelde Concordia to grand champion honors at the Michigan, Indiana, Ohio and Kentucky State Fairs on her way to being named Honorable Mention All-American. In 1939 Ray would do what is thought to be the only time in Ohio State Fair history when he had grand champion with Zeldenrust Effie Mae. What made this a once in a lifetime event was the fact that Effie Mae was only a senior yearling that year and she was still named grand champion of the Ohio State Fair Holstein Show. When Ray and Cash combined their herds into one show string, no one was as dominate. This was proven in 1961 when the brothers combined to take a string to the National Cattle Congress in Waterloo Iowa. They came home with seven first place class winners as well as three out four champion banners. Ray would develop 40 cows that scored EX and 20 bulls. He was the leader from Indiana for developing National Grand Champion milk producers, sending the most bulls to AI service. On two occasions ray would consign the top seller in a national sale as well as the Sale of Stars sale in Canada.

The Bottema family loved to compete. Both in the show ring, the milk pail, and in developing high quality dairy cattle. However, they were also the definition of integrity, honesty, and loyalty. The Bottema family will always remain the First Family of Indiana Holsteins.