Archive for August, 2006

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Dairy Cattle Roll Into St. Paul!

Monday, August 28th, 2006

This morning the Holsteins rolled into the fairgrounds at St. Paul, MN for the Midwest Fall National Holstein Show.  This is the second annual edition of the show, and exhibitors from MN and surrounding states will make it lively and competitive as always, we”re told. The Midwest Fall National Show will be held on Wednesday officated by Bob Fitzsimmons, East Montepelier, VT.  For many years the show has served as an early test for the upcoming International Holstein Show in Madison, WI.  Look for online results later in the week!

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MN Field Day a Success

Friday, August 18th, 2006

Underwood, Minn. – A slight breeze and a clear sky made a perfect day for nearly 150 Holstein members who gathered for the Minnesota Holstein Association Field Day held Tuesday August 8, 2006. Chuck and Sue Will along with the Tachibana Family hosted the event at their farm, Willolea Holsteins, in Underwood, Minn.

“I thought it was a nice crowd,” said Chuck. “Things went reasonably well.”

The morning started with a judging contest consisting of three classes: winter calves, senior two-year-olds and 125,000-pound dry cows. Officiating the contest were members of the University of Minnesota senior dairy judging team. The top winners in each age division were awarded tickets to a Minnesota Twins game, courtesy of the Midwest Dairy Association. After the scores were tallied and ties broken by random draw, Nathan Bakken won the junior division, Diane Stoterau claimed the tickets in the women’s division and Alan Grunhord took first in the men’s division.

Following a complimentary lunch, the first seminar began at 1 p.m. with M.J. “Moe” Bakke of Custom Dairy Performance, Inc. His seminar provided valuable information about calf care and ways to improve calf management. Merlin Carlson from California presented the second seminar with “Straw bale chat down memory lane with Merlin” and seminar three featured Brian Kelroy, a classifier from the Holstein Association, USA, who explained the new breakdown of classification.

Field Day participants were invited to walk around the barn and view the facilities at Willolea Holsteins following the workshops. Willolea Holsteins has 100 head of animals and is currently milking 31 cows with two 93-point cows. They have a BAA of 110.8 and are averaging 74 pounds per day on two-time-a-day milking.

“My favorite part [about Field Day] was seeing my old friends, making new ones and showing people my Willolea cows,” said Chuck. “I love talking about my cows.”

After the conclusion of Field Day, Chuck Will Sales held the “Willolea Invitational” sale where lots were sold to 18 different states with an average of $3,335. Purchased by Steven Langmaid and Vt-Pond-View Farm in Vermont, the highest selling lot, Morrill Miss Scarlet-Red-ET, sold for $13,200 and was consigned by Gypsy Hill Farm.

For further information on the Minnesota Holstein Association, log onto the website at www.mnholstein.com, email jdingbaum@mnholstein.com or call the office at (320) 259-0637.

*This report is courtesy of the MN Holstein Association. If you have state news or events that you think other would be interested in hearing about, feel free to semd my way! sschmidt@dairybusiness.com

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Final pre-sale updates

Friday, August 18th, 2006
It””s Friday morning.  The farm is buzzing.  Setting up chairs for the sale, getting the final touches on the sale cattle, and making sure the last minute details are all finalized.  The wine tour and golf outing are this afternoon, so we have to be ready for all the guests when they return from their journeys.
Glen, Linda and I took a few hours off last evening to play 9 holes of golf at the Windsor Golf Course.  It was good to go and relax for a while.  It””s an awesome course and the teams will enjoy the game today.
I took a few moments to walk through the cattle this morning.  I don””t think I have ever seen a more correct, balanced group of cattle in a public sale.  It is truly an amazing group of cattle and will please even the most discriminating.  I have to admit, that it is hard to walk through the line up and pick out my favorite heifer.  It is great to take the catalog to the sale barn, spot a fancy heifer, and then look up the pedigree and become even more impressed. 
It””s hard to believe that the sale is already tomorrow.  It will be great to see how it all turns out and an experience that I will remember for a long time to come. 
For pictures and more information, please check out the Harvest of Excellence Sale website at www.harvestofexcellence.com.

