Ben Sarbacker reporting

June 28th
We spent the day sight seeing in London. Sights included Buckingham Palace, Big Ben, Tower of London, and Westminster Abbey. Our
day also included a boat tour on Thames River.

Stops for the rest of the tour include the Reims Cathedral (where the King of France was crowned) in Paris and a trip to Luxembourg where the team will meet up with their host families organized by the Young Farmers organization. Team members will stay with their families on Friday, July 1 and have the opportunity to assist with farm chores or see other neighboring farming operations. Judging a class or two at “Holstein Day” at the National Show will finish out the day.

Saturday, July 2 is the Luxembourg National Show, along with a BBQ with the Young Farmers group.

The team then travels to Germany before coming home on July 5th.

Kelly Sime, reporting

June 25
The Royal Highland Contest was on Saturday, June 25. The contest consisted of four classes – Ayrshire cows, Holstein young cows, Holstein mature cows and Jersey cows. We gave two sets of reasons and had four minutes for each class. As you can imagine, it’s difficult to judge an entire class in four minutes, let alone take enough notes for reasons as well. The contest was very different than any contests in the U.S. in that you were allowed and almost encouraged to use notes during reasons, and the contestants were allowed to communicate with their team members before giving reasons. The contest began at 9:30am and we finished giving reasons at 1:30pm.

The awards banquet was held that evening on the grounds and the U.S. teams were awarded separately from the Scottish teams. The team consisting of Ben Sarbacker and Kelly Sime took first place honors in the senior division at the contest with Michigan State in second.

The Highland Show featured sheep, beef, dairy and horses. Beef took up the majority of the cattle barn, with only about 100 dairy cattle exhibited. Some of the beef breeds featured were: Charolais, British Charolais, Limousine, Angus and Scottish Highlander. At the show, they even exhibit the mature bulls, some of which had to be over 2,000 pounds. Champion Holstein and Supreme Champion of the Dairy Show went to a third lactation Goldwyn.

Sunday, June 26th we boarded the bus to venture to England through the countryside. Next we will be heading to London and then Paris midweek.

June 26
Today we left Scotland and traveled toward our next destination – Coventry, England. Our first pit stop was in the village of Moffat at a rest stop – The Edinburgh Woolen Mills. Here, we had a chance to do a little shopping and tour the gorgeous city. Our next stop was at a dairy farm in Elford, Staffordshire at a Holstein dairy owned by Rick Jones and son Haselour Grange. This operation milked about 120 cows and farmed nearly 300 acres. The farm was originally established in 1906 and is still utilizing the same brick buildings. They milk in a double-12 herringbone parlor. The most interesting aspect of their farm to us was that they used potatoes in their TMR ration. Mr. Jones said that the cows love them it dramatically increases milk production. After the farm tour we headed to the Leedham family barn just a few miles down the road for a BBQ. We had a chance to socialize with the livestock teams that are traveling with us as well as local neighbors. Our day has ended here in Coventry. In the morning we will head to Warwick Castle and then be off to London!

Kelly Sime and Ben Sarbacker after their first place finish at the judging contest.

The team at Warwick Castle

Ben and Kelly at Westminster Abbey

Stay tuned for more!

The Royal Highland Show
Edinburgh, Scotland
June 24, 2011

~Photos by Sheila Sundborg, who reports that “It was a really good day for the show with lots of farmers and spectators there in support. There was a nice turnout with quality dairy cows top to bottom in every class.”



Saxelby Goldwyn Rose (EX-93)
Champion Holstein and Supreme Champion of the Dairy Show
Owned by R & E Butterfield

Parkend Jacob Betsy
Reserve Champion Holstein
Owned by Brian Weatherup & Partners

Blythbridge Elegant Christabel
Honorable Mention Champion Holstein
Owned by The Laird Family, Blythbridge Holsteins

A two-day pre-convention tour in the Shenandoah Vally was enjoyed by a wonderful group from all over the US. Below are some scenes from each stop for you to enjoy!

