The 2010 Virginia Holstein Feld Day took place on July 16th at Ameva Farm Inc. in Amelia, Virginia. The following scenes from the event were provided by Terry Perotti Lam.

Ameva Farm, Inc. was the host for the day

The Kerr Family (L-R): Donna, Jamie, Alex & Jimmy

Jr. Silent Auction items and other exhibits

VA Commissionar of Agriculture, Matt Lohr

Special cows on display in the pack barn at Ameva Farms

Some of the crowd enjoying their lunch

Congratulations to Kenneth Beneke and Jane V. Naylor on the birth of their son, Harrison James Beneke who was born on July 18, 2010! Harrison weighed 6 pounds and 8 ounces and was 20.5 inches long.

Joe and Kari Stanek, both employed by Accelerated Genetics in Baraboo, WI, proudly introduce their new daughter, Cyana Jo, born on August 2, 2010 at 7:58am. Cyana weighed 6 lbs. 11 oz. and was 19 inches long. Her big sister, Sykora, is “extremely excited about having a little sister and sharing her baby clothes!” Congratulations to all!

Friends and family of Kelly & Sarah Schmidt have organized a benefit to help the young family with a fresh start following the devastating storm that destroyed their home and barn. The benefit will be held on Monday, August 9 in Luverne, MN at the Rock County Fairgrounds. The evening will include a free will donation meal, silent auction and live auction.

Both auctions include a variety of new or handcrafted items. Some of which we believe our Holstein friends would be quite interested in. Take a look!

Farnear-TBR Goldwyn Barb-ET
Very Good – 86 1st Lact.
GTPI +1871 PTA +1170M +57F +39P +2.71T
2-04 2x 305 29,610 3.5 1033 2.9 863

5 Embryos from Barb x Mutually Agreeable Sire sell

Barb is recently fresh and ready to be flushed! She will see a classifier again in September. She has been flushed 5 times and averages 10 fertile embryos/flush. Her first daughter by Lou is due to Super in September and looks real nice!

Dam: Palmcrest Blackcap-ET (EX-90)
4-03 2x 365 28,640 3.6 1044 3.1 882

2nd Dam: Rgncrst-RH Durham Bliss-ET (VG-89 2Y GMD)
2-02 2x 305 26,320 3.7 972 3.0 802
Full sister to Regancrest-PR Barbie!

Donated by: Brad & Nancy Stockman

–

Raylore Leduc Averill
Excellent – 94
5-11 2x 365 33,420 3.5 1167 3.1 1043

5 Embryos from Averill x Alexander sell

Averill comes from 8 generations of Homebred Excellents! She just went up a point to 94 in July and was a favorite of many who walked through the Raylore barn during the National Convention Host Day tour stop at the farm. Click here for more information.

Donated by: Luke & Tanya Olson

–

10 Units of Crackholm Fever Semen

He’s building up steam for an official August release that could be quite hot. Fever is a Goldwyn son of Crackholm Emory Fashion (EX-92 CAN). To date he has 108 daughters classified: 87% GP and better.

Donated by: Semex USA

–

Hoard’s Dairyman ‘Foster Mothers of the Human Race’ Poster

The commemorative poster includes the newly updated Foster Mothers of the Human Race image that is bordered by a historical timeline of photos of the dairy industry and Hoard’s Dairyman history. The poster has been signed by artist Bonnie Mohr. These posters are not being sold by any outlet.

Donated by: Lana Olson – Hoard’s Dairyman

–

Framed print of the true-type Red & White as painted by Bonnie Mohr

Donated by: Red & White Dairy Cattle Association

–

Timeshare Property in Ontario, Canada

Located just 75 miles north of Toronto and 150 miles from Niagara Falls, the Carriage Hills Resort in Shanty Bay, Ontario, Canada is a location that can be enjoyed throughout the year. Property includes 2 bedrooms and 2 bathrooms and can sleep up to 8. Purchaser will receive the deed to the property immediately following the auction. For more details, please contact Charla Sandbulte at 507-669-6402.

–

For more information on more of the items that will be sold on the auction, please click here. If you have any questions or would like to bid by phone, contact:

Luke Olson – 320.583.9339
Lana Olson – 320.583.2950

If you would like to support the Schmidt Family with a monetary donation, please send to Minnwest Bank, 116 E Main St, Luverne, MN 56156 – Kelly & Sarah Schmidt Fund.

