By DIETER KRIEG  /  Farmshine Editor

ENOSBURG, Vt. — When Tim Abbott and Mike Duckett realized that opportunity was knocking to start a very unique and upscale A.I. company, they put their resources together and got it done. It didn’t take long, thanks in part to both men already being well known and highly respected across the country and around the world. A passionate interest in cows is their calling card.

Top-end cows, that is … the kind that breeders everywhere know by their first name. “Footloose”, “Frosty”, “Doc 8784” and “Jubie 16”, for example. Respectively, they’re classified EX-97, EX-97, EX-96 and EX-95.

And so, Showbox Sires was formed, offering the DNA of some the most famous cows on the planet. Tim explains what’s “in the box” with these words: “Each bull has an iconic cow in the pedigree; a cow that is a household name.”

Further, he states: “We believe the breeding and genetics of type cows is better now than it has ever been. The high type cow is better than she has ever been and we want to capitalize on this evolution. 

“Common sense and logic is the backbone of Showbox Sires; we want to provide the sires that you will talk about around your showbox at the next show, dreaming of what sire you want to breed your favorite cow to.

“Our local and international connections will allow us to import embryos from legends all over the world, bringing variety and options to even the most discriminating of breeders.

“We will work with all the tools that are available to make the next great cow, using PTA pedigree info, maternal performance, and sire stack paired with genomic data to weed out the undesirable traits.

The concept behind Showbox Sires was conceived when Tim and Mike met at the Music City Celebration Sale in Nashville, in 2023. “Mike and I each had a stable of cows that we were excited about,” Tim recalled.

“And we thought that these cows could be the next generation of bull mothers that nobody was doing anything with in A.I.”

“You need to be willing to do things differently,” Tim said, remembering some words of wisdom that were shared with him during a 20-year career with ABS.

Consequently, rather than compete with the big players in the A.I. business, he and Mike chose a niche market instead. And much to their surprise, their name recognition — not to mention “great idea” — quickly caught the attention of those who could distribute their product world-wide, namely Semex and Select Sires. Both wanted to talk with Tim and Mike.

As a result, Showbox Sires is partnering with these two studs to provide approximately 12 sires per year, released strategically around the timing of important show dates.

For example, the World Dairy Expo. “Immediately after the 2024 World Dairy Expo, demand for our semen exploded,” Tim remembered. “We experienced our best two months ever in terms of semen sales, also thanks to the charisma of Footloose. That really works!

“The bulls will not be marketed by both companies (Semex and Select Sires); we will work with each company individually to make selections that best fit with their business goals and needs. The sires will run through their respective organization in the same way that any sire enters their sales program and customers will buy through their usual modes,” Tim explained.

Asked how he came up with the name Showbox Sires, the life-long dairy enthusiast   said: “We want to make sire selection a bit like it was in the past: Make it fun breeding cattle. Breeders and friends sitting on their showbox together, talking about the selection of bulls. It’s for that reason that we chose the name.”

Mike, who was first introduced in Farmshine more than 20 years ago before he moved to Wisconsin from his home state of North Carolina, had this to say about their venture (quoted from Holstein International article, Feb. 2025):

“As breeders, we understand the importance of managing functional cows that can perform in modern facilities, while not sacrificing conformation. We think that with all the tools available, such as genomics and cow families that have proven themselves at breeders around the world, we can make a better cow.”

Both Tim and Mike, as well as their wives — respectively Sharyn and Julie — were raised on dairy farms. “My wife has the same passion as I do. I got lucky enough to find a wife who would do this with me,” Tim shared, speaking not only of this latest venture, but from the very beginning, both on and off the farm.

And with the same being true for Mike and Julie, Showbox Sires is secure with visionary guidance to keep on breeding the best even better.