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Iowa dairy farmers have a new collective voice. She is the new Iowa Dairy Princess, Gina Fisher of Clayton County. Just a night before the start of the Iowa State Fair, Fisher was tapped to take on the title and responsibilities of promoting dairy for the coming year. The coronation was held in the Multi-Media Center in the Cattle Barn at the state fairgrounds in Des Moines, Iowa.
Fisher, 17, is the daughter of David and Mary Fisher of Edgewood, Iowa. Fisher was also named Miss Congeniality from among the seven contestants.
Jessica Hammerand will assist Fisher as 2011-12 Iowa Dairy Princess Alternate. The Dubuque County teen was also named winner of the presentation portion of the contest. Hammerand, 19, is the daughter of Jeff and Tammy Hammerand of Epworth, Iowa.
Vernice and Dan Moon, Monona, Iowa, have been named the third Robert “Whitey” McKown Master Breeder Award winner, which will be presented at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin. The winner of the McKown Master Breeder Award is chosen by the members of the Klussendorf Association.
The award honors a well-managed breeder herd who is successful showing and judging and emphasizes all qualities of the Klussendorf Award, including ability, character, endeavor, and sportsmanship. Vernice and Dan Moon’s Moondale Holstein herd fits every criteria of the McKown Master Breeder Award. Vernice and Dan, along with Vernice’s wife, Bev; Dan’s wife, Nancy; and Dan and Nancy’s children, Kyle, Emily, and Ryan, also are involved with Moondale Holsteins.
A standing ovation of breeders applauded Joe and Mary K. Miller of Laura, Ohio, as they accepted the Brown Swiss Association's Distinguished Service Award at the breed's National Convention Awards Banquet in Frederick, Maryland, on July 8.
In the name of Roger N. Neitzel, the Distinguished Service Award is given to a person(s) who has dedicated many years of service to the Brown Swiss Association.
The Millers are the second recipients of the award. They have served in various capacities of the Brown Swiss Association at both state and national levels.
The World Dairy Expo Executive Committee is pleased to announce that Jim Crowley, Jr. has accepted the position of dairy cattle show superintendent, effective at the March Annual Board of Directors meeting in 2012. Crowley brings a substantial amount of experience to the position, having followed in his father’s footsteps by becoming an integral part of the World Dairy Expo cattle shows at a young age. Most recently, Crowley has served as the Brown Swiss superintendent, meeting the needs of Brown Swiss exhibitors from throughout the U.S. and Canada.
A native New Yorker, Ron St. John came to North Central Florida in 1986, and has blazed a trail of innovation and expansion in dairy farming ever since. St. John lives in Trenton, Florida. He owns five dairy farms, including two in Georgia, and has a new one under construction in Florida.
As a result of his dairy farming success, St. John has been selected as the 2011 Florida winner of the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award. St. John now joins eight other state winners from the Southeast as finalists for the award. The overall winner will be announced on Tuesday, Oct. 18 at the Sunbelt Ag Expo farm show in Moultrie, Georgia.
Dairy farmer Mac Pate of Maryville, Tennessee, is 85 years young. Though he has slowed down some in recent years, he still has the drive and energy that helped him develop and maintain an outstanding dairy farm.
As a result of his long success as a dairy farmer, Pate has been selected as the 2011 Tennessee winner of the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award. Pate now joins eight other state winners from the Southeast as finalists for the award. The overall winner will be announced on Tuesday, Oct. 18, at the Sunbelt Ag Expo farm show in Moultrie, Georgia.
Milk production is excellent, now at about 27,000 pounds of milk per cow per year, down a bit from a peak of 29,000 pounds. At the peak, his 200 cows produced 5.8 million pounds per year. “For two months, our cows produced more than 100 pounds of milk per cow per day,” he adds.
David Areias was recently named Ruan Transportation Management Systems’ 2010 Driver of the Year after being selected from a pool of more than 3,700 professional drivers.
Areias, who operates out of Ruan’s Turlock, California, terminal, and lives in Los Banos, California, has been with Ruan since 2006 and has logged more than 2 million miles during his 40 years as a professional truck driver.
Areias said he was surprised and honored to be nominated for the recognition because Ruan has many exceptional drivers. “You learn something new every day,” Areias said about being a professional truck driver. “Safety is my No. 1 concern. I want to go home to family every night.”
The Robert and Brenda Schanbacher family, who operate a dairy near Newhall, Iowa, will be recognized as one of six recipients of The Way We Live Award at the 2011 Iowa State Fair. PD
—From Central Plains Dairy E-News
Here are some comments Progressive Dairyman has received regarding the raw milk poll.
Yes: We need to be honest with consumers and tell them we as dairymen produce the very best product for humans, as well as bacteria. Sure, pasteurization kills bacteria, but so does old age. I have had enough of academia telling the story of raw milk is dangerous. With the right protocols, I’ll put my milk up against anyone’s, so put your milk where your mouth is. Either raw or pasteurized.
Duncan Smith
Mountain Grove, Missouri
No: I was raised drinking raw milk from my family’s own cow, and I love it. However, when you buy milk from an unknown source, you do not have knowledge of how the cow or milk product was handled. Pasteurization laws came about because of diseases that were passed from cow milk to humans. I would love to trust and believe that all human producers of raw milk took proper care of the cow and her product, but alas … this is not to be. Therefore, I would have to vote “No” to the unlimited sale of raw milk without some kind of safeguards.
Sue Bell
Genex Cooperative, Inc. has awarded Dustin Hollermann for excellence in service to Genex members and customers. Hollermann, an employee within the cooperative’s National Account Profit Center, earned the Kevin Boyle Outstanding National Account Specialist Award.
As a national account specialist, Hollermann provides consulting services in dairy herd management, agriculture operations management, applied genetics, on-farm trouble shooting, customized breeding programs, reproductive physiology and dairy record management systems on dairy farms across the U.S. He has 11 years of experience with the cooperative and currently resides in Upsala, Minnesota.
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