Two weeks ago today I was getting excited for a weekend at the lake. My husband Kelly’s annual family vacation was set for Lake Poinsett, SD, and everyone in our house was excited. Aubree (almost 3) couldn’t stop talking about playing with cousin Brian and his nephew Baby Riley. Kate, who just turned 1 that past Sunday, was loving life crawling all around the living room floor and pulling herself up to give big toothy smiles to whoever was nearby (she now has 7 teeth!). Kelly had just completed mowing our rather expansive lawn and letting out the show heifer we’ve been getting ready this summer after having been underneath the fans in the barn all day away from the heat. I had the laundry all done and made sure to feed our dog, Brodie and cat, Stoney. As we packed up our truck and left the driveway that Friday afternoon I’ll never forget both Kelly and I looking around our little farm and him saying, “It’s looking real nice around here.” Just the kind of feeling you want to have before you leave your home for a vacation weekend.

We bought our 13 acre farm from Kelly’s grandma, Lorna, in December 2006. It has been in Lorna’s family since her dad made the purchase in 1937. The farm is located in southwest Minnesota, north of the town of Luverne and approximately 35 minutes east of Sioux Falls, SD. Since we moved on the farm we have welcomed two beautiful little girls and our herd of Simmental and SimAngus cattle has grown from two bull calves born the spring of 2007 to an unbelievable seven heifers and one bull this past spring! The farm had many outbuildings, but the main attraction was a beautiful red barn that used to house dairy cows back in the day. It had white trim, a spacious hayloft and worked great for calving and working with show heifers.

Two weeks ago tomorrow, at approximately 7:30 am, we received the call from our neighbor. “Sarah, there was a storm last night. The barn is down, the garage is gone and the roof of the house is off.” I could hear it in his voice that this was a very hard message to deliver. I think my exact words were, “Oh no…um…we’ll be there as soon as we can. Here’s Kelly.” I passed the phone to him, grabbed my contacts case, left instructions with his aunts for what to do when the girls woke up and then headed straight to our truck. We left immediately, with his parents, brother and sister following behind. We didn’t know what to expect, just that it was bad. It took us just under 2 hours to get there. There was no evidence of tornado damage on our drive, not until we got about a mile away. Then we started seeing trees and leaves down. To get to our house from the west, its over 3 miles of gravel. We turned onto our road and – boom – there it was…or wasn’t. There was no big beautiful red barn, no neatly mowed lawn, no organized garage, no roof on the house that was our home.

What we did see were our dear friends and neighbors already ready to get to work. Kelly’s grandma was there, along with his aunt, uncle and cousins – all saddened by what had happened to where they once had lived but more concerned about how we would handle the scene. (Note – This was the side of the family that was not on vacation.) Brodie was there greeting everyone and the cows were all safe in an unfenced pasture down the road. It wouldnt be until later that day when we’d see Stoney walking calmly across the farmyard. If only the animals could talk! Surely their stories of the storm could be something fit for a movie. We found tracks a 1/2 mile down the road which tells us the cows got an added bit of exercise that night.

I cried…hard…when I first stepped in the house. But then it was time to get to it. I was able to get downstairs to where we kept our work boots, borrowed a pair of jeans from Kelly’s mom and then started surveying the damage and taking pictures, lots of pictures. Everyone who came encouraged me to take as many pictures as possible. For our own memories but especially for insurance. From there the day was a whirlwind of activity. We aren’t sure exactly how many people came out that day to help with the clean-up…somewhere between 50 and 80 are our best guesses. One reason why so many people were able to come help us was because of the simple fact that very few places were hit this hard by the storm. Amidst the clean-up someone asked that question, “Why Kelly & Sarah’s place?” And the response from one our neighbors, “Because God knew they weren’t home and all of us were.”

We divided and conquered. Kelly focused on the outside and I was in the house. We loaded three trailers of whatever we could save from the house and the barn, and hauled to his grandma’s house in a small town nearby as she has a large shed that is working great for storage as we sort through our things before we decide what happens next.

