The anticipation and excitement leading up to the dairy bowl finals has finally subsided as we’ve completed the final rounds in both senior and junior divisions. Going head to head in both divisions were the teams from Iowa and California. Coming out ahead in both divisions were the kids from the Golden State!

Winning junior team- Megan Pierce, coach, Hannah Young, Alexendra Gambonini, Kiara Gilardi, Bailey Allen, Kirsten Areias, coach

2nd place junior team, from Iowa (L to R): Alyssa Dougherty, Adam Simon, Andy Dougherty, Katy Stewart and coach Diana Stewart

Senior Champions- California Senior Team- (L to R) Megan Pierce, Elisabeth Regusci, Tony Lopes, Caitlin Lopes, Elise Regusci and coach Kirsten Areias

Iowa Senior Team, 2nd place (L to R), Heidi deGier, coach, Jake Mills, Kyle Demmer, Joey Adams, Rachel Scott, not pictured: Jeff Hammerand, coach

Congrats to all teams who participated in the dairy bowl contest!

Elected to the JAC board were (L to R), Briar Jeg of Washington, Molly Herberg of Minnesota and Austin Pluskot of Florida!

More pictures from this past weekend’s California Cow Camp!

Novice Judging Winners: Bailey Allen 6th, Cort Rowley 3rd, Morgan Nunes tied 1st, Kylie Konyn 5th, Alexandria Lopes tied 1st, Raeanne VanTol 4th

Intermediate Judging Contest Winners: Tony Lopes 1st, Caitlin Lopes 2nd, Maddie Davis 5th, Brandon Almecia 3rd, Colleen Allen 4th

Senior Judging Contest Winners: Brook Parsons 1st, Regina Pozzi 3rd, Anton Fernandes 2nd, Katie Migliazzo 4th, Catie Kunde 5th

High Reasons Score (any age): Tony Lopes 2nd, Brooke Parsons 1st, Regina Pozzi 3rd, Emilie Strand 4th, Anton Fernandes 5th

Fun in the sun at Avila Beach.

Nothing beats a BBQ at the beach after a long day of judging!

Smores for everyone!

2010 Cow Camp Group Photo

Coverage provided by Kirsten Areias
Sixty-three enthusiastic cow kids descended on Cal Poly in San Luis Obispo from July 9-11 for Cow Camp 2009. After settling into the dormitories, campers traveled to the Dairy Unit for educational sessions. Dr. Stan Henderson guided them through the Holstein USA website in the Computer Lab to track lineage on their favorite cows and learn how to use the inbreeding calculator available through the Holstein website. Dr. Berning gave a cheese-making demonstration while treating the kids to ice cream, and Rick Silacci, herdsman for the Cal Poly Dairy, showed campers untra-sound technology on live heifers at the Dairy Unit. Friday was the Dairy Judging Contest. Cow Campers judged six classses of Holsteins and Jerseys. After a day of judging and a fitting demonstration, the California kids boarded a bus for the beach! Cow Campers had fun in the sun at Avila Beach, complete with a Bon-fire, BBQ and smores! The final day of Cow Camp 2009 tested Cow Campers knowledge with a few rounds of Dairy Jeopardy, and then heated competition at Mustang Lanes where campers tested their bowling abilities! The California Junior Holstein Association would like to thank Dr. Stan Henderson and Cal Poly for making Cow Camp possible, and for the generous donations from American Ag Credit, California Holstein Association, Brown Swiss Breeders, the Holstein World and Ruann Dairy (via a fundraising effort with the CA Holstein Annual) to help make Cow Camp affordable to those that attended!

Click play on the videos below to learn more about the Junior activities at National Convention as well as a big welcome from the California Juniors!

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Our latest California Junior blog series features another round of questions from readers for Tony Lopes. Stay tuned for even more California Junior news following the State Show in Merced last weekend!