DAY 1:

Janney Holsteins, Staunton, VA

BBVK Stormatic Abby-ET EX-90, the Grand Champion of the 2011 VA Spring Show

Gloryland-LB Lola Rae, a Sr. 2-year-old x EX-93 Lolita Rae x 2E-94 DOM Lana Rae

Barren Ridge Vineyards

Gloryland Holsteins, Grottoes, VA

Ryan and his dad Alphie Stoltzfus serving their ice cream, milk shakes and smoothies at Gloryland

Mar-Bil Farm, Mt. Crawford, VA

Randy Inman welcomes the group

Jason Hewitt and his son Will

Jason Hewitt (at right) explains their new dry cow facility

The large turkey barn at Mar-Bil

DAY 2:

Harvue Farm, Berryville, VA

Dave Hardesty welcomes the crowd to Harvue

Matt Hardesty leads Harvue Roy Fantasie-ET for the group

O. Clayton Smith sporting his FROSTY hat

Cows-N-Corn, Midland, VA

Moo-Thru, Remington, VA

Ken Smith speaks to the group on the way to Moo-Thru

Barboursville Vineyards, Barboursville, VA

Luca Paschina, winemaker at Barboursville Vineyards welcomes the group

It’s Day 2 in the life and adventures of the UW-Madison Dairy Judging team! Today, the group toured Edinburgh and went to the Royal Highland Show for a walk around. Judging starts tomorrow with four classes and four minutes to judge each class (two of which are reasons classes). And then it’s off to England! Stay tuned for more from Kelly Sime and the team!

Outside Holyrood Palace in Edinburgh

With Edinburgh in the background!

Edinburgh Castle

Some of the Scottish Highlanders at the Royal Highland Show!