And there it is, the question of “What’s next?” A question that has so much emotion tied to it – sadness of what was lost, frustration by not knowing exactly the answer and excitement for what the answer could be. What I do know is this – Kelly, Aubree, Kate and I are all healthy, safe and getting used to our temporary home in the town of Luverne. Aubree knows that our old house is “broken” and that we will have a new one someday. She has shared that it will be pretty, shiny and purple.

Thank you to everyone who has e-mailed, called, posted a message to Facebook, sent a card…these simple acts mean so much! Thank you for reading this message. It was meant as a way to share with you what happened to our little house on the Minnesota prairie, but also as a way for me to recall the events of that weekend and now focus my attention forward and drive on! After all, I am a dairy farmer’s daughter who married a beef boy and to be in this business you have to be resilient and optimistic!

With love and sincerity,

Sarah

Fourth of July family picture.

This photo was taken of our farm almost exactly one year ago. Unfortunately, we don’t have many great pictures of the exterior of our house before the storm.

A close-up view of the same side of the barn as the picture above.

Storm destroyed the barn but the trailer had minimal damage.

The east side of the house.

Further back version of the same east side view of the house. On the right side of the house was an enclosed garage.

View on the west side of the house. If you look real close, there is a feed trough that was by the barn that slammed into the house just to the right of the steps.

One day after the storm and the farm was almost all cleaned up. Kelly is on the phone surveying what used to be our barn.

Two days later there was another storm that came through and left this rainbow. We think it is a sure sign and promise of better things to come!

If you’d like to view more pictures, click here.

Coverage by Ayrshire Digest Editor Diana Curtis

The New York Ayrshire Club picnic was held on July 10, 2010 at Jackson-Hill Farm in Greenwood, NY and hosted by the Atherton Family. A great turnout gathered for great food, fellowship and the chance to see the herd.

Ayrshire Princess Interview
Donna Demun (l) and Sarah Moss (r) interview 2010 NY Ayrshire Princess candidate, Sara Pulver, (c)

Ayrshires in the Lane
The cows on Jackson-Hill Farm are housed in a freestall however they are also on pasture.

Shelly and Jeff with cows:
Shelly and Jeff Atherton answer questions on their herd at their Jackson-Hill Farm in Greenwood, NY.

Catching up with Ayrshire friends.

Tom and Jane Gillette talk to Kelly Atherton outside their calf barn.

The trampoline got a lot of use during the day

Future NY Ayrshire Princesses waiting for the announcement of the 2010 NY Ayrshire Princess, from (l-r) Jade Atherton, Kayla Atherton and Erin Curtis Szalach.

Sarah Moss crowned Sara Pulver the 2010 NY Ayrshire Princess during the summer picnic.

The Atherton Family of Jackson-Hill Farm hosted the 2010 New York Ayrshire Club Summer Picnic. It was day filled with fun, food, fellowship and a great herd of Ayrshire cows.

Joseph and Kelsey Airosa are the proud parents of Phillip Austin Airosa who was born June 25th weighing 7 lbs. 8 oz. His grandparents are Joe & Lori Airosa of Airosa Dairy in Tulare, California. Congratulations!

Phillip Austin Airosa

It’s Day 2 of the meetings in Bloomington and today is voting day! First order of business are adoption of the Resolutions presented.

Resolution #1 – Presented by the Wisconsin Holstein Association
Holstein Association needs to re-evaluate the TPI formula and raise the type contribution to a level that more accurately reflects what breeders desire for a balance of type and porduction

Henk Van Dyk (WI) – This was a resolution presented at our winter convention unanimously. Health traits are not highly heritable.

Mark Kerndt (IA) – Would prefer less weighting on production in the TPI formula. Health traits are important – don’t ignore them.

Andy Kortman (WA) – Raise type and put production & health traits lower

APPROVED

Resolution #2 – Wisconsin Holstein Breeders advise USDA’s AIPL to create a genetic system that instills long-term confidence in the system. Breeders must be able to give feedback and know ahead of time about changes. New genetic calculations should not be published when using female DNA unless approved by Holstein Association and its board of directors.

APPROVED

Resolution #3 – Propose fundamental princpiles be recognized to ensure the long-term survival of Holstein cattle. Computation of an animal’s genomic information must only be done with owner permission. HAUSA must protect proprietary information. Breeders are entitled to review genetic information that is not influenced by genomic findings. Breeders have the right to test all of their stock, regardsles of sex. We have the right to be a part of the process that decides the ranking. HAUSA must defend our livelihood.

