One of the international visitors to World Dairy Expo was Dr. Gonzalo Maldonado, Tri-State S.A.S, Colombia. I met him at the Accelerated Genetics and World Wide Sires International Reception and Dinner. Dr. Maldonado has been working with them for 43 years!
Dr. Maldonado says that when he got started the idea of artificial insemination was a tough sell. He basically had to conduct training sessions and educate dairy farmers about the benefits of improved genetics. Since then he says production has increased. He’s optimistic for the outlook for even more improved production in Colombia. Training and specialized advice is still very needed though.
Posted: October 9, 2011 at 6:52 pm
By Cindy Zimmerman
The highlight of the World Dairy Expo is always the naming of the Supreme Champion on Saturday night, but some two-legged winners were honored at the annual “Dinner with the Stars” banquet on Wednesday.
The Dairymen of the Year award for 2011 went to John, David, Jim and Al Koepke of Koepke Farms, Inc. in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. (photo credit: World Dairy Expo, Nina Linton) The Koepke Farm is a 330 head milking dairy of registered Holsteins with nearly 1000 acres of cropland. David, Jim and Al are brothers and John (holding the plaque) is Jim’s son. During an interview at the expo Talk Session, John said they learned growing up to take care of the land. “And we’ve also learned that the better we take care of our land and the better we take care of our livestock, the better they both take care of our pocketbook,” he said, adding that producing their own feed and fertilizer has helped them deal with higher prices. “Getting our manure over every last acre has kept our production costs very low because we have a built-in organic fertilizer supply that’s never depleted!”
Listen to my interview with John here: John Koepke
Dairy Woman of the Year for 2011 is Donna Myers of Windsor Manor Farm in New Windsor, Maryland which is home to 55 milking registered Holsteins. “We’re a small family farm business that has enjoyed the agricultural way of life,” Donna says. They enjoy hosting farm tours to show people that way of life. “It’s good to keep that in people’s minds, how important that is,” she said.
Listen to my interview with Donna here: Donna Myers
Industry Person of the Year is Dr. Duane Norman, who has been with the USDA-ARS Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory since 1970. Dr. Norman is known throughout the world for his leadership in the genetic evaluation for traits of economic importance for the U.S. dairy industry. “When I was hired there they asked me to do a new genetic evaluation for milk and fat,” he said. “That was a perfect opportunity for a new geneticist to do a national evaluation, so I was the luckiest guy there was!” Dr. Norman notes that the genetic improvements in dairy cattle over the past 40-50 years have resulted in less cows producing more milk than ever before.
Finally, the International Person of the Year is Anne Perchard, La Ferme Ltd. (The Ansom Jersey Herd) of Great Britain. Anne actually comes from the tiny British Island of Jersey, where the Jersey breed of cattle originated. “Of course we’re very proud of her,” Anne said of the Jersey breed. She is the patron of the World Jersey Cattle Bureau and in 2001 was recognized for her services to the Jersey Breed worldwide. She’s proud to have been the first and only woman director of the Jersey Milk Marketing Board “which is quite something with all these men,” she laughed.
Listen to my interview with Anne here: Anne Perchard
An outstanding group of winners this year, as always, who represent the best of the best in the dairy industry.
The Grand Champion Holstein, Eastside Lewisdale Gold Missy, paraded across the colored shavings to win the Supreme Champion honors, along with $1,500 Cash Award from BouMatic, a royal blanket courtesy of Agpro, Inc., Paris, Texas and a director’s chair sponsored by Royal Brand Embroidery, Ellsworth, Wisconsin. Missy is owned by Morsan, Van Ruinen Dairy, M. Butz and G. Andreasen.
Watch the World Dairy Expo video of the announcement here:
The Reserve Champion title was earned by the Grand Champion Jersey, Pine Haven SSM Marmie, owned by Nic, Jeni, Ben and Andy Sauder of Tremont, Illinois. Meanwhile, Ben Sauder took home the Junior Supreme Champion award for the third year in a row with a Jersey Junior 3-year-old cow, South Mountain Voltage Spice-ET sired by Golden Elliott Voltage. Britney Hill of Bristol, Vermont won the Reserve Supreme Champion of the Junior Show with her Red & White 4-year-old cow, Ainger Advent Jessa-Red sired by KHW Kite Advent-Red.