WORDEN PRESIDENT, BROWN VICE-PRESIDENT AT
HOLSTEIN USA ANNUAL MEETING

Election of national officers and directors highlighted the second day of the Holstein Association USA meeting on Jun. 25 in Richmond, VA. Chuck Worden, Cassville, NY moved up to president after two years as v-p. He was unopposed, while Glen Brown, Coalville, UT, was chosen as vice-president defeating John Kalmey of Kentucky. Both had served two terms as National Director.
With his wife Vanessa and their three sons, Worden milks 220 cows in Central New York, having bred several Gold Medal Dams and Dams of Merit and sold over 100 bulls into AI. During his two terms on the Board he served on several committees and is a former chairman of the Holstein Foundation with nine years on that board. He’s been an executive committee member of the NY Holstein Association. For a time, he owned and operated a large herd in New Mexico on a dry lot dairy where he was an active member and past president of that state association. He’s held leadership positions in a number of local and regional civic and ag organizations.
Glen Brown, a third generation dairyman on the family’s 300-cow dairy, is a Utah State graduate. On the Holstein board he chaired National FAIR and Animal ID Advisory, Milk Marketing and Genetic Advancement committees. He’s a past president of the Utah Holstein Association and has shown at state and national Holstein shows. He spent 15 years in the Utah state legislature and has held leadership posts in civic organizations and his church. He and his wife, Frankie, have two sons and 15 grandchildren.
Jim Burdette, Mercersburg, PA and was reelected without opposition for a second term as National Director. He’s the current chair of the Show Committee. Also returning to the Board as director-at-large is Boyd Schaufelberger, Greenville, IL. Newly elected are Mike Jones, Marshall, IN who defeated Thomas Atherton for director from region 3, and Roy Bussing, Axtell, KS, who ran unopposed as director from region 7.
During the morning meeting, several directors delivered reports as committee chairs. Hank Van Exel, Legislative Affairs Committee, said the Association had been successful in including a supply management mechanism in industry proposals for reform, including the Foundation for the Future program put forward by the National Milk Producers Federation.
Following this report, delegate Paul Buhr, WI, offered the hope that the Association “did not take its eye off the ball” of breed improvement and focus on the helping breeders adjust to the rapid implementation of genomic values. Director Van Exel said he would prefer to talk about cows, genetics and the show ring but that the dairy situation required commitment to reform. CEO John Meyer acknowledged the concern but explained that the Association can and will focus on a number of critical topics simultaneously.
Director Jim Burdette delivered the Show Committee report describing the development of two official judges’ lists… the National Judges List and the Qualified Judges List. Three judging conferences are being held this year and in the future, one will be held annually at which prospective judges much participate and then be validated by the Show Committee. Foreign judges who are to judge officially designated National Shows in the U.S. must participate in this process and be placed on the list.
Director Jonathan Lamb, chair of the Genetic Advancement Committee, reported his group had re-evaluated and reaffirmed the importance of TPI and made adjustments as a follow up to delegate action at last year’s Convention in Minnesota. The focus for the breed needs to be on increasing fertility and in the type arena, focusing on udder composite and feed & leg composite. The rate of increase in stature needs to be slowed, he said. He described adjustments in the TPI formula implemented in April aimed at implementing those goals. He also said that in the face of highly genomic proven foreign bulls, the Top 100 TPI List would require that a bull have at least 10 milking daughters in the U.S.
An international focus on supporting the expansion of dairy in Russia, Turkey, Saudi Arabia, Mexico and South America was reported by International Committee Chair Ron Fuhrman, while Kate Geppert as chair of the Junior Advisory Committee described the growth in junior programs and membership. Both of these National Directors are leaving the Board as they complete their second terms.
President Larry Tande delivered the report of the Type Advisory Committee which he chaired. He explained the needed reduction in relationship between stature and final score.
Former National Director John Bierbaum of Minnesota presented the report of the Holstein Foundation and acknowledged with thanks the support of all for the endowment fund raising campaign last year.
National Director Corey Geiger who is also on the Dairy Shrine Board reported on award winners for that group, noting that Holstein breeder Bill Peck Sr of Welcome Stock Farm, Schuylerville, NY will be the dairy breeder recognized at the Dairy Shrine banquet this year on Oct. 6 at World Dairy Expo. He also said that 23 of the 32 dairy youth receiving Shrine scholarships are Holstein Juniors.
A “housekeeping” bylaw change was made without opposition requiring National Director and officer candidates to sign a conflict of interest disclosure form prior to election. The only resolution brought forward was the traditional thanks to the Convention hosts, the Virginia Holstein Association who received a standing ovation of thanks.
The meeting adjourned shortly before noon.

Newly elected officers are President Chuck Worden, left, of Cassville, NY with Vice President Glen Brown of Coalville, UT.

National Directors chosen by the delegates are, from left, President Chuck Worden; Vice President Glen Brown; Jim Burdette, PA (reelected); Roy Buessing, KS; Mike Jones, IN; and Boyd Schaufelberger, IL (reelected).

DELEGATES URGED TO SUPPORT “FOUNDATION FOR THE FUTURE”
MILK PRICING REFORM
Delegates and members attending the first day of the Holstein Association’s 126th annual meeting on June 24 in Richmond, VA were urged to support the proposed new milk pricing system called Foundation for the Future in a keynote speech by Jerry Kozak, president of the National Milk Producers Federation. Kozak credited the Holstein Association leadership for supply or “market” management, one of three key components of the program.

Kozak reviewed the other two major aspects, also… margin insurance allowing producers to lock in a margin between feed costs and milk prices and reform of Federal milk marketing orders.

Explaining that the dairy industry was rapidly reaching a consensus for supporting this program, Kozak said that these elements were being put into draft legislation and that it appears nearly certain that Congress will consider it this summer before the Farm Bill.

Holstein breeder Pete Kappelman, WI, speaking during the Q & A session following Kozak’s speech, warned that another disastrous drop in milk prices, perhaps worse than 2009, would surely occur if the industry did not strongly support the FFTF program to reform and modernize the system.

This program would replace both the old support price concept and the more recent MILC program, resulting in cost savings for the government, a very important point in today’s political environment.