Steve Holte (WI) – Can we allow the creator of this resolution, a non-delegate, to speak for my allotted two minutes? Approved.

Paul Buhr (WI – non-delegate) – I have presented what is like a bill of rights over our property. As we go forward, genes will be used in many ways. Breeders need to own our DNA so that it is not used outside of our breed and industry. We need to put these items in place to protect us in the future. HAUSA was established to protect us and our breed. We must not assume that people or companies will protect it in the way we have in the future.

Don Bennick (FL) – The only way we will be able to improve genomics is to get a variety of animals in the pool. This resolution would hamper that ability. If we adopt this resoltuion, are we also going to say that we don’t want to share production records, show placings, etc.?

Mike Holschbach (WI) – Resolution is to protect our interests. We pay for these records through production and classification programs. We are required to share informaiton and the bull studs are not required to share information with us. This is not an even playing field. It is an embarassment to our association that we have gotten to this place.

Bill Peck (NY) – Resolution has good intent but is too far reaching. At the center of the genomic issue in our coversation is the poor communication from USDA. If things were better communicated we wouldn’t be having this conversation.

Verbal vote, undetermined. Hand vote resulted in 69 nay, 45 yay. DENIED

Resolution #4 – Formal recognition of Holstein Association Chief Executive Officer and Executive Secretary Robert Rumler following his death this past year.

Doug Carles (CT) – Following the passing of this resolution, let us please share with the Rumler family.

APPROVED

Resolution #5 – Holstein Association USA sincerley thanks the organizers and the committees of the Minnesota Holstein Association for their hard work and their hospitality of the 125th Annual Meeting.

APPROVED with standing ovation.

Board Elections

Region 1 Director
Tom Kugler (NY)
Martha Siefert (VT)
Pete Waterman (ME)

First round of voting, no majority. Re-vote of Kugler and Waterman. Pete Waterman is the newly elected director.

Chairman of the Holstein Foundation, John Bierbaum, shared the mission of the foundation is to develop leaders. The foundation received in the past year of $110,000 support dollars, $150,000 total donations, $120,000 expenses, resulting in a net gain of $29,000. The investment gain resulting in $752,000, a 22% return. Total increase of $781,000. Hopefully YDLI is on a self-sustaining basis so that the staff is focused on program development and not on raising funds in support of the program. The seventh class will be taking place in February. Hotel management shared that they have been so impressed with the over 500 youth that have behaved so well, been so disciplined and handled themseleves so professionally. This certainly is a sign that our programs are fulfilling the mission of the foundation.

Dairy Leaders for Tomorrow campaign to inspire, train, invigorate and build confidence. Building support for young people who are striving to make a difference in the dairy industry. All gifts received by December 31, 2010 will be matched. To date, $300,000 in gifts and pledges have been received, with a goal of reaching $500,000 by the end of the year so the final amount is $1 million. Chairman level donors, Judy & Charles Iager of Maple-Lawn Farms, MD and Hilmar Cheese Company Inc., CA.

Chairman of the Legislative committe, Gordy Cook (MA), reviewed the timeline of events that have transpired over the past year and a half regarding the Dairy Price Stabilization Program. Our efforts have made a difference. With Holstein’s initiatives, collaborative efforts are happening today that never would have happened. Today, working to pass effective legislation in 2010 in both the House and the Senate.

Loren Olson (MN) – We got to put together a game plan to unite dairymen in smaller groups. This can’t happen by just talking in this big room.

Chuck Worden (NY), Chairman of the Junior Advisory Committee, shared the activities throughout the year and the participation of the juniors at this year’s national convention. There were 82 contestants in Dairy Jeopardy, and a total of 35 teams from 21 states in the Dairy Bowl contest. 125 youth applied for production awards, representing 200 cows. There were 52 speech contestants, 12 scrapbook entries, and 40 folding displays in just the second year of the contest. New this year was the opening of the dairy bowl quiz to all juniors, 97 additional youth took the test. This past year, the association experienced a growth of 1055 new members, 30% increase. This was driven by the 2010 Mission Membership contest, that recognized Connecticut as the state with the largest percent increase in new members, 113%. Wisconsin grew the largest total amount. The Holstein USA website Youth section encourages participation in activities throughout the year with quarterly contests.

