Scott and Laurie Langmaid of Danville, Vt., have been selected by the Klussendorf Association as the sixth recipient of the Robert "Whitey" McKown Master Breeder Award. This award recognizes a well-managed breeder herd that has been successful at showing and judging and emphasizes all qualities of the Klussendorf Award, including ability, character, endeavor and sportsmanship.
Scott and Laurie, along with their sons Ross, Bradley and Trevor, operate Vermont Pond View Farm. Scott grew up at Vermont Pond View Farm helping his father, Hugh, build a genetic base that has produced 170 Excellent cows since 1964. They have bred four Excellent 95-point cows and six Excellent 94-point cows.
The farm has been in Scott's family for six generations and more than 200 years. In 2001, Scott and Laurie took over the dairy and have continued to grow the recognition of the herd.
The tradition of excellence runs deep in the cow families that the Langmaids develop. Several of the more prominent cows that wear the VT-Pond-View prefix (short for Vermont Pond View) come from lines that date back to cow families purchased by Hugh. This includes VT-Pond-View Round Oak Sue, EX-94, whose line produced two Excellent 95-point cows, and VT-Pond-View Charisma-ET, EX-95, whose line produced three Excellent 94-point cows. The Swampy Hollow Elevation Sweet, EX-92, 3E cow family also has played a large role in the herd.
Twin-Wind TC Broker Lass, EX-95, was the foundation cow of another of the more prominent breeding lines on the farm. The cow was purchased by the Langmaids in 1990 and has left her mark by producing nine Excellent daughters and several Excellent granddaughters.
In 2011, VT-Pond-View Goldwyn Libby-ET, the granddaughter of Lass, was recognized as the Unanimous All American and All Canadian Spring Yearling winning the spring yearling class and junior champion honors at the Royal Winter Fair, New York State Fair and Maryland State Fair. The family has also earned All American Best Three Females in 1991. That same year they earned Reserve All American Produce of Dam, an honor they repeated in 1994.
The family stays busy on the farm and has been unable to do much showing in the last several years, but they have a strong history at the Northeast Fall National Show, recording five premier breeder awards and two premier exhibitor titles. The farm has also exhibited many years at the Vermont State Show, winning premier breeder six times and premier exhibitor five times. They have also laid claim to premier breeder or exhibitor titles at the All American Dairy Show, Mideast Fall National and New York State Fair.
A dedication to breeding and developing good cow families alongside the pond in northeastern Vermont has earned the Langmaids the honor of being named the 2014 McKown Master Breeder.
The author was the 26th Hoard's Dairyman editorial intern. She is a senior at Kansas State University in Manhattan, Kan. At KSU, Maggie is double majoring in agricultural communications and journalism and animal sciences and industry. Seiler grew up on a 130-cow registered Holstein dairy in Valley Center, Kan., near Wichita.