It is the final day of World Dairy Expo 2011. The ZimmComm team had to return home but that doesn’t mean we won’t have more stories for you.
Cindy and I have quite a few interviews to share during the next week so keep your eye on us as we bring you more from this year’s show.
In the meantime, feel free to check out our photos. The colorful fall leaves made a beautiful scene outside between buildings this year and the weather stay just about perfect too.
At World Dairy Expo we got an update on the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards program from Dairy Management, Inc.
The U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards program continues to gain support, as the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy® today announced that the newly launched awards program will be judged by a panel of experts from academic institutions, USDA, EPA, World Wildlife Fund, media and dairy industry leaders.
In September, the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, in affiliation with the Dairy Research Institute®, announced the U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards, a new program to recognize dairy farms, businesses and collaborative partnerships for efforts that deliver outstanding economic, environmental and/or social benefit, thus helping advance sustainability of the dairy industry.
The Innovation Center and Dairy Research Institute were established by America’s dairy farmers to foster innovation and research across the industry.
On hand at Expo to discuss the sustainability awards initiative was California dairy farmer, Steve Maddox. He says they wanted to go out and recognize people who are already doing some of the common sense approaches that research has shown to be effective in improving environmental impacts. They also believe it is important to showcase good practices as an example to other dairy farmers.
Steve says they’re looking for nominations for these awards and the deadline is December 1st. You can find a list of the judges for the awards program in the news release.
Congratulations to Vernice and Dan Moon of Monona, Iowa, for being named the third recipients of the Robert “Whitey” McKown Master Breeder Award.
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.
The Moondale prefix began in 1962 when Dan’s father, Vernice, began buying registered Holsteins. Since that initial purchase, the 50-cow herd has become a well-recognized breeding establishment throughout the Midwest and the nation. In the past 50 years, the Moons have bred 134 Excellent cows. Of those, 23 are Excellent 92; 11, EX-93; 5, EX-94; and 2, EX-95 with the highest being EX-95 4E. In addition, the herd has bred six Gold Medal Dams (GMD) and five Dams of Merit (DOM).
For these efforts, the Moons are 17-year recipients of the Progressive Breeders Registry (PBR) Award by Holstein USA given annually to the nation’s top type and production herds. This past year, the Moon’s homebred herd averaged 112.4 breed age average (BAA) for type which ranked them in the top 25 herds in the nation. At their most recent classification, they had a 113 BAA with 26 Excellent cows, 20 Very Good, with none lower. In the past, the Moondale herd ranked as high as fifth nationally for BAA competing side-by-side with operations that have a higher percentage of purchased animals than the Moon family. Besides having outstanding type, the Moon’s Holsteins average over 25,000 pounds of milk.
The Robert “Whitey” McKown Memorial Breeder Award was made possible by the family and friends of the 1997 Honorary Klussendorf honoree after his passing in 2009. Whitey joined the Holstein World staff in 1956 and became widely respected as he traveled nationally and internationally, reporting on shows, sales, meetings, and other Holstein events. The 1987 National Dairy Shrine president also developed MooKown Holsteins at Belleville, N.Y. Whitey had great admiration for the farmer breeder.
Congratulations to Brett Yerina of Johnstown, N.Y. who won the coveted Klussendorf-MacKenzie Award presented during the 45th World Dairy Expo, in memory of Duncan McKenzie, 1961 Klussendorf winner.
Cow care and cow development — those are the passions of this year’s MacKenzie Award winner. Over the years, Yerina has helped remodel four farms to better suit cow comfort and Holsteins in those barns, and the results have been impressive, as the herd he cares for has achieved Holstein BAA’s (breed age averages) as high as 116.
Possessing a strong work ethic, the 21st MacKenzie Award winner began working on his family’s farm before and after school as a 14-year-old. By 16, Yerina was helping manage the breeding and feeding program, handling flushes and working with crops. Today, he uses those skills as he works with the 50-cow herd he manages. In addition to managing an extensive embryo transfer program, Yerina handles 300 acres of hay, taking pride in making some of the best show hay possible at ElmVue Farm.