Region 4 Director
Gayle Carson (TN)
Walter McClure, Sr. (VA)
In one round of voting, Gayle Carson has been elected a new director.

Bill Peck (NY), Chairman of Genetic Advancement Committee, shared the activities of the committee and the decision to place 42% emphasis on production and 25% on conformation. Increased emphasis on Health & Fertility to 33%. All gemoic tested animals to receive parentage verification. This is an added feature and will allow for parent “discovery”, whereby an unkown parent can be discovered.

Chairman Gordie Cook (MA) of the International Committee shared the committee has focused on a more strategic approach of working with a smaller more focused group of potential markets. Plan to work more with the emerging market of Russia, and continue our work with traditional markets of Mexico and South America.

National FAIR & Animal ID Committee Chairman, John Kalmey (KY), shared that this February USDA announced a new, flexible framework for animal identification. Only apply to animals moves in interstate commerce, be administered by each state to provide more flexibility and encourage the use of lower cost technology. In May, USDA hosted 3 public meetings to discuss the framework. The goal of USDA is basic, to regulate interstate movement and provide a system for quick and efficient traceability. HAUSA questions the effectiveness of each state being able to administer their own program.

Leroy Eggink (IA) elected via affirmation as Region 6 Director.

At-Large Director
Corey Geiger
Mike Jones
Tom Kugler
Martha Seifert

Three candidates were slated for a second round of voting – Geiger, Jones & Kugler. Two candidates slated for a third round of voting – Geiger & Jones. Corey Geiger has been elected the new At-Large Director.

Jim Burdette (PA), Chairman of the Show Committee, shared the report. This year there are 11 national shows and 4 specific national junior shows. New this year was the two Judges Lists, National and Qualified. For the 2011 lists, Monday, August 2nd is the deadline to submit. 2011 list will be all new. Judges must re-apply each year. Applications will be analyzed by the committee and recommended to the board for approval. There will be three Judges Conferences in 2011 located in the Northeast, Mid-West and West. There will be one each year after that, location to be rotated around the 3 regions. Going forward, National and Qualified Judges must have participated in at least one Holstein Judges Conference within a 3-year period to remain eligible for inclusion on the list.

Dr. Les Hansen spoke on behalf of the National Dairy Shrine and shared that NDS will provide $40,000 in scholarships this year. 18,000 members across the U.S. and lifetime membership fee remains at $50. Honorees at the annual banquet this year at World Dairy Expo will be Luke & Derek Johnson, Andy & Lynn Buttles, Bill Ramsey Family, Merle Howard, Mert Sowerby, Dr. Lee Mjeskie, Dr. Rex Powell and Dr. Jack Albrecht.

Recognition of retiring board members Gordie Cook (MA), John Kalmey (KY) and Bill Peck (NY).

No Old Business.

New Business

Linda Hodorff (WI) – Congratulate the candidates and the professional nature by which the election transpired. Thank you for taking the time to run and please consider running again.

Meeting Adjourned

Dennis Areias: Why are we turning our backs on what we’ve been founded on – cow families, a strong classification system? It seems to me that we’re just throwing away what we’ve worked hard to establish.

Meyer: It’s not the dismal picture that we’re afraid of. We’re incorporating a valuable tool to our disposal. Let’s use it for the betterment of the breed and add value to our genetic pool

Charlie Will (OH): All new technologies have learning curves. Genomics adds to performance. With the addition of more markers, things will continue to be tweaked and changed. We all love the beautiful cow, but they may not always be the cow that transmits. Many are. Some are not. Genomics will help us find that. We need to focus on what’s heritable. Let’s find the best five type cows that transmit. Or the best five production cows that transmit. I read the handout sheet that went around (from David Winkels). There are a few discrepancies. Look at the reliabilities. Look at the time frames. We’re not comparing apples to apples. The last group of bulls we had at 97% reliability – average PTA Milk and Daughter Yield Deviation was within 40 pounds. Actual proof.

Mike Holschbach (WI): Communication. We’ve heard a lot from the staff and board of directors. Who are “we?” I hope that we as an association keep US in mind – who pay for testing, who own the cows. We hope that you keep us in mind as those who care, who work day to day. Keep our opinions and understanding in mind when making decisions. Keep our model in mind when making your model of genetic evaluations. Listen to us occasionally when making decisions.

