ROUND OAK RAG APPLE ELEVATION
Much has been said about the impact of Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation over the years. A prominent sire to steer the future of the breed for both Type and production, his blood is still present in today’s modern genetics
Monumental sires-of-sons Oman, Shottle and Goldwyn all carry traces of his DNA and, during their reign in the top spots, these three sires were instrumental in shaping the genomic hierarchy. Reams could be written about the impact of this bull in modern day history, but in this article, with the help of well-known Holstein enthusiast Richard Beard, The Journal rewinds to the 1960s to learn more about this remarkable sire. Richard picks up the story…
B
orn in Virginia on 30 August 1965 – around the time that I left school – little did I realise eight years or so later that our paths would cross. Immigrating to Canada in 1971, I worked many shows and sales in the USA from 1973 onwards – the constant word on the street was ‘Elevation’. He became the first bull to have over 50,000 milk recorded daughters (in the US) and many were out of Astronaut dams. Astronaut was the most popular sire of the previous era and was probably the first bull to be used heavily from coast to coast. I saw Elevation twice, in 1974 when he was 95 points and a year or so later when he was raised to 96 points – I wanted to see where he had got the extra point
LEFT Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation.
BELOW Round Oak Farms, the birthplace of Elevation.
from! He was a very correct medium-sized bull with a tall front end. Typically his daughters were smooth, medium-sized cows, some even small, but once in a while he would leave a taller, silkier cow more in the image of his EX94 point dam. Easily the best Elevation I ever saw was Shadowcliff RA Gina EX97 and was, I believe, voted the All-time All-American Senior three year old. I saw her win Madison as a two-year old when she had already had two calves and again as a third calved three-year old. Gina was awesome despite not having much pedigree.
Back History
Delving into the book titled ‘Progress of the Breed – The History of US Holsteins’ written by Richard H Mansfield
56 THE JOURNAL AUGUST 2014
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