California State Holstein Convention Day 1
Having left single degree temperatures in New York yesterday, it has been a pleasant surprise to land in Visalia for the the 2013 California State Holstein Convention and find sun, warmth and loads of California fun! The convention kicked off today with an open house at Airosa Dairy in Pixley – home to Joey & Laurie Airosa and family. The herd consists of about 1800 milking females, mostly all homebred. Visitors were treated to a special barn housing show animals and elite herd members who had been clipped and washed for the occasion.
Convention headquarters in Visalia…and yes…those are flowers in bloom!
About 1/2 hour south of the convention meeting is Airosa Dairy.
If I heard it once, I heard it a half dozen times…”Joey has done a fantastic job with this herd. Just look at the udders on these cows. You could pull any cow out of any of the barns and bring her to the shows. They’re just that good.” It’s clear that the Airosas have earned the friendship and respect of many of their peers.
The rotary parlor holds 72 cows at a time.
The cow on the right is a Champion daughter recently scored EX-93.
Mike Moretti inspects Bear’s clipping job on a Sept Storm daughter that came from Moretti’s Petaluma herd!
To learn more about this 100+ year old dairy, visit their website at http://airosa.cattleclub.com/.
Just down the road at the brand new College of Sequoias farm, Matt Evangelo and his fitting crew were getting finishing touches put on the lineup for Saturday’s convention sale. You can find the complete catalog online at http://holsteinworld.com/catalogs13/ca-convention/. Sale time starts at 10:30.
It definitely feels like spring around here…
Lot 1 – Trifecta Z Airlia-ET, an AltaAirnet from a VG-86 Dorcy with GTPI +2208. Tested free of blue tongue, leukosis, IBR and anaplas.
Lot 22 – Jacobi Colt Erica-Red – Colt P x EX-90 Debonair
Lot 33 – 12/10 Aspen x VG-88 Roy
Visitors will thoroughly enjoy the beautiful new facilities – make sure to find your way to the back of the campus and the sheep barn which will house sale cattle.
Lot 13 – Ch-Trl Atwood Desire-ET – Atwood x EX-90 Shottle
Lot 14 – R-John Aftershock Dana – Aftershock x EX-90 Dundee
Lot 35 – Calori-D Shottle Glimmer – Shottle x VG-85 Goldwyn
Stay tuned for more on convention news as tomorrow includes the junior competitions, business meeting and annual banquet. And as always, check out www.caholstein.com for the latest association updates.
