New BSE Info Site
Posted: August 28, 2008 at 2:29 pm
By News Editor
By News Editor
There’s a new website available for up-to-date information on BSE – called BSEInfo, the site is sponsored by the folks at your Beef Checkoff. Check it out!
USDA Releases New Proposed Downer Rule
Posted: August 28, 2008 at 2:23 pm
By News Editor
By News Editor
As reported by Drovers magazine, the U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) announced yesterday a proposed rule to amend the Federal meat inspection regulations to initiate a complete ban on the slaughter of cattle that become non-ambulatory after initial inspection by Food Safety and Inspection Service personnel.
Under the proposed rule, all cattle that are non-ambulatory disabled at any time prior to slaughter, including those that become non-ambulatory disabled after passing ante-mortem inspection, will be condemned and properly disposed of.
Agriculture Secretary Ed Schafer said, “To maintain consumer confidence in the food supply, eliminate further misunderstanding of the rule and, ultimately, to make a positive impact on the humane handling of cattle, I believe it is sound policy to simplify this matter by initiating a complete ban on the slaughter of downer cattle.”
Of the nearly 34 million cattle that were slaughtered in 2007, less than 1,000 cattle that were re-inspected were actually approved by the veterinarian for slaughter. This represents less than 0.003 percent of cattle slaughtered annually.
Bio-Vet Names Sales Rep Winners
Posted: August 27, 2008 at 4:13 pm
By News Editor
By News Editor
Bio-Vet, Inc., and East Central/Select Sires, one of Bio-Vet’s distribution partners, announced the winners of a sales contest recently. East Central/Select Sires representatives achieved exceptional sales of Bio-Vet products during a period from late 2007 through the spring of 2008.
The contest winners included: first place, Rod Alton, Monroe, Wis.; second place, Jay Ludeman, Lake Mills, Wis.; third place, Duey Vande Zande, Waupun, Wis.; and fourth place, Sandy Hoppmann, Wilton, Wis.
The top four finishers received their choice of a gift certificate to Cabela’s or Dick’s Sporting Goods.
Bio-Vet, Inc., founded in 1991, researches, manufactures and markets direct fed microbial and nutritional products for dairy and beef cattle, small ruminants and horses. Bio-Vet is a leader in using beneficial bacteria to improve animal health and productivity.
Stewart’s Has Highest Quality Milk
Posted: August 27, 2008 at 4:04 pm
By News Editor
By News Editor
Congratulations to Stewart’s Shops in New York for being named 2008 Highest Quality Milk in New York State for the second consecutive year, and for the third time in four years!
“Our entire company is honored once again, especially all of our dairy processing employees who work diligently with our local dairy farms to ensure our customers receive only the highest quality milk products possible,” Gary Dake, president of Stewart’s Shops Corp., told the station.
Cornell University’s Department of Food Science revealed the winner during the New York State Fair in Syracuse, N.Y. on Monday. The University collected samples from 19 dairy producers across New York State from July 1, 2006, through June 30, 2007. The random samples of whole, 2 percent, 1 percent and skim milk were evaluated on criteria ranging from vitamin levels and flavor scores, to bacteria counts and antibiotic residue-free purity, according to the report.
Stewart’s began selling milk from its own Saratoga Dairy shops in 1957. Today, a select group of more than 50 dairy farmers from Saratoga, Washington and Northern Rensselaer Counties provide milk for the 325 Stewart’s Shops in Eastern New York and Western Vermont, noted Dake.
Weekly CWT Export Update
Posted: August 26, 2008 at 5:42 pm
By News Editor
By News Editor
Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) has announced their weekly export acceptance bids.
Both of the bids were from Dairy Farmers of America of Kansas City, MO, for the export of butter to Morocco in the following amounts: 125 metric tons (275,578 pounds), and 75 metric tons (165,347 lbs.).
CWT will pay an export bonus to the bidder, only when delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.
With these accepted bids, CWT’s total 2008 export obligations are: butter, 15,587 metric tons (34.2 million lbs.); cheese, 1,315 metric tons (2.9 million lbs.); whole milk powder, 170 metric tons (374,000 lbs.); and anhydrous milkfat, 4,638 metric tons.
Barlass Named Director-At-Large
Posted: August 26, 2008 at 5:40 pm
By News Editor
By News Editor
Not only was Marion Barlass, of Janesville, Wis., recently named the 2008 Dairy Woman of the Year by World Dairy Expo Inc., she was appointed Director #6 at-large of National All-Jersey Inc., headquartered in Reynoldsburg, Ohio this week. Congratulations to Marion!