President Larry Tande presided during the Friday meeting which included reports from the President, CEO John Meyer and Treasurer Barbara Casna, all of whom cited operational and financial successes for 2010. Candidates for president, vice president and national director spoke. The single bylaw proposal was presented from the Board, a routine matter requiring national officer candidates to sign a conflict of interest disclosure statement.

There were recognitions for nine “Herds of Excellence”, the Star of the Breed cow and 40-year members. A series of video clips from the 12 candidates for Distinguished Junior Member was a highlight.

The Friday morning program began with an update on genomic technologies by Dr Curt Van Tassell if AIPL / USDA, who has headed the research on this important topic.

National Milk’s Jerry Kozak, keynote speaker, 2nd from left, is shown with, from left, Holstein CEO John Meyer, President Larry Tande and National Director Hank Van Exel, chair of the Milk & Legislative Committee.

USDA’s Dr Curt Van Tassell, left, is recognized for his genomics presentation by National Director Jonathan Lamb, chair of the Genetic Advancement Committee.

Officials from neighboring associations were welcomed. From left are, Holstein Canada CEO Brian Van Doormaal, President Paul Fraser and Vice President Glen McNeil. At right is Holstein de Mexico CEO Dr Felipe Ruiz.

HolsteinWorld intern Taylor Pires reports in after a busy day of Friday events!

The New Jersey Senior Dairy Bowl team “collaborating on a bonus” for the camera.

New Jersey Senior Dairy Bowl team

Illinois juniors supporting their Senior dairy bowl team.

The New York Senior Dairy Bowl team

Michigan juniors sporting their “Got milk?” t-shirts and dairy pride!

Juniors from Utah kickin’ it on the couch, minus their “gangsta” coach J-Money!

Indiana Senior Dairy bowl team, which will be in the finals this morning!

The Iowa Junior Dairy Bowl team with their colorful and creative name tags. Just before this picture they were in an intense round with California which came down to a tie breaker and ended in Iowa’s favor.

The New England Junior Dairy Bowl team. Maggie on the far left is competing in a national dairy bowl contest for the very first time and it is her very first national convention as well.

The Wisconsin Junior Dairy Bowl team is keeping it all in the family! Their team is made up of the Siemers cousins!

The New York Junior Dairy Bowl team.

Best friends Caitlin Lopes and Katie Migliazzo supporting the California Junior Dairy Bowl team.

The California Junior Dairy Bowl team with the infamous Marilyn Herzog, known for being a past California dairy bowl coach, owner of Sleepy Hollow Holsteins, and beloved moderator each year at the California State Holstein Convention.

Last night’s National Convention Sale was one to remember! With nearly 1,000 people fed at the pre-sale meal, the convention center was at capacity with people wanting to bid, buy and watch! Over 300 people watched the sale online at www.holsteinworldproductions.com and we learned it was Horace Backus’ 41st National Convention Sale in the box.

On 107 lots, an unofficial average of $14,591 was achieved, with a sale gross of 1,570,325.00.

Highlights included:
Lot 1 – 35,000
Windbrook choice from Harvue Roy Frosty (2E-96) 2x World Dairy Expo Supreme Champion and 3x All-American!

Lot 12 – 44,000
St-Jacob Destry Harmony-ET *RC
b. 10/10
Destry x Dubeau Dundee Hezbollah (EX-92)
All-American, All-Canadian and All-Quebec Sr. 2-Year-Old in 2009

Lot 4 – 40,000
Milksource Obser Lottery-ET
b. 12/10 with GTPI +2242
Dam Brainwave Goldwyn Lauramie (EX-92 94-MS max score)
HHM All-American Jr. 3-Year-Old 2010
Next 7 dams VG and EX

Lot 11 – 32,000
1st choice female from four different sires (Goldwyn, Attitude-Red, L’Authority and Secure)
Dam Rainyridge Talent Barbara *RC (EX-95)
Unanimous All-American & All-Canadian 5-Year-Old in 2010

Lot 14 – 66,000
KHW Regiment Apple 3-Red-ETN
b. 3/09 – due 7/11 to Gold Chris
High Hon Mention All-American R&W Spring Yearling in 2010
Clone to the one and only Apple!