Question: Tony, do you have chores to do on your home farm? What are they?
Answer: I do not have set chores, but I still help around the dairy. Some of the jobs I have are pushing in the feed, helping move heifers, washing the milk barn, “pushing” cows to and from the milk barn, helping the breeder, branding calves and being an extra set of eyes to watch for sick or injured cows.

Question: What has been your favorite National Convention to attend (so far) and why?
Answer: By far the best convention I have attended was the 2008 Convention in Wisconsin. The first reason is that I was a member of the first California team to ever win on the National level and that was very exciting. That isn’t the only reason though, because the hotel that we stayed at was home to America’s largest indoor waterpark! Then, to top it all off my family and I got to tour some of the best registered dairies in the United States. Those dairies included Regancrest, Budjon, Rosedale, Scientific and even the AI stud ABS. I had a great time in Wisconsin and that is why my convention was so great.

Question: Have you ever been to World Dairy Expo?
Answer: Though I have never been to the World Dairy Expo, it is one of places I would really enjoy visiting. I have flown to Wisconsin though, and the flight was about 3 to 4 hours long.

California Junior Holstein President Rocco Cunningham is inviting convention attendees to extend their stay in the Golden State and travel north for a post-convention tour! You’ll get a chance to see the Pacific, while also touring farms, vineyards and more!

The Cunningham family has worked hard to put together a fun-filled itinerary. So consider the invitation delivered…your presence is definitely requested!

Rocco Cunningham
R-John Registered Holsteins
and the Cunningham Family
would like to invite you to:

A day of California Funshine!

Post National Convention…Wednesday, July 1st, 2009

Sonoma County ~ Redwood Empire ~ Pacific Ocean
Penngrove, California
(Just 45 minutes north of the Golden Gate Bridge and 1.5 hours west of Sacramento)

7:30am – Meet at JAVAmore’ Cafe in Penngrove
You should get there early to eat breakfast…they open at 6:30am

8:00 – leave JAVAmore’ to Cunningham’s park & carpool from R-John Farm
8:45 – Leave R-John to Saralee McClelland-Kunde’s Vineyard

9:15 – Tour and Talk with Saralee’s Vineyard and Farm

10:00 – Boxstall Barn Tour at Ocean View Farms with Darrel & Pam Nunes

11:15 – Korbel Champagne Historical Tour

12:15 – Armstrong Redwood Grove Walk and Box Lunch Break ($10.00)

1:00 – Guerneville, Russian River, Jenner

1:30 – Goat Rock Beach

3:00 – Bodega Bay Gift Shop at The Tides

3:45 – Dairy and Artisan Cheese Tour

4:30 – Drive back to R-John/Cunningham’s via
Valley Ford, Two Rock, Petaluma Countryside…Dairies and Iron-front Historical town

6:00 – Oysters/ BBQ Dinner & BonFire at the Cunningham’s/R-John Holsteins ($10.00/person)

R-John Registered Holsteins
Cunningham Family
4338 Lichau Road
Penngrove, CA 94951
707-975-3693 Cell ~ Home 707-792-1496
LynnPenngrove@aol.com
Look for our new website at HolsteinWorld.com – coming soon!

For more information, visit the following links:
www.rrvw.org
www.inside-sonoma.com
www.sonomacounty.com

(By Taylor Pires)
The California kids are always eager to study their Dairy Bowl materials, and there is no better place than the hills of Penngrove, California, specifically the home of the Cunninghams. That’s right, Dairy Bowl Bootcamp! We have an overnight practice at the Cunninghams and study for hours upon hours (because of our drill sergeant Kirsten) and then have a little fun too!

Some of the many fun-filled activities, besides getting drilled on the buzzers, include turkey hunting, making turkey jerkey, Easter Egg hunting, Dairy Scrabble, feeding ducks at Sonoma State, and a trip to the Juice Shack. We are very grateful to the Cunninghams for having an endless supply of dairy products for us to snack on… and some junk food too. We love being able to spend this quality time together while practicing a sport that we all love sooo much. We aren’t just competitors, we are a little family of dairy nerds.