This winner’s list of accomplishments includes working with 11 New York State Fair Grand Champions, 6 Eastern States Grand Champions, and 5 Syracuse Spring National Grand Champions. At World Dairy Expo, honors include developing two Supreme Champions, two Reserve Grand Champions, and several Honorable Mention Champions. Yerina also has helped develop six 96-point cows along with several 95-point individuals. What’s more, the farm he manages has been honored with three herdsmanship awards and three Premier Exhibitor banners in the International Holstein Show at World Dairy Expo. Today, Yerina, the herd manager at ElmVue Farm, is working towards his goal of being awarded the Premier Breeder banner.
Above all, this year’s winner definitely exemplifies all the principles of a Duncan MacKenzie recipient as to character, sportsmanship, ability, and endeavor. He has a passion to help others succeed, especially young people. Yerina is willing to share his knowledge by helping young dairy exhibitors pick up ways to enhance feeding programs and help improve show animals.
Congratulations to Joel Kietzman of Waunakee, Wis., was named the 70th winner of the Klussendorf Trophy, the highest recognition given to a dairy cattle showman in the United States.
The award is made in memory of Arthur B. Klussendorf, considered the outstanding showman of his time and a model for all those who have followed him. Kietzman’s selection was made by members of the Klussendorf Memorial Association, formed in 1937, at its annual meeting held earlier this week in Madison, Wis. He received the silver trophy designed by Tiffany Jewelers of New York City.
This year’s Klussendorf winner is an outstanding cowman and great cattle fitter. As a youth, he grew up with Brown Swiss cattle on his parent’s Wisconsin dairy farm. There, he bred and developed several All American Brown Swiss.
Since then, Kietzman developed an outstanding herd of Holstein cattle with a variety of partners. He developed a number of great Holstein cows into internationally recognized names. One of his first purchases was an EX-93 Holstein who was flushed to Walkway Chief Mark. The resulting daughter, Miss Mark Maui, went on to earn All American Junior 2-year-old honors. This young homebred cow eventually developed into an EX-95 2E Gold Medal Dam and Dam of Merit and was a foundation for a sale last month featuring 156 lots which averaged $3,625.
Just a few years later, another purchase led to even bigger things. After developing a deep respect for a young Conant-Acres-JY Broker daughter, this year’s Klussendorf winner and his partners purchased Krull Broker Elegance and developed this fourth generation Excellent into a highly successful show cow. And that was only the beginning. Since 1996, this EX-96 point cow and her offspring have accomplished some extraordinary, and even unmatched, achievements. They include:
• 34 Excellent and 33 Very Good daughters
• 42 Excellent and 126 Very Good granddaughters
• 44 All American nominations from the family
• 5 All Americans and 11 Reserve All Americans from the family
• And perhaps most impressive is the fact that this cow was the foundation for the world’s only progeny group to win the coveted Premier Breeder banner four times at World Dairy Expo.
One of our sponsors for coverage of the 2011 World Dairy Expo is Accelerated Genetics. Here’s Joel Groskreutz, President/CEO. We offer congratulations on multiple levels to the company this year. It is the 70th anniversary for Accelerated Genetics and they have received some major awards.
I visited with Joel in their booth and learned that business has been really good this year. He says one of their best kept secrets is how significant their international business is, handled by WorldWide Sires, a company they own fifty percent of. Listen in on my conversation with Joel below to learn more about the cooperative and their achievements.
The theme for this momentous achievement is ‘Celebrating 70 Years of Innovation.’ “Throughout our rich history, we have been the innovators, early adopters of new ideas, leading us to the new age of diversification, all directed by the needs of our customers,” comments Joel Groskreutz, Accelerated Genetics’ President and Chief Executive Officer.
Accelerated Genetics is a cooperative symbolized by strength and vision. The strength of the cooperative is truly it’s people. Employees are known for their integrity of conducting business and their knowledge of the sires, products and services they provide.
The vision of Accelerated Genetics comes from utilizing member involvment of the cooperative. Groskreutz continues, “I believe in that principle. Our customer’s input is important and provides the vision needed to direct the company’s operations.”
Alltech held their annual World Dairy Expo reception last night and Kentucky Ale was the star once again! A lot of happy customers showed up including Chris Sorenson, United Cooperative dairy nutritionist and calf/heifer specialist. I visited with him just as the fun got started.
