Madison 2026 – Swiss genetics increasingly prominent in the Madison show ring
🔗COLLAPS, 🔗RAY and🔗BINIAM lead the way: 🔗NORWIN, HUGE SG and 🔗NELLO are shaping the American Brown Swiss breeding.
Angelo Pozzatti, Export Sales Manager
Swiss genetics among the leaders in Madison
World Dairy Expo 2026 in Madison, USA, once again showed that Braunvieh breeding from Switzerland ranks among the best in the world.
Animals with 🔗COLLAPS, 🔗RAY, 🔗BINIAM, HUGE SG, 🔗NELLO and 🔗NORWIN in their pedigrees dominated the rankings in almost every class, from young heifers through to the Grand Champion Cow.
Many American bulls also have Swiss sires in their pedigrees. DAREDEVIL, named Premier Sire of the cows for the third time, has ALIBABA and GLENN in his pedigree. PHANTOM, the sire of V B Phantom Sinister, one of the best cows at the show, is a BIVER son.
In 2026, no cow with a Swiss sire took the Champion title. We had to settle for Reserve Champion, a HUGE SG daughter. More importantly, daughters of Swissgenetics bulls took many of the top places across a wide range of classes.
HUGE SG – a name to remember
Another highlight was Hilltop Acres H DAMARA-ETV (HUGE SG), who was named Senior Champion. Owned by Peter Vail of Valatie, New York, DAMARA incarnates the functional elegance and balance typical of the HUGE line. Her well-balanced conformation and consistent production make her a good example of a generation of robust cows suited to modern dairy farming.
DAMARA is not only a show winner, but also a bull dam with a deep pedigree. She is the dam of NGG bull DARK HORSE and comes from the well-known Hilltop Acres Bose DIXILAND family. DAMARA is a sister of the proven bull DAREDEVIL.
Working together for success
We travel to Madison every year with high expectations, as the show is an important showcase for genetics for many countries. As usual, we looked at many heifers and cows before the show. It was immediately clear how much the presence of Swiss genetics had grown. Even so, we had not expected daughters of Swissgenetics bulls to do quite so well.
The quality of the show rises every year. The first- and second-lactation classes were very large, with excellent udders throughout, clearly demonstrating the influence of Swiss genetics.
Behind these achievements lies more than just outstanding genetics: it is the cooperation between breeders, partners and experts around the world who put their trust in Swissgenetics.
Congratulations to all the breeders on these outstanding results, and thank you for representing Swiss genetics so impressively on the world stage!
🔗CHILLY, 🔗MAGNUM, 🔗RAY and 🔗HALANO P – breeding lines for the future
The younger classes also clearly reflected the Swiss influence.
There were relatively few daughters of Swiss bulls in the heifer classes, as we have been unable to export some of our top bulls for almost two years. Schmallenberg virus and bluetongue virus are making exports increasingly difficult.
Daughters of bulls from our subsidiary New Generation Genetics, however, dominated the heifer show. 🔗WORLD CLASS, 🔗DESIGN, TOP NOTCH and 🔗TIME OUT daughters were consistently among the leaders.
Before and after the show, we also visited several leading farms: Switzerl Tal Farm, Hendel Farm, Hilltop Acres Farm, Cozy Nook Farm and Viking Valley Farm. These farms combine hard work with good genetics. They are valued NGG partners and will be important genetics providers in the years ahead.