Mark van de Eikenhof

The red-and-white Lakenvelder (Dutch Belted) Mark van de Eikenhof (NL 9382 7823 2) enriches the portfolio of K.I. bulls in multiple ways.  First of all, his pedigree. Sire Ken van de Sonnehoeve (RWL, NL 926336371) and dam Mathilde van de Eikenhof (BWL, NL 742577688) were both bred on farms that have amply earned their spurs in the Lakenvelder breeding circuit. Both at the Sonnehoeve home of first sire Cees, and now son Octavio Sonneveld, in Delft and at the Eikenhof in Boschoord, a variety of bulls have been used for natural breeding. The first AI bulls to appear in the lineage of Mark EH are the great grand sires Mona’s Marcel in the paternal line and Heiko in the maternal line, i.e. the third generation. A notable feature of Mark van de Eikenhof’s pedigree is that the first double overlap only occurs in the fifth generation, which gives him a very low inbreeding coefficient, namely 2.7% 

 

At his classification as a breeding bull at the age of 12 months, Mark van de Eikenhof was already an impressive sight with a rump height of 129 cm. He was ranked with 86 points for general conformation, weighted average of frame (86), feet and legs (85), specific Lakenvelder traits (85) and belt traits (87). He did not display any particular weaknesses, except for perhaps a somewhat flat rump structure, although his rump width was judged to be above average. 

 

His sire, Ken van de Sonnehoeve has a lot of red-and-white Lakenvelder blood in his direct ancestry. If we trace his paternal line further back, we come across a host of famous names in Lakenvelder breeding, such as the late Ton Wassing and the Pauw family. Other names include Bellefleurs van de Boelemaheerd.

 

The heritage of dam Mathilde van de Eikenhof has mainly black-and-white on the female side and red-and-white in the male line. Grand dam Mies van de Eikenhof KS received the highest herdbook (KS) classification score in 2011. In the direct maternal line,  Mark EH descends from the Mies line founded by Pieter Kwakernaak from Haule (who sold his cows due to emigration), who via Mies owned by Gijs Bos (Lexmond) was out of Heika 4 KS owned by van Benthem (Middelbert). Both Heika 4 and Mies 2 of Kwakernaak had high enough scores to qualify for the current WFK title. A new young bull is used every year at the Eikenhof farm For example, in the pedigree of Mathilde van de Eikenhof's sire A&A’s Sire van Arie Apeldoorn from De Heurne, grand sire Stienbarchs Gijs owned by Bert Steenbergen (Zuidwolde) and great grand sire Andreas owned by Wilma Bruins Slot (Hollandscheveld). In view of the numerous herdbook and WFK cows bred by the Eikenhof farm, their breeding philosophy has certainly greatly benefitted our Lakenvelder population.  Combined with a bull from the Sonnehoeve, there is a justifiable promise of even more wonderful breeding results.