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Tims travels

Tuesday, August 15th, 2006
It”s Tuesday morning, and it almost appears to be misting outside.  It”s hard to believe that it is only five days until the sale, and it”s been busy since the last time I wrote.  The fun and adventures don”t seem to stop.  We finished up painting this weekend, and the place is picture perfect!  Daryl was putting up a new florescent light in the box stall barn the other day, and ran a screwdriver through his hand.  Luckily, everything is ok and no major problems.
Sunday afternoon, we had a visit from the California Highway Patrol.  Daryl and Marvin were informed that a car had missed the corner down by the heifer pasture and drove through the fence.  Funny thing is the plates on the car are registered to no one.  So it is hard to do much about it. 
Matt arrived on Sunday to help with the fitting crew.  The rest should be in sometime on Monday.  The sale barn is all complete and ready for the heifers to be tied up.  Put up the water line as well for the milk cows that are in the sale.
Sunday night, we went to dinner and on the way home thought about stopping to check on the fence that had been redesigned.  Amazingly, the car that now resided in the mud was gone!  So, we fixed it the best we could.  Hope the heifers stay in.
On Monday morning, we were picking up some old hay around the sale barn and watching the heifers down by the fence.  Pam came over to check on us and it appears that the heifers have discovered that the fence mending was not going to hold them in.  So off we go to chase the heifers back in.  Luckily, they had not gotten out, but we repaired it better, so they will hopefully stay in.
The tent people also came on Monday to put up the tent.  Glen is building the sale box.  So Tuesday the sale ring will be completed and ready for saturdays big event.  The fitting crew finally all arrived this afternoon, after delayed flights, standby and missed flights.  So there is alot of adventure yet before it is all over.
Well, need to go for my daily run to the home depot store and help catch heifers.
Hopefully, I can take a few moments to get some photos off of the scenes from Ocean View.

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The latest from Ocean-View

Thursday, August 10th, 2006
It’s Wednesday and Glen and I have been busy with the washing project.  We are nearing completion of this project, and ready to move on to something new.  Finished up on a landscaping project today, and planted some shrubs around the yard yesterday.  Things are coming together, and Pam’s checklist is getting smaller.  Tomorrow we may start on another painting project or begin setting up the sale barn.  Oh how fun it will be to pound stakes into ground that is cement hard.
The other day, Glenn was practicing his target practice, and discovered that pellet guns and pvc pipe don’t bond together well.  While shooting at his target, he knicked the pvc pipe, which of course is used as a water line here in California.  So target practice immediately ceased, and a repair job began.  I learned very quickly where the water shut off valve is to the sale barn.  The break is fixed and all is back to normal.  Lesson well learned.
yesterday morning at 4:00 am the phone rang.  On the other end of the phone line was the guy that delivers hay to Ocean View.  So I was up and ready to do my part to assist with stacking hay in California.  Three semi’s of hay arrived, and I was introduced to a California’s way of mowing hay.  They have this thing called a hay sqweeze!  It is the most amazing invention ever.  It picks up a stack of hay and sets it where you want it placed.  No elevators needed out here.  What would take us all summer to unload and mow in Wisconsin was done in an hour.  Got to get one of them for back home.
11 more days until Chris and Horace get in the box and make the first announcements.  Pam and Katie are extremely busy in the Westwynde office with proof stuff and sire directories.  Katie has been handling the phone calls and requests for the sale. 
Well, need to get back out and see what else we can finish up today before the sun goes down.
~Tim

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August 2006 Proofs

Tuesday, August 8th, 2006

New proof information was released on Monday, thoughts anyone?  Any bulls surprise you?

This proof run showed a change in the TPI formula, due to the new way USDA calculates Productive Life.  Cows will now receive credit for their time in production after 10 months-in-milk per lactation and after 84 months of age. Previously, credits were limited to the first 10 months of each lactation and stopped accumulating credit after 7 years of age.

I always like to hear what people are thinking or if there are any new bulls to get excited about.  Drop me an email!

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Sunday in Windsor

Monday, August 7th, 2006
It”s Sunday, we are all on day two of washing the buildings, inside and out.  It seems strange to need to wash down the outsides of the buildings, but it never rains here in the summer. And with the dust from the gravel, it seems like it gets baked on the walls.  So Omar, Glenn and I are on a washing mission.  We are determined to finish up the inside of the boxstall barn by Sunday night,as the boxstall cows will need to get back in on Monday morning.  We are well over half way done with the washing project, so soon we will switch back to touching up on some painting projects and I have to remember my cement project that needs to get done.
The gates for the sale barn arrived this weekend as well, so we will be able to get everything set up before the crew arrives to start getting the sale cattle ready.  Brad Davis should be in later this week with the guest consignments.  Pam is working in the office getting ready for August proofs.  She has a sire directory and webpages to complete as soon as the information comes in.  So it will be extremely busy day in the Westwynde office.  Think I will stay out by the cows on Monday.
It” hard to believe that there are only 14 days to go until it will be in the history books.
Checking out for now
~Tim

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More news from Ocean-View

Monday, August 7th, 2006

Here’s the latest from Tim!