The theme here at Expo for Alltech is, “Who cares about production in your dairy herd? Alltech DOES!” So I asked Chris how he thinks Alltech fulfills that theme. He says he’s an analytical person so he loves the research that Alltech does that proves how their products work. He uses Alltech inoculants quite a bit and says “a lot of the guys who are using it can not believe how quick the haylage will cool down.” He’s also very impressed with Bio-Mos. When it comes to support Alltech supplies him with lots of options for contacts to get answers to questions quickly.
Posted: October 6, 2011 at 8:57 am
By Cindy Zimmerman
The National Milk Producers Federation held a press conference here at World Dairy Expo on Wednesday to help the media better understand the recently introduced Dairy Security Act of 2011 so that we can in turn better explain it to the dairy industry.
The legislation, HR 3062, introduced in the House last month by Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Mike Simpson (D-ID) grew out of the Foundation for the Future proposal made by National Milk Producers Federation, but the final version is different, according to NMPF President and CEO Jerry Kozak. “When Mr. Peterson introduced his discussion draft, it was Foundation for the Future, word for word,” Kozak said. However, after some grassroots meetings with producers around the country, it became evident that some changes needed to be made. “So, it’s now the Peterson-Simpson bill, there is no Foundation for the Future.”
Kozak says the main components of HR 3062 are pretty simple. “It establishes a dairy margin protection program, a basic and a supplemental program, it establishes a market stabilization program that would kick in during times of imbalance,” he explained, noting that it would be voluntary, not mandatory. The act would eliminate all current dairy programs, including the price support and MILC, and would result in an overall budget savings.
Kozak feels confident about the chances of passage for the Dairy Security Act since it has good support within the industry, but he is disappointed with the strong opposition by the International Dairy Foods Association (IDFA). “We’ve tried to engage them in the dialogue and they have repeatedly just said no,” Kozak said. “Secondly, the tactics they’ve recently come out with that expose the entire country to the issues between producers and processors are not healthy for the image of dairy products.”
He encourages producers to contact their representatives in Congress and encourage them to support the Dairy Security Act (HR 3062).
Here’s a definition of a Tweet Up: “A real world meeting between two or more people who know each other through the online Twitter service.”
Pretty simple. The official World Dairy Expo Tweet Up took place yesterday afternoon. Here are some of our participants. We actually had more show up.
So why a tweet up? Because it’s a good opportunity to meet someone face to face that you may only know via 140 character messages. I don’t know how many tweet ups I’ve been to at this point but I’ve always enjoyed the opportunity to meet people who I’ve gotten to “know” electronically. The tweet up is usually organized via tweets. Makes sense and shows the communication power of the channel.
Congratulations to the New York judging team, the 2011 National 4-H Dairy Cattle Judging Contest champions at World Dairy Expo!
Placing second by a mere one point was the team from Pennsylvania and three points behind them was Wisconsin. Andrew Kern of Minnesota was the high individual overall and Katelyn Horning of Michigan placed first in oral reasons.
Top 10 Teams Overall
1. New York, 1981, coached by Douglas Waterman. Team members: Andrew Reynolds, Cassandra Sapp, Emma Andrew, Meghan Vaill
2. Pennsylvania, 1980, coached by Chad Dechow. Team members: Amber Gabel, Chad Horst, Michael Rush, Jaylene Lesher
3. Wisconsin, 1977, coached by Chad Ryan. Team members: Nicholas Schuster, Austen Schmidt, Derrek Kamphuis, Mathew O’Leary
4. Maryland, 1936, coached by Brian Schnebly- Kiera Finucane. Team members: Elizabeth Davis, Ryan Zimmerman, Maggie Buckmeier, Lizzie Davis
5. Michigan, 1925, coached by Joe Domecq. Team members: Carmen Zwemmer, Garrett Slavik, Katelyn Horning, Casei Hart
6. Minnesota, 1923, coached by Ken Kern-Randy Paulson. Team members: Andrew Kern, Kelsey Mussman, Travis Thamert
7. Virginia, 1896, coached by Matt Nuckols. Team members: Emma Reeves, Brett Alvis, Victoria Mischler, Lindsey Heizer
8. Ohio, 1885, coached by Bonnie Ayars. Team members: Eileen Gress, Dan Grim, Lara Staples, Rachel Townsley
9. Illinois, 1880, coached by David Fischer. Team members: Dylan Reed, Samantha Ropp, Erik Sheppleman, Sarah Sheehan
10. California, 1874, coached by Kim Jones. Team members: Francesca Gambonin, Jessie Jones, Regina Pozzi
Generous support from sponsors makes the 90th National 4-H Dairy Cattle Judging Contest possible. In 201l, sponsors include: Accelerated Genetics, American Guernsey Association, American Jersey Cattle Association, American Livestock Insurance Company, Inc., Ayrshire Breeders Association, Brown Swiss Cattle Breeders Association, Hoard’s Dairyman, Holstein Association USA, International Protein Sires, Kuhn North America, Inc., Lakeshore Federated Dairy Cooperative, Land of Living, Land O’Lakes Feed, Maryland Brown Swiss Association, Merrick Animal Nutrition, Inc., Mrs. Judy Majeskie, Nasco, National Dairy Shrine, NuPulse, Inc., Orion Energy Systems, Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin, Sexing Technologies, The Hartford Livestock Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison Dairy Science Dickson Fund, US Feeds, Westway Feed Products and World Dairy Expo.