Lot 13 – 26,500
Ms Cran Apple-Red
b. 3/11 (by Destry)
Dam KHW Regiment Apple-Red-ET *CV (EX-94 DOM)
Unanimous All-American Jr. 2-Year-Old and All-American R&W Jr. 2-Year-Old in 2006
Calf is potential 8th generation EX

Lot 19 – 45,000
Cool-Lawn Super Superb-ET
b. 9/10 with new June genomics at +2277GTPI +725NM
Dam Cool-Lawn Toystory 1915B-ET (VG-87) – the #2 GTPI Toystory daughter at +2165
Next 10 dams VG and EX back to the great Ladys-Manor Top Gun Jemini (3E-93 GMD-DOM) family

Lot 17 – 46,000
Leaderwin Obsrvr Maranda-ET
b. 4/11 with June genomics at +2529GTPI +894NM +7.8PL
Observer x Leaderwin Jeeves Mace (VG-87 with GTPI +2258)
Next 5 dams VG and EX

Lot 7 – 39,000
Clear-Echo Observer 2283-ET
b. 11/10 with GTPI +2448 (the #9 GTPI Observer daughter)
Dam Clear-Echo 822 Ramo 1200-ET (EX-92 DOM)

Lot 9 – 37,000
De-Su 559-ET
b. 11/10 with GTPI +2432
Bookem from Sully Shottle May-ET (VG-85 DOM)
Next 8 dams VG and EX

Lot 5 – 30,000
Appealing Planet Halley-ET (VG-87)
Fresh 11/10
Dam Appealing Shottle Hannah-ET (VG-86 DOM)
Next 8 dams VG and EX

Lot 6 – 34,500
Armitage choice from Ladys-Manor Ruby D Shawn-ET (EX-90 DOM)
The dam of Shamrock – first three milking daughters all VG to date as 2-year-olds
Next 8 dams VG and EX

Lot 10 – 25,000
Richmond-FD Al Lorelei-ET
b. 4/10 with GTPI +2455
#1 GTPI Shot Al daughter!
Shot Al from Richmond-FD Liesl-ET (VG-86 DOM)
Next 7 dams VG and EX to the Beachlawn Blwood L Lilly (2E-93 GMD-DOM) family

Lot 32 – 29,000
Coyne-McGarr Obsr Barbie-ET
b. 1/11 with GTPI +2445 (by Observer)
Highest NM$ female from the Barbies
Dam R-E-W Daz Bewitched

Lot 31 – 19,000
Ms Chassity D Canessa-ET
b. 3/11 with GTPI +2201 (by Domain)
maternal sister to Gold Chip
Dam Regancrest S Chassity-ET (EX-92 DOM)
Next 6 dams EX!

Lot 33 – 19,000
Farnear Brocades Baylee
b. 2/11 with GTPI +2284 (by Observer)
30+ siblings genomic tested over +3.00Type up to +4.58Type
Dam Regancrest G Brocade-ET (EX-92 DOM)
Next dam Regancrest-PR Barbie (EX-92 GMD-DOM)

Lot 27 – 26,000
Ms Ariel Domain Arysta-ET
b. 1/11 with GTPI +2198
Dam Ms Atlees Goldwyn Ariel (VG-89)
Next dam MD-Delight Durham Atlee (EX-92 GMD-DOM)

Lot 28 – 18,000
Shamrock choice from Ms Atlees Goldwyn Arista-ET (VG-88)
Full sister to Atwood, Atlantic & Avalanche
Next dam MD-Delight Durham Atlee

Lot 44 – 37,000
Hickorymea Manoman Opine-P
b. 5/10 with GTPI +2155
Polled Man O Man from Hickorymea Shot Ovada-P (VG-85)