We wish you were here to enjoy the Penngrove wind, the California sunshine, and the happy California cows and kids! See you next time!

Signing off,

Cierra, Katie, Elisabeth, Elise, Colleen, Eric, Amanda, Taylor,
Brooke, Rocco, and Tony

We had some questions from juniors across the country for our first California Junior Blogger, Tony Lopes. Here’s the latest news (and answers) from Tony.

Question: You mentioned that you were involved with the California Dairy Bowl and Dairy Jeopardy teams. Which is your favorite contest to participate in and why? How is each team different? What are your secrets for success in both?

Tony: I enjoy Dairy Bowl the most because you get to work as a team and if you don’t know something someone else on your team might. Plus you get to spend alot of time with your team and make new friends. I also enjoy Dairy Jeopardy because it gives you a chance to be an individual and test your individual skills. In Dairy Jeopardy not only do you have to be a quick reader and fast on the buzzer, but you have to be sure of your answer becuase the rules state you must start your answer immediately. In Dairy Bowl as soon as you buzz in you have some time to think over your answer before you begin. To prevent from making mistakes in Dairy Bowl pause to make sure your answer is correct before answering the question. It is very important in both contests to study every source you can find, such as magazines, study questions and Hoard’s Dairymen online quizzes.

Question: How do you find time to do everything you do? Do you find that you miss out on some activities at school because you’re involved with junior Holstein activities and vice versa?

Tony: I am only allowed to be involved in a few extracurricular activities, so I have plenty of time for my priorities. I do miss out on a few activities at school such as playing basketball and other sports, but I chose to be involved in Holstein activities and I am glad I did!

June may seem like a long way away, but really, it’s just around the corner. We’re spending the next few weeks getting to know some of the California Juniors who you’ll meet at the National Convention in Sacramento. You’ll get to know their backgrounds, their interests, their opinions….and more! If you have specific questions you’d like our blogger to answer, be sure to email them to kknutsen@dairybusiness.com.

My name is Tony Lopes and I live on my families Dairy in Gustine, California. We currently milk 355 grade Holsteins. I am 13 years old and own 10 Holsteins. Of my 7 Registered Holsteins, 6 were bred by me. My herd, TALL-TL Holsteins, consists of three different bloodlines. The first one originated from my first heifer, TALL-TL ITO TULIP, and includes 2 daughters by Dundee and Drake and 2 granddaughters out of the Dundee by Rampage-Red and Talent. The second family is by TALL-TL MITCHELL PETUNIA and includes a Dundee daughter, while Petunia is currently bred back to Aspen. The third bloodline is a purchased heifer, LAZY-A ADVENT SANDY2-RED-ET who has three Debonair pregnancies due in April and three more in September. In the future I plan to show and develop them on a National level.

I got started with Registered Holsteins when I read an article about the Holstein Association’s Jr. Activities in the Hoard’s Dairyman. Though I was only 8, I decided that Dairy Bowl was something I would enjoy. I joined Dairy Bowl and registered the heifers that I had at the time and it kept on going from there. Other than Dairy Bowl and Dairy Jeopardy I am also a member of the local 4-H and our school’s Academic Decathlon team.

A few weeks ago I came back from our State’s Convention in Reno (a 4 hour drive from the Valley). I think I can speak for every Junior there when I say that we had a great time. Other than Dairy Bowl and Jeopardy contests, Juniors were able to participate in a public speaking contest, Award/Scholarship interviews, a Bingo Bash and a Sledding trip. Some of the best memories I have were the sledding trip and just hanging out with my friends.

As you probably know the National Convention is going to be held in California this year and it is going to take much help to put it on. As a Junior we contribute by fundraising and sharing ideas to make the convention a success. Hopefully our contributions can help make this convention the best ever!

Tony is pictured here in the front row, right, at the National Holstein Convention in Tennessee.