Linda Hodorff (WI): I think our board and staff have a tremendous responsibility to represent us as breeders. We are diverse, but you need to have a feel for what they are. The Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding is awesome – they represent AI, DHI and breed associations. Our representation on the Council represent our breeders and staff. Please consider modern tools to keep us informed – webinars, email updates, etc…..that will help you bring us information in a more timely manner.

Meyer: Points very well taken. I do want to share that the Council is working with USDA to have a better protocol and timeliness when it comes to communication. Ideas will be explained before they are put into effect.

Bill Peck (NY): We delved into genomic testing to really see what we have. We tested 225 females with a full 50 SNP test. We found a standard deviation – a bell curve. This is one step along the way to get genetic information. We are just doing what we can to improve – to get better – to get more information so we’re closer to that 99%. Get more cattle involved and get better data. We have the opportunity to breed cattle any way we want to. We have the chance to do that with better information available. Milk pricing is critical – we need to unify.

CEO John Meyer greets a packed meeting room during his State of the Association address, while President Larry Tande also gave his remarks to welcome the crowd.

* 1,055 new junior members joined the Association in 2009

* Holstein Complete revenues increased 5%

* Identification revenues decreased 1%

* Registration revenues decreased 9%

* Transfer registrations decreased 19%

* Genetic test revenues increased 62%

* TriStar revenues increased 5%

* Adult membership 19,878 and Junior membership 8,514

* Operating revenues decreased 3%

* Consolidated Net Income $2,576,000
__________________________

Tom Lawlor – What happened in April & What we can Expect in the Future

Lots of changes in April – very poor advanced notices of those changes. But now – we’ll step back and evaluate those changes and move forward. One of the roles of USDA is to make a more accurate prediction of performance with genomic information. What happened in April? Imputation – and rescaling of PTAs. Rescaling done for animals only with genomic information. GTPI cows treated differently than CTPI cows. Are these genomic predictions any better or more accurate? Yes, they are. We should be happy about that.

Cows with multiple genotyped offpsring received an imputed genotype. TPI points fell by 137 points (average). Most animals came down 83% – while 17% went up.

Notes on Imputation – determine the dam’s genotype from the genotype of its progeny. It also relies upon the fact that the markers come linked together in a sequence. The sequence of DNA markers is called a haplotype. In the Holstein breed there’s a limited number of unique DNA sequences. Often we can match the dam’s DNA sequence with a unique sequence. We usually need 4 or 5 progeny to determine her genotype. A cow will receive an imputed genotype only if at least 90% of her haplotypes can be determined. Imputed cows have 97% of their markers known. $501,000 – genotyping costs saved.

Cow adjustments – PTAs on elite cows are too high. This is not a U.S. issue only. Lots of management decisions going on – you know who your good cows are. You take care of them a little bit better. They get treated immediately. All these little things add up to inflating the PTAs on the elite cows and their families. It’s not cheating. According to New Zealand “conventional parent averages are inflated which leads to inflated genomic prediction of young bulls.” Their solution – downward adjustment of parent averages. Longer term – recognizing the value of cow information. Rather than have farmers pay for genotyping on elite cows only – Dairy NZ will pay to genotype 15,000 random cows. In Germany, “The use of traditional parent average caused a serious overestimation in the genomic predictions of young bulls.” They say the dam is almost the sole source of this estimation. They use pedigree indexes – bull proofs only – for parent averages. The cow’s information is totally excluded.

How do we know if the adjustment works? Have done validation studies. Over 100 done in the U.S. to date.
Real life example – Bull with +728 in PTA Milk
47 progeny
16 sons with proofs (by 9 different sires with 99% reliability)

PTA milk of those 16 sons +26
Numbers in January +467 and in April +103 (closer to original +26)

So in April – rescaling means the higher PTAs were scaled down more than the lower PTAs.

Rescaling brought most cows down – 98% went down and 2% went up
Imputation & genomic prediction work much more equitably
56% cows went up – 44% down

Net result
17% of the cows went up and 83% went down

Are we better or worse off? Better off! Parent averages are unbiased – reliabilities have increased by 3%

It’s all relative – well proven cows whose genetic merit was substantiated with genomic information.

To be continued…