Lot 57 – 27,000
Welcome-Tel Ross Stacia-ET *TY
b. 12/10 with GTPI +2264
#6 GTPI Ross daughter
dam is Welcome Socrates Synergy VG-86 (GTPI +2017)

Lot 41 – 26,000
Brandt-View Domain Dusty-ET
b. 10/10 with GTPI +2333
#10 GTPI female with no Goldwyn, Shottle or Oman in pedigree
Dam Brandt-View Colby Kimber-ET (GP-84 – #1 GTPI Colby daughter at +2228)
Next 7 dams VG and EX

Lot 8 – 35,000
RMW Pembrooke Adora-ET *RC
b. 6/10 with GTPI +2223
Dam RC-LC Goldwyn ATM *TV (EX-92 DOM) with GTPI +2145
HM Jr. All-American Jr. 2-Year-Old in 2008

Lot 23 – 24,000
Pine-Tree Monica Planeta-ET
b. 3/10 with GTPI +2396
#8 GTPI Planet daughter
Dam Pine-Tree Monica Suela-ET (VG-87 DOM)
Next dam Pine-Tree Missy Monica-ET (VG-85 GMD-DOM)
3rd dam Wesswood-HC Rudy Missy-ET (3E-92 GMD-DOM)

Lot 18 – 22,500
Shamrock choice from L-L-M-Dairy J Stream Procky (VG-87)
the #1 GTPI Jet Stream daughter

Lot 55 – 23,000
Kramer choice x Larcrest Chenoa-ETS (+2213 GTPI)
next dam Larcrest Crimson (VG-88 DOM)
3rd dam Larcrest Cosmopolitan (VG-87 DOM)

The sale was managed by The Cattle Exchange, Landis Marketing and Daniel Brandt. Cattle were capably prepared by Jason Thomas and his team.

New Jersey’s Jonathan Pinkerton and Lynn Bell.

Tom Schmitt and Adolf Langhout

The belles of Maryland’s Eastern Shore, Laurel and Logan Moore.

“You see, the reason I love North Carolina….”

Jason Pullis, Dave Reynolds and Nancy Murray of New York.

Caden Hunt, hockey extraordinaire and now official leadsman at the National Holstein Convention!

The UW-Madison Dairy Judging has arrived! Scotland welcomed the team that will compete at the Royal Highland Judging Contest in conjunction with the Scottish Highlander Show. The team is comprised of Brian Coyne, Chelsea Holschbach, Ben Sarbacker and Kelly Sime along with former UW-Madison Dairy Judging Coach, Ted Halbach.

Update from Kelly Sime…pictures coming soon!
June 23, 2011

We arrived in Glasgow, Scotland after our 6.5-hour flight at 9 am local time. When going through customs, the officers decided to hold Brian and make sure he wasn’t working without a permit in Ireland later in the summer. After an hour of interrogation he was allowed to pass through customs.

Our first stop was the National Museum of Rural Life, which exhibited the tools and methods of farming throughout history in Scotland. The museum included old tractors, milk machines, and an operating farm, fashioned as it would have been in the 1950s.

After that we travelled to the west coast of Scotland to one of the three Scottish Agricultural Colleges in Ayr. There we toured a modern Scottish dairy, consisting of about 200 cows and 80 Sheep. The cows had a choice of housing between pasture and a freestall “cubicle shed” and were milked in a double-eight herringbone parlor. Perhaps the most interesting part of the dairy was the automatic calf feeder which fed milk to about 20 calves. Due to the fact that farms are basically in the towns and cities in Scotland, the consumers are typically more vocal about their opinions of animal care. Because farmers are a part of the community they try to respect the wishes of the consumers and don’t use calf hutches. Because of this all of the calves were housed in groups, not individually like we are used to in the US.

We were also interested to learn that farms are required to keep their Bulk Tank SCC under 300,000, so their restrictions are much tighter than they are in the US.

Stay tuned for more!