Directors-at-large are appointed by the American Jersey Cattle Association (AJCA) Board of Directors. The Board met yesterday in a conference call, naming Barlass to complete the unexpired term of Nico de Boer, Chandler, Texas, who resigned due to time constraints.
She will serve in this position through the organizations’ 2011 annual meeting, to be held in Wisconsin Dells, Wis.
Marion, her husband Bill and son Brian operate a 440-cow Registered Jersey™ dairy and crop over 500 acres. For the past 30 years, they have been members of National All-Jersey Inc. and active in NAJ’s efforts to develop multiple component milk pricing (MCP) programs.
Marion Barlass is currently director and secretary of the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin, and previously served as treasurer and director of Alto Dairy Cooperative.
Vote for Your Favorite Klondike Video
Posted: August 25, 2008 at 8:26 pm
By News Editor
By News Editor
Have you voted yet for your favorite “What Would You Do for a Klondike Bar?” video? You only have until August 30!
The company has whittled down the field of entries in its video contest from more than 500 entries to four finalists. And it’s asking the public for help to choose the ultimate winner.
The finalists are Gregory Carroll of Los Angeles, Joel Levinson of Los Angeles, Jayson Wall of Nashville, TN, and Oren Brimer of New York.
The grand-prize winner will receive $100,000 and a trip for two to receive advice on creating digital short films with Andy Samberg, Akiva Schaffer and Jorma Taccone of “Saturday Night Live.” Voters also have a shot at winning $25,000.
In all, 123,754 votes were cast for the best videos and the site received more than 319,000 visitors during the three-month contest, Unilever said.
Dr. Lee Majeskie Dies
Posted: August 25, 2008 at 8:17 pm
By News Editor
By News Editor
Internationally known dairy cattle judge and dairy youth supporter Dr. J. Lee Majeskie of Centreville died suddenly on Friday, August 22, at the University of Maryland Hospital. In 1970, Dr. Majeskie became the Director of Program Development for the U.S. Brown Swiss Cattle Association. During his five-year tenure, he developed the Production and Type Performance Registry program; initiated a National Brown Swiss Young Sire program; and directed the growth of the Identity Enrollment program for unregistered Brown Swiss.
In 1975, he accepted a position at the University of Maryland where he served as an Extension Dairy Specialist, providing educational programs to youth and adults in the dairy industry. He taught over 1500 students during his 30 years of University service. He was also the faculty adviser for the Animal Husbandry Club for a number of years.
He was the loving and devoted husband of Judy Alexander Majeskie. Born February 7, 1941, on a Holstein dairy farm in Waukesha, WI, Lee was the son of John and Bernice Majeskie.
Dr. Majeskie retired from his position as Professor Emeritus and Extension Specialist in the Department of Animal & Avian Sciences at the University of Maryland in 2005. He received his B. S. and M.S. degrees at the University of Wisconsin and his Ph.D. in Dairy Cattle Breeding and Genetics at Kansas State University.
Dr. Majeskie’s research program included applied research in dairy cattle management, using data generated from the Dairy Herd Improvement (DHI) program. He provided the leadership and development of educational programs for dairy producers and users of dairy records generated in the DHI program. He has presented 43 international featured presentations in 21 countries covering the topics of genetic improvement of dairy cattle.
He has conducted judging clinics in six states and served as official judge of over 125 district, state, regional and national shows in 31 states. Dr. Majeskie has also had the opportunity to judge national shows and classify cattle in 14 countries including Brazil, Columbia, Dominican Republic, Switzerland, France, Guatemala, Honduras, Puerto Rico and Australia.
Dr. Majeskie might be most known as the coach of the highly successful Maryland 4-H dairy cattle judging program. Thousands of youth benefited from his 25 years of leadership. During that time, his state teams placed in the top three nationally 18 times and won the national contest five times.
Silage Additive Feeding Experiences
Posted: August 25, 2008 at 9:40 am
By Cindy Zimmerman
By Cindy Zimmerman
Looking for answers as to how NDF digestibility impacts dairy production? Pioneer Hi-Bred nutritional sciences veterinarian, Bill Seglar, explains how the types of forages being fed will impact neutral detergent fiber (NDF). Furthermore, Seglar talks about the value of silage additives and the role they play in nutrition.