Congratulations to Cornell University for winning the National Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest, at the 2011 World Dairy Expo. Cornell edged out Virginia Tech in an unprecedented tie for first. The tie was broken by reasons scores.
Carissa Levash of UW-Madison claimed the individual overall title. Michigan State won the team reasons competition and Caitlin Durow from University of Minnesota won the individual reasons competition. Rounding out the top five teams overall were: Penn State, third; UW-Madison, fourth; and University of Minnesota, fifth. Twenty-one teams competed in this year’s contest. Teams and individuals receiving recognition are:
Top 10 Teams Overall
1. Cornell University; 2,485; coached by David Galton. Team members included Kelly Lee, Tyler Reynolds, Richard Hall III and Matthew Sharpe
2. Virginia Tech; 2,485; coached by Barnes and Knowlton. Team members included Carissa Doody, Cody Pearson, Austin Schwartzbeck and Jason Zimmerman
3. Penn State; 2,457; coached by Dale Olver. Team members included Philip Bachman, Sara Bechtel, Nathan Oleniacz and Hannah Wentworth
4. UW-Madison; 2,454; coached by Chad Wethal and Brian Kelroy. Team members included Laura Elliott, Chelsea Bradner, Danielle Brown and Carissa Levash
5. University of Minnesota; 2,447; coached by Les Hansen. Team members included Emily Achen, Karen Anderson, Caitlin Durow and Elizabeth Olson
6. Michigan State; 2,441; coached by Joe Domeco. Team members included Eric Sneller, Lauren Bush, Tera Koebel and Katie Arndt
7. Ohio State University; 2,409; coached by Ayars and Heisner. Team members included Derik Baumer, Matthew Borchers, Rachel Foureman and Sabrina Eick
8. UW-Plattville; 2,391; coached by Cory and Ryan Weigel. Team members included Krysty Kepler, Stephanie Aves, Adam Sonnenburg and Loren Daentl
9. University of Illinios; 2,386; coached by Gene McCoy. Team members included Amy Schaufelberger, Michelle Fluty and Paul Schumacher
10. Cal Poly; 2,385; coached by Stan Henderson. Team members included Kelli Carstensen, Mandy Brazil, Sam Cheda and Alina Amaral
Generous support from sponsors makes the 91st Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest possible. In 2011, sponsors include: Accelerated Genetics, American Guernsey Association, American Jersey Cattle Association, American Livestock Insurance Co., American Milking Shorthorn Society, Ayrshire Breeders Association, Brown Swiss Cattle Breeders Association, Friends of Dr. Dave Dickson, Hoard’s Dairyman, Holstein Association USA, International Protein Sires, Kuhn North America, Inc., Lakeshore Federated Dairy Cooperative, Land of Living, Land O’Lakes, National Dairy Shrine, Orion Energy Systems, Red & White Dairy Cattle Association, Select Sires, Inc., Sexing Technologies, Westway Feed Products and World Dairy Expo.
