Amy Schaufelberger Midwest Cornerstone Specialist DeForest, Wisconsin ABS Cornerstone
What education are you bringing with you to this position?
I graduated from the University of Illinois in May 2012 with a major in agricultural communications, specializing in advertising, and a minor in animal science.
Please describe your agricultural background.
I grew up and worked on my family’s dairy and grain operation, Schaufine Farms, in southern Illinois. Much of my passion for good cows stems from showing cattle at local, state and national levels. Becoming involved in dairy judging at a young age, I continued judging as a member of the University of Illinois team, and have had the honor to judge some local and state shows.
What territory will you cover?
I cover the Midwest region, which includes Wisconsin, Illinois, Iowa and Minnesota.
What are your new responsibilities?
Serving as a Cornerstone specialist, I am responsible for promoting and educating new and existing ABS Cornerstone herds. This includes the on-farm evaluation of ABS-sired progeny and coordinating, and assisting with, the picturing of outstanding daughters. I am also in charge of organizing daughter tours within my territory.
What previous positions have you held?
While in college I wrote the monthly "Sire Profiles" for Holstein World magazine, which sparked a greater interest in dairy genetics. After graduating college, I worked fulltime on the home farm and also accepted a position with Cowsmopolitan Dairy Magazine, allowing me to cover shows and sales in the U.S. and work with soliciting and developing breeder advertisements.
Who has made the biggest impact on your career?
My parents have both been extremely encouraging in my career development, but I have been blessed to have a father that is so passionate about dairy cattle. He has held many off-the-farm leadership roles, and wants me to experience as many opportunities as I can. During my time at home, I developed many important skills, gained a tremendous amount of dairy and farming knowledge and, as my dad would say, “built some character along the way.”
How will you be of most help to producers in your region or area of expertise?
I hope to utilize my dairy evaluation skills to sort through and find their top quality ABS-sired daughters. After seeing these desirable daughters, I will share this information with other breeders so that they can hopefully better their herd’s genetic programs.
Why did you choose this company?
ABS is a company that still actively uses a progeny test program. While genomics is a valuable tool, I still believe in the importance of seeing the progeny from a bull and evaluating the bull’s performance based on those daughters. Additionally, the staff that I get to work with makes a great team and they all bring a strong dairy background to the table.
What goals would you like to accomplish while in this position?
I want to see as many ABS-sired progeny as I can. The more cows you see, the better you become at evaluating what makes a cow great in her given environment. That knowledge I can then share with breeders to benefit their programs. I also enjoy meeting new people and seeing how they run their operations.
Where do you see yourself in 5 years?
I will be closely tied to the dairy industry. You truly cannot take the passion to farm or the passion for dairy cattle out of a person. PD