Bill Seglar on NDF Digestibility (5:30 min MP3)
To see all archived Pioneer Forage Forum podcasts, click here.
Previous Forage Forum podcasts are also archived at the Pioneer GrowingPoint website. To access them, go to www.pioneer.com/growingpoint and click “Livestock Nutrition” and “Forage Blog.” Those not registered for Pioneer GrowingPoint website can call 800-233-7333 Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT for assistance.
Podcast: Play in new window | Download
Jersey Organizations Announce Promotions
Posted: August 23, 2008 at 11:17 am
By News Editor
By News Editor
The American Jersey Cattle Association, along with National All-Jersey Inc., has announced several staff promotions.
Kristin Barlass Paul, Janesville, Wis., was named Field Service Coordinator for the AJCA and its affiliate, National All-Jersey Inc. and Ron Mosser, Geneva, Ind., was named Senior Appraiser for the AJCA Linear Type Traits Appraisal Program. Daniel S. Bauer, who joined the JMS staff in June of 2006 as its Assistant Manager, has been promoted to company Manager, effective August 15. Louie M. Cozzitorto was promoted to JMS Assistant Manager. He joined the USJersey organizations staff in June 2007.
“These assignments reflect the continuing commitment our organizations have made to deliver the highest level of service to Jersey owners while also promoting breed growth and expansion in the United States, ” said Neal Smith, Executive Secretary and CEO of the USJersey organizations.
Paul, who joined the field staff in June of 2002, assumes the responsibility of managing a team of 12 staff located across the United States and coordinating the on-farm delivery of AJCA and NAJ services. She will continue to provide service to Jersey herds located in northern California and Wisconsin.
Since joining the AJCA staff in January of 2002, Ron Mosser has appraised nearly 57,000 Jersey cows, or 13% of all U.S. Jersey cows evaluated over this time period. He will be responsible for cow-side training of the appraisal team and program delivery on farms.
As manager, Bauer will be responsible for all day-to-day operations of Jersey Marketing Service, which serves sellers and buyers of Jersey cattle and genetics through private treaty and public sale management. He will continue to work as a cow-side evaluator for the AJCA Linear Type Traits Appraisal as time permits.
In addition to his expanded responsibilities with Jersey Marketing Service, Cozzitorto will continue as a type traits program evaluator and provide general field service for the AJCA.
Through the first seven months of 2008, Jersey Marketing Service has generated gross sales of $5.4 million, with 11 public auctions of Registered Jersey™ cattle on the books for the remainder of the year.
New FDA Food Safety Modernization Act Introduced
Posted: August 23, 2008 at 10:54 am
By News Editor
By News Editor
P. Scott Shearer, Washington, D.C. correspondent, working for the magazine Beef Cow-Calf Weekly, reports that Senators Dick Durbin (D-IL), Judd Gregg (R-NH), and Richard Burr (R-NC) have introduced bipartisan food-safety legislation, “The FDA Food Safety Modernization Act,” that would improve the way that the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) protects the safety of the food supply.
Durbin said, “Over the last year we’ve seen major recalls of peanut butter and jalapeno peppers spiked with salmonella, spinach laced with E-coli and chili loaded with botulism. It’s clear these aren’t isolated incidents and are the result of a food safety system that’s outdated, under-funded and overwhelmed. Today’s bipartisan bill will close many of the gaping holes in FDA’s food safety authority and help to ensure the food on our store shelves is safe.”
The legislation would require domestic food facilities to write hazard analysis critical control point (HACCP) plans; FDA would set commodity-specific standards for fresh produce; high-risk imports to be certified as meeting U.S. standards; and FDA to set up an accreditation system for third-party inspectors of food facilities. More frequent inspections, with specific timelines for high-risk facilities would be conducted.
Along with mandatory recall authority, FDA also could suspend a food facility’s registration if there is a reasonable probability a food would cause serious adverse health consequences.
Dairyline Markets In Review
Posted: August 22, 2008 at 2:16 pm
By Chuck
By Chuck
Dairy Markets Week in Review
The cash cheese roller coaster started the week heading down but rallied a little bit with 40-pound block closing Friday at $1.7125 per pound, down 4 3/4-cents on the week and 26 cents below that week a year ago. Barrel closed at $1.6625, down 7 1/2-cents on the week, and 27cents below a year ago. 42 cars of block traded hands and 17 of barrel. The NASS-surveyed U.S. average block price hit $1.9011, down 6.2 cents. Barrel averaged $1.7937, down 9.2 cents.