Source: World Dairy Expo
Pastor Clinton Bush, founder of City Kidz Ice Cream Cafe in Jacksonville, FL was presented a special award for his organization’s Philly Vanilla ice cream entry in the contest, which won second place in its division. “Normally we don’t give special recognition to second and third place winners during the awards reception,” said Brad Legried of the Wisconsin Dairy Products Association, which sponsors the competition. “But Pastor Bush and the young people of City Kidz Ice Cream Cafe deserve the notice.”
Bush founded City Kidz Ice Cream in 2006 to foster financial literacy in inner-city communities and the group provides young people the opportunity to work in a dairy manufacturing plant and learn how to pursue career paths. The group received a special award from the competition and the 15 young people who helped manufacture their “Philly Vanilla” ice cream entry will all received special merit certificates.
“I think we all have a moral obligation to make sure we preserve our food industry, especially our dairy industry, because America has always been the global leader in food science,” Pastor Bush said, noting that the ice cream the students created is heading for supermarket shelves in the near future.
Speaking of the future, a $2000 scholarship was also awarded at the event Tuesday evening. UW-Madison student Susan Hodgson received the sizable check to pursue her dairy-related studies.
The Championship Dairy Product Contest had over 700 entries this year. It’s the only contest of it’s kind in North America because it includes all dairy products. This year there were 74 classes for ice cream, cheese, yogurt, fluid milk, cottage cheese, whey, sour cream, butter, etc.
Robotics is a word I’ve been hearing a lot around the media room at this year’s Expo. That’s probably because of several announcements like this one from DeLaval. At this year’s show they’re debuting the AMR automatic milking rotary system. I interviewed Thierry Perrotin, Marketing Implementation Manager, who is based in Sweden. You can see the unit in action in the video interview below.
The DeLaval AMR™ is the world’s first automatic milking rotary system. Winner of the EuroTier 2010 Gold Medal for innovation, the DeLaval AMR has been tested on farms in Sweden and Australia. The DeLaval AMR is the most advanced milking technology available – providing an automatic milking solution flexible enough to operate in different farming practices, from free stalls and loose housing to pasture-based dairying.
“The AMR meets the changing needs of our customers in North America,” said Christian Poggensee, Regional President North America. “As herd sizes continue to grow, the AMR is set to revolutionize high capacity automatic milking while offering dairy farmers better profitability, farm management and flexibility.”
The main components of the DeLaval AMR are teat preparation, attachment and teat-spray modules, two touch screens to operate the system, automatic cup back flush, automatic floor cleaning and safety systems. The first AMR systems will have up to 90 cow/hour capacity, depending on the number of robots installed. As many as five robots can be attached to the rotary.
Additionally, the DeLaval exhibit at World Dairy Expo will feature the United States’ public debut of Herd Navigator™, an advanced analysis system focused on proactive herd management.
Airplanes on display at a dairy show? Yes indeed at this year’s World Dairy Expo.
Cirrus Aircraft had a plane on display in the outside exhibit area and it was receiving a lot of attention. To learn more about them I spoke with Valerie Blanchenay, Marketing Director. She says many of the owners of their planes use them specifically for business travel so that what might have been a six hour drive turns into only an hour and allows you to get your meeting done and be back home in time for dinner. The company started in Baraboo, WI and just celebrated selling their 5,000th plane. Exhibiting at a farm show is new and this is their first time at World Dairy Expo. Valerie says that international visitors have been interested because there are countries without good transportation infrastructure like roads and planes become even more useful for travel.
These are single engine planes that have an interior designed much like a car. They have a range of about 1,000 nautical miles. Low end models start at about $280,000.
One of our World Dairy Expo sponsors is Hoard’s Dairyman. Here’s Managing Editor, Steve Larson, serving ice cream at the opening night exhibitor reception. Steve will be presented with the 2011 Guest of Honor award here at Expo from the National Dairy Shrine.
Steven A. Larson, a dairy journalist and editor for Hoard’s Dairyman magazine who has been educating dairy producers and sharing their stories for over four decades, has been named the 2011 National Dairy Shrine Guest of Honor. The prestigious award is given each year to salute a contemporary leader for his or her outstanding achievements and contributions that benefit the dairy industry.
As a Hoard’s Dairyman associate editor from 1969 to 1998, Larson covered important dairy topics around the United States and the world. He also solicited articles on contemporary topics from leading dairy professionals and scientists. “Steve kept his finger on the pulse of the dairy industry on a wide range of issues,” says George Shook, professor emeritus at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.
