BRATTLEBORO, Vt. — Holstein Association USA has named Denny and Beth, Matt, and Joe and Margaret Engel of Luck-E Holsteins as the Elite Breeder Award recipient for 2025.

The award is bestowed annually upon a living Holstein Association USA member, family, partnership or corporation who has bred outstanding animals and made a notable contribution to the advancement of U.S. Registered Holsteins.

“This year’s Elite Breeder award recipient excels in consistently breeding Registered Holsteins® with exceptional production and components, tremendous udders, strength from end to end, and the ability to thrive in any environment,” HAUSA noted.

Luck-E Holsteins was started by Denny and Beth Engel over 50 years ago when Denny began assembling a herd of Registered Holsteins. He was an early adopter of embryo transfer and today, the farm is known worldwide for their elite genetics. Matt and Joe continue to carry out the legacy started by their parents.

“It was all smiles when we got the phone call about the recognition,” Joe Engel says. “We know there are a lot of great breeders out there and to be selected and be among the group of past recipients is just a huge, huge honor for us.”

Matt and Joe concentrate on breeding cows with extreme width throughout, high-quality udders, high components, and superior health traits. They have steadily incorporated Red, polled, and A2A2 genetics into the herd and use IVF technology to enhance their marketing and breeding strategies.

Some influential cows from the Luck-E herd include Luck-E Blitz Australia (VG-87), Luck-E Advent Asia-ET (EX-94-2E), Luck-E McGucci Afro (EX-94), Luck-E Advent Kandie-Red (EX-95-2E 96MS), Luck-E Royal Klassy (EX-94), and Luck-E Linjet Twizzle (EX-95).

The herd is impressive on many levels, with over 650 Excellent cows carrying the Luck-E prefix, 18 Gold Medal Dams and 28 Dams of Merit to date, and current heifer genomics averaging +2.58 PTA Type.

Equally remarkable is Matt and Joe’s ability to market Luck-E genetics. In addition to successful sales domestically, they’ve exported over 1000 embryos. The farm is also a popular tour stop for Holstein enthusiasts from around the world, and they’ve hosted many international interns on the farm over the years.

Matt and Joe are thankful for the opportunities and encouragement given to them by their parents and dairy industry mentors.

“We’ve been really blessed to have a good start. We had wonderful mentors at the farm and at shows like Bill Beghorn, and we try to be the mentors for the next generation,” Matt Engel says. “If we can help you, we will, because so many people did it for us and we’ll never be able to repay that. So, we’re at least going to try.”

Luck-E Holsteins will be recognized with the honor during the National Holstein Convention in St. Louis, Missouri, later this month.