Cash butter saw a 3 1/2-cent loss on the week, closing Friday at $1.61, but still 18 3/4-cents above a year ago. Nine cars were sold. NASS butter averaged $1.5915, up 3.4 cents. NASS nonfat dry milk averaged $1.3621, down 3.6 cents, and dry whey averaged 24.60 cents, down 0.5 cent
Provided courtesy of Dairyline.
15th Case of BSE in Canada
Posted: August 21, 2008 at 8:21 pm
By News Editor
By News Editor
The Canadian Food Inspection Agency (CFIA) has confirmed their 15th case of bovine spongiform encephalopathy (BSE) in a six-year-old beef cow from Alberta. No part of the animal’s carcass entered the human food or animal feed systems.
The animal’s birth farm has been identified, and an investigation is underway. The CFIA is tracing the animal’s herdmates at the time of birth and examining possible sources of infection. The age and location of the infected animal are consistent with previous cases detected in Canada.
This case was detected through the national BSE surveillance program, which has been highly successful in demonstrating the low level of BSE in Canada. The program continues to play an important role in Canada’s strategy to manage BSE.
Canada remains a Controlled Risk country for BSE, as recognized by the World Organisation for Animal Health (OIE). Accordingly, this case should not affect exports of Canadian cattle or beef.
Charges Against Dairy Soultions Dropped
Posted: August 21, 2008 at 8:17 pm
By News Editor
By News Editor
All charges brought against the dairy nutrition company Progressive Dairy Solutions, Inc., by the nation’s largest feed manufacturer, Cargill have been dropped by a federal court jury.
Cargill sought $10.2 million in damages against three former employees who left the company to form their own dairy nutrition and management consulting business. The claims sought by Cargill included misappropriation of trade secrets, breach of contract, and fraud, all of which were litigated during a three week trial in the United States District Court before the honorable Lawrence J. O’ Neill.
Within less than one day of deliberations, the jury returned a unanimous verdict not only rejecting every claim brought by Cargill, but the jury also announced, through their verdict, that Cargill’s claims against these departing employees was “objectively specious” which was defined by the Court as completely lacking in any evidentiary support.
This finding was made after 18 months of litigation brought by Cargill through two law firms Mayer Brown of Washington DC and Fish & Richardson of Redwood City, California. During the course of the trial, Cargill employed a staff of attorneys and assistants to present their case in Fresno, California. Cargill’s home office is located in Minneapolis, MN.
The departing employees were Matt Budine, Brian Sundberg, and Luciana Jonkman who left the company in early 2007. The evidence was clear that they had diligently served Cargill throughout their years of Cargill employment and remained loyal to the company until the date of their resignation, to form their own company, Progressive Dairy Solutions, Inc. They were represented by Mick Marderosian, Brett Runyon, and Heather Cohen of Marderosian Runyon Cercone Lehman & Armo in Fresno, California and Ricardo Echeverria of Shernoff Bidart Darras and Echeverria of Claremont, California. The defense focused on the fact that Cargill had no evidence that any trade secrets were acquired or used by any of the defendants and that the real motive behind Cargill’s efforts was to unfairly compete and crush the new and much smaller upstart company.
Progressive Dairy Solutions, Inc. is a dairy nutrition and management consulting firm. They do not manufacture feed but simply consult with dairies to provide innovative management solutions for each dairy operation. The consulting firm not only focuses on the highly important dairy nutrition elements of a dairy, they assist in management and employee training in each critical segment of the dairy operation.
Kristy Mussman is Princess Kay of the Milky Way
Posted: August 21, 2008 at 9:03 am
By Chuck
By Chuck
Here’s the new Princess Kay of the Milky Way. She’s Kristy Mussman, a 19-year-old college student from Claremont, MN. Her crowning took place at the Minnesota State Fairgrounds on Wednesday.
As Princess Kay, Mussman, who represents Steele County, will serve as the official goodwill ambassador for Minnesota’s nearly 5,000 dairy farmers.
Kristy is the daughter of Mike and Julie Mussman of Claremont, and is a student at the University of Minnesota-St. Paul majoring in applied economics with an emphasis in marketing and a minor in mass communications.