I visited with Steve before he had to start serving ice cream last night. Steve says the award he’s receiving is very special and many of his mentors and people he looks up to have received it. “I hardly put myself in that category. I kind of have to pinch myself to get the feeling of it. It is a great honor.”
The company is releasing Pioneer® hybrid P1376XR, a 113-day BMR hybrid, in limited quantities to growers primarily across the northeastern United States for the 2012 planting season. “P1376XR is our first BMR hybrid corn product,” says Kyle Whitaker, Pioneer senior sales and marketing manager for global forages. “To develop it, we back-crossed the brown midrib trait into our best silage inbreds and it resulted in some really nice advantages over competitive products.”
Among those advantages are good digestibility, improved agronomics, increased yields, high starch, strong drought tolerance, disease and pest resistance. This hybrid contains Herculex® XTRA insect protection as well as the Roundup Ready® Corn 2 trait and the LibertyLink® gene.
Kyle is pictured here at the Pioneer booth at World Dairy Expo where the new BMR hybrid is on display. We did an interview last week over the phone prior to the official release of the hybrid.
One of the international visitors to World Dairy Expo was Dr. Gonzalo Maldonado, Tri-State S.A.S, Colombia. I met him at the Accelerated Genetics and World Wide Sires International Reception and Dinner. Dr. Maldonado has been working with them for 43 years!
The Dairymen of the Year award for 2011 went to John, David, Jim and Al Koepke of Koepke Farms, Inc. in Oconomowoc, Wisconsin. (photo credit: World Dairy Expo, Nina Linton) The Koepke Farm is a 330 head milking dairy of registered Holsteins with nearly 1000 acres of cropland. David, Jim and Al are brothers and John (holding the plaque) is Jim’s son. During an interview at the expo Talk Session, John said they learned growing up to take care of the land. “And we’ve also learned that the better we take care of our land and the better we take care of our livestock, the better they both take care of our pocketbook,” he said, adding that producing their own feed and fertilizer has helped them deal with higher prices. “Getting our manure over every last acre has kept our production costs very low because we have a built-in organic fertilizer supply that’s never depleted!”
Dairy Woman of the Year for 2011 is Donna Myers of Windsor Manor Farm in New Windsor, Maryland which is home to 55 milking registered Holsteins. “We’re a small family farm business that has enjoyed the agricultural way of life,” Donna says. They enjoy hosting farm tours to show people that way of life. “It’s good to keep that in people’s minds, how important that is,” she said. 
Industry Person of the Year is Dr. Duane Norman, who has been with the USDA-ARS Animal Improvement Programs Laboratory since 1970. Dr. Norman is known throughout the world for his leadership in the genetic evaluation for traits of economic importance for the U.S. dairy industry. “When I was hired there they asked me to do a new genetic evaluation for milk and fat,” he said. “That was a perfect opportunity for a new geneticist to do a national evaluation, so I was the luckiest guy there was!” Dr. Norman notes that the genetic improvements in dairy cattle over the past 40-50 years have resulted in less cows producing more milk than ever before.
The 
The legislation, HR 3062, introduced in the House last month by Collin Peterson (D-MN) and Mike Simpson (D-ID) grew out of the Foundation for the Future proposal made by National Milk Producers Federation, but the final version is different, according to NMPF President and CEO Jerry Kozak. “When Mr. Peterson introduced his discussion draft, it was Foundation for the Future, word for word,” Kozak said. However, after some grassroots meetings with producers around the country, it became evident that some changes needed to be made. “So, it’s now the Peterson-Simpson bill, there is no Foundation for the Future.”
The founder of an inner-city food science lab received special recognition in the 
“I think we all have a moral obligation to make sure we preserve our food industry, especially our dairy industry, because America has always been the global leader in food science,” Pastor Bush said, noting that the ice cream the students created is heading for supermarket shelves in the near future.
Pioneer Hi-Bred is pleased to present a 
Among those advantages are good digestibility, improved agronomics, increased yields, high starch, strong drought tolerance, disease and pest resistance. This hybrid contains Herculex® XTRA insect protection as well as the Roundup Ready® Corn 2 trait and the LibertyLink® gene.