It’s Thursday, and Glenn Mickelson arrived today.  Only thing is he arrived without one of his suitcases!  We walked around the farm and discussed the things that needed to be done. I had been on the roof of the hay barn earlier today with a hose washing off the dust and other various objects the birds left behind.  It is amazing how far one can see by being 20-30 feet off the ground on a slippery tin roof.  
Daryl is getting ready for the herd health check tomorrow and anticipating the results of the blue tongue tests that they ran on some 90 head of cattle for the sale.  Hope it turns out well.  A couple more cows calved today, but this time at least one heifer.
Pam has been working on ads and working on arrangements for the weekend wedding.  The house is full of flowers as Pam is making all the flowers and arrangements for the wedding. 
17 days until the sale.
_______________________________________
16 days until the sale and Glenn’s suitcase arrived this afternoon.  Glenn and I climbed back up on the roof of the hay shed to do a bit of touch up painting on the Ocean View Sign and some white trim.  We were landscapers today, putting rocks around the roses and removing unwanted grass. 
Daryl working with the vet most of the morning on the vet check.  The results came in from the blue tongue test, and only one baby calf came back positive out of 90 some tests.  Pam is gone today working on flower arrangements for tomorrow.  Pam and I took a trip to Home Depot to pick up an arbor for the wedding ceremony tomorrow.
Glenn and I walked around a bit this afternoon scoping out some of the cows in the herd and some of the sale heifers.  I am not sure yet what everything is, but it looks like a powerful group of heifers that they are selling.  The Blitz heifers are easy to pick out.  Glenn noticed a sweet young black calf in the calf barn.  Daryl said she was a Durham from the Jewel family and that she sells in the sale.

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Getting ready for the Harvest of Excellence

Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
Holstein World team member Tim Baumgartner is in California these days, helping his friends Daryl and Pam Nunes get ready for next week”s Harvest of Excellence Sale.  We thought it would be neat to gain a perspective on what it takes to get ready for an event like this and how many different kinds of preparations are needed to make sure things go smoothly.  In his own words – Tim will give us an update from Windsor, CA, and we thank him in advance for this inside look at a world-class event!
“Yesterday I arrived at Ocean View Farms to assist the Nunes family in getting ready for their upcoming Harvest of Excellence Sale.
It was an eventful day in some respects.  There were multiple loads of gravel hauled in all day, the water line in the bull barn broke, spraying water all over. Pam lost her diamond bracelet, Daryl got stung by another wasp, and two cows calved with bull calves.  To top all that off, I got to be a part of my first earthquake!  Only problem is,  I didn”t even realize it.
It is 19 days until sale day, and much is going on.  Pam and the Westwynde bunch are busy with last minute catalog requests, and double checking on number tags and room reservations. That is in addition to multiple advertising deadlines for horse and cow ads, and updating various websites.  Adding to that they are planning for a wedding on Saturday for one of the Westwynde employees.   Daryl and Marvin are busy with the daily routine of managing Ocean View Farms, which leaves me the task of being the facilities facilitator.
So on my first day, I got to be a traffic director, a plumber, a window washer and a box stall washer.  Can”t wait until tomorrow when I get to be a mason, a painter and a fitter!”
Stay tuned….

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Songs, cereal & more

Wednesday, August 2nd, 2006

The names keep coming in!  Take a look at some of the latest responses:

“Naming calves is something that our whole family enjoys and with over 100 heifer calves born a year, we get out the dictionary as often as the baby name book.  Some of our favorites include our Elvis song family.  It started with Railane Blue Suede Shoes who has Railane Kentucky Rain, who then had Railane Love Me Tender and Railane Little Sister.  We also have a breakfast cereal family.  Names in this family include Cheerios, Froot Loops, Oatmeal, Crispix, Trix, Lucky Charm, Apple Jacks, Honey Comb and Frosted Flakes.  Another family is the heart family that started with Broken Heart because of a marking on her head.  Family members include Precious Heart, Restless Heart, Carefree Heart, Faithful Heart and Hopeful Heart.”

Barbara Wogsland of Railane Holsteins

“Some bull names that were a little odd…Cheeko Boogie Motion-TW, Pack-Herd Bunky Boo, Centerdel Mr Twister and MM-T Pocket SS Kamasutra.  A cow name that is a little different was C Logic Marijuana.”

I hope you all have enjoyed reading these names as much as I have enjoyed receiving them.  I thought now would be a good time to share with you some of the names I have helped come up with on my family”s farm.  One of my first 4-H heifers was named Raylore Levi Blackberry.  Her dam was Raylore In Blossom-TW, an Inspiration daughter.  Although she didnt have any heifers, she did have a Starbuck sister that I showed, Blacklily.  She now has 3 daugthers by Cousteau – Blacklace, Blacksatin & Icelily (born during a snowstorm) and a daughter by Mr Sam – Ms Lily.  So basically the naming scheme has been either Black____ or ____lily. 

Well, all of these naming suggestions we have received should really add to your list of potential cow names!  Feel free to keep sending some more as you think of them.

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