Farming

T.B.Macaulay’s most famous Holstein, the legendary Johanna Rag Apple Pabst.

Although T.B. Macaulay was an astute and widely respected businessman, his true passion lay in his hobby: farming. Dr Macaulay was particularly interested in solving many of the agricultural problems that had plagued Canadian farmers, and established Mount Victoria Farm in Hudson Heights, near Montreal. The site was originally planned as a weekend and summer residence, for the Macaulay family, free from the bustle of Montreal.

Family gathering at log house, Mount Victoria Farm, 1905

It soon evolved, however, into a large, extremely innovative and successful experimental station, where work was conducted for the development of strains of maize and soya beans better suited for Canada’s shorter seasons. Later the research station would become renowned for the improvement and increase of high-producing Holstein cattle. The farm was the pride, joy and, indeed, the life of Macaulay.

Although it was the Holstein herd of cattle that made Mount Victoria Farm famous, T.B. Macaulay also had a strong love of horses. The farm was home to a fine herd of pure bred Shetland ponies, one of which was proclaimed Grand Champion of North America.

Just after World War I Mount Victoria Farm was home to two very famous equine residents; the first was a grand Clydesdale stallion named ‘Lord Aberdeen’ and the second a Hackney stallion named ‘Wildfire’. The selection of Shetland ponies and the name ‘Lord Aberdeen’ gives strength to the assertion that Macaulay had a special link with his Scottish heritage.

All American Bull: Improving the Holstein Breed

Recent estimates are that 95% of all Holsteins trace their origins back to Macaulay’s original herd.

T.B. Macaulay, together with Joe Chandler, Mount Victoria’s Farm Manager, bought Johanna Rag Apple Pabst from a dealer in Wisconsin for $15,000, a price which would set a new high for the purchase of a bull post World War 1. Johanna Rag Apple Pabst, or ‘Old Joe’ as he was otherwise known, sired 51 daughters who made 96 records that averaged 15,234 pounds of milk and 613.5 pounds of fat. Macaulay was convinced that through selective genetics he could develop a strain of 4% Holsteins from the right foundation.

Hanging advertising the most famous occupant of Mount Victoria Farm, Joanna Rag Apple Pabst

To establish the blood line, Macaulay bought a cow named ‘Oakhurst Colantha Abbekerk’ for $900 in 1924, and after successful breeding, it was estimated that every All American Aged cow, save two, carried strong Johanna Rag Apple Pabst bloodlines. This was an amazing accomplishment for Macaulay. In fact the most dominant building at Mount Victoria was not the lodgings of T.B. Macaulay, but instead the barn that housed the prized herd of Holsteins.

The Macaulay Institute: The Beginnings