Gene Acres Felicia May Fury

Felicia May was born and bred on Gene Acres Farm of Milton Junction, Wisconsin. Ray Potter was the farm manager and herdsman. Ray was an outstanding Holstein breeder and several of the animals that he sold became high profile show cows and/or outstanding breeding animals. Ray sold Felicia May to Allen Hetts, owner of Crescent Beauty Farm when she was three years old in 1969. At that time, Ray no longer enjoyed showing cattle and he thought that Allen Hetts would take her to the right shows and give her the best chance to win. For most dairy farmers, showing dairy cattle was something their children participated in for 4-H and FFA. For Allen Hetts, it was almost a way of life. While some cows fight the halter and dislike being at the shows, Felicia May was a natural in the show ring. She was a floater, never making a misstep and was usually chewing her cud. For the next six years, Felicia May was voted All American twice and Reserve All American four times. She was Reserve Grand Champion at World Dairy Expo twice before she was named World Dairy Expo's Supreme Champion Cow for her new owners, Felicia May Associates in 1974. In her later years after she was retired from the show scene, she stood with her head over her box stall and bellow when the show animals were loaded into the truck. She was not happy that she was being left behind.

Felicia May was also a tremendous milk cow with four production records over 30,000 pounds of milk and 1200 pounds of butter fat. Her lifetime production was 227,830 pounds of milk, 4.1% butter fat and 9,369 pounds of butter fat.

Classification is the way Holstein USA and the other breed associations rate physical type conformation. Felicia May classified the highest possible score of "Excellent-97 Points." She was laid to rest in the summer of 1984 at the age of 18 on Crescent Beauty Farm near her statue that marks the beginning of the Fort Atkinson Cow Parade.