One of Mussman’s first duties as Princess Kay will be to sit in a rotating cooler for nearly eight hours on the opening day of the Minnesota State Fair to have her likeness sculpted in a 90-pound block of butter. Each of the 11 other finalists will have her likeness carved in butter during the fair, as well. This year marks the debut of a bigger and better butter-sculpting booth. The new booth is more energy efficient than its predecessor, and will allow a greater number of visitors to get a good view of the sculpting.
Throughout her yearlong reign as Princess Kay of the Milky Way, Mussman will make public appearances to educate consumers about dairy farmers’ commitment to providing wholesome milk and dairy product and caring for their animals and the land.
Elanco Purchases Posilac From Monsanto
Posted: August 20, 2008 at 8:27 am
By Chuck
By Chuck
Here’s an interesting announcement. Elanco has signed an agreement to buy the worldwide rights to Posilac from Monsanto. The deal includes the product’s supporting operations. I hope they have good luck with it. There sure are a lot of activists against it. I don’t think they’ve got any scientific basis for their fears but sometimes perception is reality. I sure don’t mind the product and think it’s perfectly safe.
“Global dairy demand is increasing, outstripping supply, and consumers are seeing rapidly rising prices,” said Jeff Simmons, president, Elanco. “With the purchase of Posilac, Elanco can enhance its overall product portfolio and work together with the industry to provide dairy farmers more options and give consumers affordable choices. Critically, we remain focused on the health and care of the cow in working with farmers to increase global milk supply.
“With our rich history and experience in the dairy industry, Elanco is the ideal steward of this vital technology,” Simmons said. “Elanco remains committed to using science to address the growing need for safe, affordable food, and to choices for consumers, retailers and producers.”
Elanco has exclusively sold sometribove outside of the United States for a decade. Posilac has been safely used for more than 14 years. (more…)
Fonterra to Expand NZ Plant
Posted: August 19, 2008 at 8:52 pm
By News Editor
By News Editor
Fonterra, the New Zealand dairy ingredients cooperative, has received approval for a $212 million expansion at its Edendale, New Zealand plant.
A resource management committee has agreed to give Fonterra permission to exceed the permitted heights in the district plan and build a 70m boiler stack, a 31m boiler building and a 60m milk drier building. The milk dryer will be one of the largest powder plants in the world.
According to Fonterra chief executive Andrew Ferrier, the new milk dryer is to handle expected growth in the South Island’s milk supply, forecast to rise significantly by the 2012/13 season.
The new dryer will manufacture regular UHT milk and instant wholemilk powders, and will take the site’s peak processing capacity to over 15 million litres a day. At the peak of the season, Fonterra processes about 70 million litres a day, nationally.
The plant’s third milkpowder plant, costing $113 million, and its second powder plant, which cost $149 million in 2002, were built by an Auckland company, Nico New Zealand.
At Edendale Fonterra produces four varieties of powder (wholemilk, skimmilk, buttermilk and fat filled) for customers in Asia, North and South America, the Middle East and Africa.
It also makes cheddar cheese, mainly for Japan and the Middle East, anhydrous milkfat (AMF) for the USA, Canada and Europe, lactose and whey cheese for the New Zealand market, casein for Japan and North America, and whey protein concentrate.
DFA Announces Ingredient Division
Posted: August 18, 2008 at 9:24 pm
By News Editor
By News Editor
Dairy Farmers of America (DFA) has announced a new dairy ingredients division.
“Ingredients is a growth area with real potential, which is why DFA management and the Board are dedicating more resources to it,” says Mark Korsmeyer, president of DFA’s Dairy Food Products. “This new division will better allow us to meet the growing demands of our customers both domestically and internationally.”
According to Korsmeyer, dairy is no longer simply a domestic product. Ingredients like cheese powders, condensed whole and skim milk, dairy flavors and casein are used in a variety of products around the world, including baby formula, ice cream and flavored dairy beverages. Already a manufacturer of these ingredients, DFA is in a position to strengthen its role in the ingredients arena.
At the helm of the new division will be Chief Operating Officer Art Farris. Farris currently serves as executive vice president of DFA’s Dairy Food Products. He has been with DFA and its predecessor cooperative, Mid-America Dairymen, Inc., for 29 years. Farris will be responsible for driving strategic and operational initiatives for the newly formed ingredients division, in addition to continuing strategic and operational oversight for the contract manufacturing division.
