Henry Zapalac of COBA/Select Sires Inc. was honored as the Select Mating Service (SMS) genetic consultant of the year in front of an audience of his peers at Select Sires' SMS Evaluators Conference held in Canada May 9-13.
This national award is presented annually to a genetic consultant who exemplifies the qualities that make SMS known throughout the world as the premier mating program in the industry. The recipient must have years of superior service, a history of high-quality evaluations and the ability to build and maintain successful relationships with dairy producers.
Henry Zapalac (right) of COBA/Select Sires Inc. was presented with the SMS Genetic Consultant of the Year award at the recent Select Sires SMS Conference by Lon Peters, vice president of dairy sire product services.
Zapalac grew up on a dairy farm in Texas and was an active participant in the Schulenberg FFA chapter exhibiting animals at several shows. He joined COBA/Select Sires in May of 1994 as a SMS genetic consultant after his graduation from Texas A&M University with a bachelor's degree in dairy science. Zapalac has spent the past 21 years working with herds of all sizes in Texas, Arizona and Mexico. Over that time period he has evaluated 664,113 animals, an average of 31,624 per year. In total he has provided 2,160,746 matings. Zapalac takes pride in identifying and picturing high-quality daughters for Select Sires sire directories and is known for his dedication and high energy level. He continues to own and develop high-type cattle and his accomplishments include being one of the breeders of Select Sires impact sire 7HO7004 Erbacres DAMION (EX-96) and a co-owner of the reserve grand champion Guernsey at World Dairy Expo in 2009. Zapalac is an avid supporter of both local high school and Texas A&M athletic teams. He resides in Schulenburg, Texas.
"For over twenty years, Henry has been dedicated to COBA and all of Select Sires," says Duane Logan, general manager of COBA/Select Sires Inc. "As a true cowman and SMS genetic consultant, he has worked hard to improve the genetics in the herds of dairy producers located in Texas, Arizona and Mexico. I do not believe that anyone has contributed more, nor made a greater effort to provide Select Sires with the outstanding daughter pictures for the sire directories than Henry. As a real team player, he is truly deserving of this award in so many ways, and makes COBA proud every day."
Based in Plain City, Ohio, Select Sires Inc. is North America's largest A.I. organization and is comprised of nine farmer-owned and -controlled cooperatives. As the industry leader, it provides highly fertile semen as well as excellence in service and programs to achieve its basic objective of supplying dairy and beef producers with North America's best genetics at a reasonable price.
6.9.2015