PITTSFORD, Mich. — Working with registered Holsteins his entire life, Arnold Reister was honored for his passion for the black-and-white cow with the Michigan Holstein Assoc. Master Breeder award, at the 2012 Michigan Holstein Annual Meeting in February.

Reister and his family own Michalee Farms in the southern end of the state, in Pittsford. “I was very surprised and mighty proud to receive this award,” he said, smiling.

The coveted Master Breeder Award is the highest honor given to a Holstein breeder in Michigan for leadership, community service, breeding philosophy, herd management and industry impact. Add passion this list, and it will describe Reister perfectly.

Driving into his farm yard will automatically get one a free pass to the barn to look at the herd and an afternoon discussion of where the Holstein breed has been and where it’s headed. Reister began with two registered cows in the border town of Morenci in 1966 before giving up his full-time job at the local factory and moving a few miles north to Sand Creek, where he could expand his herd.

Ten years later, with more expansion in mind, he moved to the family’s present location in Hillsdale County where they would have the ‘”luxury” of a double-six herringbone parlor to milk 130 cows and farm 500 acres. It is there where Reister milked cows while his son, Mark, enjoyed working in the fields. With this combination, Reister concentrated on his breeding philosophy of utilizing top A.I. (artificial insemination) bulls while constantly working to increase protein and milk averages.

Simply maintaining what he had was not enough for him; he always looked to advance and improve on what he had established and strove to increase profit margins wherever possible.

Because of his determination, his herd has been recognized over the years for milk production but most recently, has had the highest rolling herd average in Hillsdale County for the past six years. In his 43 years of breeding cows, Reister has turned out 12 Excellent cows – three of them were 3E and two were 2E. In addition, three of these cows reached Gold Medal Dam and Dam of Merit status.

While he has seen many cows come and go, Arnold’s most prized cow was Michalee Magic Salli EX-93, a Gold Medal Dam and Dam of Merit. He explained, “She was great to work with and had three daughters who averaged 29,799M 1110F 922P and were VG-88.”

Salli racked up five records that averaged 33,514 M 1294F 1056P, with a lifetime record on five lactations of 127630M 4946F 4079P.

The Michalee herd is a mainstay at the Hillsdale County Fair, where Reister’s granddaughters, Marcia and Hope, have continued to exhibit the show string, garnering several Grand Champion Supreme Champion trophies.

He continues to farm with Mark and Mark’s son, Nick, and daughter, Hope. After years of milking his own cows, Reister finally relinquished the management of the dairy to Hope, but at age 80, he still arrives at the barn every day by 4 a.m. to feed the cows and set up the parlor.

Reister and his wife, Janis, have been married for 60 years, raising three children, Mark, Debra and Kevin.