BRENDA O’FARRELL
The Advocate

The legacy of Thomas Bassett Macaulay has many chapters.

He was a pioneer in the insurance industry, securing his first job at the age of 17 with the Sun Life Assurance Company. He would go on to become president, credited with transforming Sun Life into one of Canada’s largest firms with a reach that extended across continents. But it was his role that began as a gentleman farmer that would forever change the dairy industry in Canada and around the world.

And for that claim to fame, achieved in the last 18 years of his life in Hudson, Que., he was inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1961, 19 years after his death.

How it started

But, according to reported accounts, Macaulay turned his attention to livestock only after discovering that the fields he had purchased in Hudson in the early 1900s were too sandy to be productive cropland.

It is that decision that set him on a course that would influence the dairy industry throughout Canada, the U.S. and the world – and all from the picturesque patch of ground that offered a stunning elevated view of the Lake of Two Mountains.

It was in 1924, when Macaulay at the age of 66, purchased his first cow, a Holstein, for a reported $900. During the next 18 years he set to the task of refining the pedigree of the breed.

An actuary by profession, he applied the same principles that went into compiling and analyzing statistics to calculate the risks and probabilities relied on by insurance companies to breeding a herd of dairy cows that would produce the most and best quality milk.

Edward Morwick, a criminal lawyer and philanthropist turned cattleman and self-published author who wrote several books on cattle breeding, assessed Macaulay’s research:

“It is essentially a mathematical process and a discipline in which an actuary’s training would stand him in good stead,” he wrote, referring to Macaulay. “Through the lessons learned as an actuary, which were cross-applied to the study of genetics, Macaulay became convinced of his ability to develop a strain of Holstein cattle pure for sound type, good udders and four per cent test.”

Macaulay identified the traits he wanted and researched how to obtain what he needed. This lead him to purchase six cows, which became known as the “Big Six,” and what became known as his main sire, Johanna Rag Apple Pabst. This bull, dubbed “The One” and often referred to as “Old Joe,” was purchased for $15,000 and became the foundation of his breeding line. Together, these Holsteins became known as Macaulay’s Rag Apple bloodline, which produced the highest calibre dairy cows in both quality and quantity of milk. The genetics that sprang from this herd at Mount Victoria Farms can still be traced through to just about every Holstein cow in the world today.

According to records, “Old Joe” was born on Jan. 24, 1921, in Hartford, Wisconsin, and arrived in Hudson by train. By the time of his death in 1933, he had produced 51 daughters and 44 sons, who, in turn, produced most of the existing pure-bred Holstein herds in the world today.

In addition to being inducted into the Canadian Agricultural Hall of Fame in 1961, in a testament to the enduring significance of his legacy in the sector, Macaulay was inducted into the Temple de la renommée de l’agriculture du Québec, the provincial agricultural hall of fame, in 1992 – 50 years after his death.

Macaulay was also honoured as a Pioneer in the Dairy Shrine Club, a U.S.-based association that recognizes those who have contributed to the dairy industry in North America.

Shortly after Macaulay’s death in April 1942, his herd was auctioned off. The 84-page catalogue for the auction held on Monday, June 29, 1942, has become collector’s items.

The Macaulay farm would itself by bought by John Norris, who continued to raise cattle on the land for a time under a new name, Norfolk Farm.

The farmland has since been sold off, redeveloped into residential housing. Part of the farm today is a golf course, while another section is an upscale neighbourhood known for its large homes with grand entrances and pavi-uni driveways.

In 2013, despite efforts by members of the Hudson Historical Society, the barns of the original Mount Victoria Farm, which by this time had deteriorated, were torn down.

But his legacy and contributions to the world of dairy cattle genetics still faintly echo in the community where they were made, acknowledged with a few street names, like Mount Victoria, Macaulay and Rag Apple.