Other positions in the new division include Tim Opper as vice president, ingredients manufacturing; Lavonne Dietrich, vice president of sales and marketing for DFA International and Ingredient sales; and Rusty Golliher as director, engineering.
CWT Weekly Export Update
Posted: August 18, 2008 at 9:16 pm
By News Editor
By News Editor
Your weekly Cooperatives Working Together (CWT) export update.
CWT has accepted four export assistance bids last week for the sale of butter, cheese and anhydrous milkfat.
Two of the bids were from Dairy Farmers of America of Kansas City, MO: one for the export of 200 metric tons (440,925 pounds) of anhydrous milkfat to Russia, and another for the export of 19 metric tons (41,888 lbs.) of Monterrey Jack cheese to Panama.
One bid was accepted from California Dairies Inc., for the export of 115 metric tons (253,532 lbs.) of butter to Honduras.
And finally, a bid was accepted from Foremost Farms of Baraboo, WI, for the export of 185 metric tons (407,855 lbs.) of Mozzarella cheese to South Korea. CWT will pay an export bonus to the bidders, only when delivery of the product is verified by the submission of the required documentation.
With these accepted bids, CWT’s total 2008 export obligations are: butter, 15,349 metric tons (33.7 million lbs.); cheese, 1,315 metric tons (2.9 million lbs.); whole milk powder, 170 metric tons (374,000 lbs.); and anhydrous milkfat, 4,638 metric tons (10.2 million lbs.). The milk equivalent total of these products is 1.05 billion pounds.
Barlass Named 2008 Dairy Woman of the Year
Posted: August 15, 2008 at 6:19 pm
By News Editor
By News Editor
The National Jersey Association is excited to announce that Marion Barlass, Janesville, Wis., will be honored as the 2008 Dairy Woman of the Year on October 1, 2008 by the World Dairy Expo. The award is sponsored by Furst-McNess, Monsanto Dairy Business and Select Sires, Inc.
Other honorees at the banquet will be Charles, George, Tom and Mark Crave of Waterloo, Wis., 2008 World Dairy Expo Dairymen of the Year; the 2008 Industry Person of the Year, Dr. Michael Hutjens, Urbana, Ill.; and the 2008 International Person of the Year, Dr. Hubertus Diers, Altenberge Westfalia, Germany.
This award has been presented since 1973 to a woman who is an active dairy producer and whose primary source of income is derived from the dairy enterprise. Selection criteria include excellence in progressive management practices, efficient milk production and breeding of quality dairy animals; and involvement in the community, government activities, marketing organizations, World Dairy Expo and other aspects of the dairy industry.
Marion Barlass grew up on a large Jersey farm in northwestern Wisconsin, Owens Farms Inc. She was very involved with 4-H, registered Jersey projects and other dairy activities while she was growing up, even being selected as the 1971 National Jersey Queen.
As a student at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Marion was one of the first women on the dairy judging team, and was second runner-up in 1972 for Alice in Dairyland, Wisconsin’s dairy ambassador. She graduated in 1974 with a B.S. in Home Economics and Education Extension, and then worked as the Dane County Home Economist for about two years before marrying Bill Barlass and joining the operation at Barlass Jerseys, near Janesville.
Bill and Marion later purchased the farm and continued to build the herd. They milked about 100 cows in a 63-stall barn until 2000, when they built a milking parlor and gradually expanded the all-registered herd. Today about 360 milking cows are housed in two freestall barns and milked through a swing 16 DairyMaster parlor, installed late in 2007. The Barlass family also grows alfalfa, corn, soybeans, wheat, and canning crops on about 560 acres.
Marion is an invaluable part of the farm’s day-to-day management and long-term future. In addition to handling all of the financial records, she takes care of the bi-weekly herd health, the monthly DHI testing, and works closely with the OvSynch breeding program. She also does most of the heat detection and works with the young calves, particularly processing newborn calves.
The Barlass herd is among the top producing Jersey herds in the United States. Its 2007 AJCA lactation average of 19,870 lbs. milk, 935 lbs. fat and 707 lbs. protein ranked fourth for fat and ninth for protein among herds with 150-299 records.
Marion has served as Treasurer and Board member for Alto Dairy and is in her second term as a Director of the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW), also serving as its Secretary. She was the first woman ever to serve as president of the Wisconsin Jersey Breeders Association, and was editor of the Wisconsin Jersey Booster for 15 years.
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