Please send in your nominations for the 2025 New England Master Breeder and the 2025 Ralph Gushee Memorial Caretaker awards.  Nominations are due in the New England office by September 15, 2025.  Link to list of previous award winners.
The form fillable pdfs are here:  New England Master Breeder Award   
Ralph Gushee Memorial Caretaker Award

Ralph Gushee Memorial Caretaker Award

This award recognizes a person who exhibits passion towards care of dairy cattle, the people involved, and the dairy industry as a whole.  This is a unique opportunity to give thanks to those who excel in animal and farm care and who may not always find themselves in the limelight.  In the spirit of it’s namesake, this award is intended to recognize those persons whose tireless efforts, many times behind the scenes, make great accomplishments possible.  Maybe it’s making sure calves are raised just right at home, or that fancy, but flighty heifer is fully housebroken, or feeding just one more cart of hay the day before the show, that collection of little things that enables other big things to happen.  The winner will be selected by the New England Holstein Breed Promotion Committee and recognized at the New England Holstein Convention in the fall of each year. Nominations may be emailed to neholstein@nesholsteins.com or mailed to the address above.  

Master Breeder Award/Distinguished Service Award (alternating years)

Master Breeder: This award recognizes a person who has achieved significant success in breeding Holstein cows.  Generations of Excellent cows, recognized production excellence, show winners, and successful purchases and sales over time are synonymous with this award winner.  Consistent results over different generations are often the case and a “Senior” generation’s recognition does not preclude a farm/bredder from being recognized again.  The winner will be selected by the New England Holstein Breed Promotion Committee and the New England Convention host state, and recognized at the New England Holstein Convention in the fall of each year.

Distinguished Service: This award recognizes a person who has contributed above and beyond in Service of the New England Holstein Association. Previous honorees have included the folks who make sure meetings happen, activities go off without a hitch, and are the first to lend a hand or an ear to support all the activities that make our organization successful. The winner will be selected by the New England Holstein Breed Promotion Committee and the New England Convention host state and recognized at the New England Holstein Convention in the fall of each year.