The Stage is Set…and the National Brown Swiss Convention is underway in Lima, Ohio! Wednesday’s acivities included the checking in of the Palmer Hoffman Memorial Heifer Show animals as well as the Junior Olympics that were both held at the Allen County Fairgrounds. The show on Friday afternoon will feature 95 heifers exhibited by Brown Swiss youth from 13 different states! The show, headed up by Chris Lahmers is a tribute to long-time Brown Swiss enthusiast and supporter Palmer Hoffman.

The much anticipated sale line-up looks to live upto its billing as one of the best national sales in history! The sale managed by Wayne Sliker and his Modern Associates features some of the finest from Ohio and throughout the country! The sale will feature many show stopping heifers and cows from many outstanding pedigrees! Check out the sale line-up by visiting www.allbreedaccess.com. The sale is set to start at 11 am on Saturday, July 5th.

Today was tour day! The dreary weather did not keep convention goers from visiting one of Ohio’s finest herds - Topp-View, Botkins, Ohio. Mary Lou Topp and family rolled out the red carpet for visitors with a great lunch and warm hospitality at their beautifully kept farm. Mary Lou’s sons - Eric, Keith and Phillip, along with their families were all onhand to answer questions and give personal tours of the cattle and the facilities. The herd that consists of mostly Brown Swiss and Holsteins has numerous All-American nominees, Champions and high scoring individuals.

Check back early next week for more convention and sale news!

Brown Swiss youth gather at the Fairgrounds to take care of their entries in the Palmer Hoffman Memorial Heifer Show.

No strangers to the Brown Swiss scene…Ken Main and Peter Vail look through the sale line-up with Brian Garrison. Dale Bendig in the foreground working hard to keep things looking good.

A portion of the young milk cows in the sale line-up.

On the left - the Reserve Grand Champion from NY Spring Show - Siegerts Flip Twister who is selling in the sale!

The box stall barn at Topp-View was the place to be! All-Americans and Champions were on display for visitors.

Three buses and many car loads of visitors were treated to a great meal at Topp-View.

Topp-View is not only known for their great animals…The Topp Family is also known for the beautiful landscaping and well-kept farmstead! Mary Lou out did herself on the flowers this year (which is hard to do!)…everything was beautiful!

It was a beautiful day on Monday as many people who arrived this past weekend got on the bus to tour several prominent Wisconsin herds. Among them were Mystic Valley, the Bruenig family of Jenny-Lou Holsteins; Budjon Farms, the Cull family; Ryan-Vu Holsteins, the Ryan family; and Vir-Clar Holsteins, the Boyke family. It was also a busy, busy day for the juniors as the Jeopardy Contest was held today, along with the dairy bowl written tests. Tonight, adults were treated to a poolside event, while the juniors were across the way enjoying a real Hawaiian luau.

Ginny Wolfe (NY), Debbie and Keith Decker (PA) and Howard Wolfe (NY) enjoy the first tour stop at Mystic Valley Farms. Even though it was a 9:30am visit, the Bruenigs served the bus a great dessert of vanilla ice cream and strawberries.

The North Carolina delegation in front of the Budjon sign.

Sisters and friends! Amy Ryan of Ryan-Vu Holsteins and her sister Carla Gunst of Wilstar. Amy’s family hosted the tour bus today, while Carla and her husband and partners at Wilstar hosted an open house yesterday that still attracted visitors past 10pm!

Clearly secure enough to wear a skirt at the Junior Luau!!

J.R. Boyke made it back to the Dells after visiting with tour goers at Vir-Clar. He also completed a busy day of interviews for the DJM contest.

Part of the Junior activities tonight featured the presentation of the banner contest. Here, you’ll want to pay particular attention to the KU mascot - a favorite of the Rottinghaus family we believe!?

Creativity at its best from the Washington juniors!

One of New York’s DJM semi-finalists Julia Hudyncia and her mother Shirley!

Happy kids come from California! Celebrating Taylor Pires’ win of the Intermediate Jeopardy Contest today, and Caitlyn Lopes win in the Junior Jeopardy Contest, the gang gets ready to present their banner!

Stay tuned for more, including herd visit updates coming soon!

While June is traditionally national dairy month, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger has issued a proclamation designating June as “Real California Milk Month” in California.

“This month, I encourage all Californians to buy milk and other dairy products that come from our Golden State. We produce some of the best food in the world, and we can all be proud to purchase California milk,” states Governor Schwarzenegger.

Congratulations to all dairy families!
~supplied by Kristi Migliazzo

Last night’s Western Spring National Sale was held following the heifer show in RIchmond.  High selling prices include:

Lot 1 - $24,000
1st choice Advent female x Shoremar S Alicia
choice of 2 pregs due 4/08
Consigned by Kingstead, Butler & Binder, Damascus, MD
Purchased by John Kisst, Ripon, CA

Lot 2 - $15,000
T-C-G Advnt Rhapsody-Red-ET
Born 12/07 - Dam Pappys Sept Storm Rhonda *RC
Consigned by Triple Crown Genetics, Jerome, ID
Purchased by Bosside Dairy, Colby, WI 

Lot 8 - $7,500
Cache-Valley CH Buckeye4-ET
Born 3/07 - 3rd spring yearling in yesterday’s heifer show
Dam Cache-Valley Milan Champion (VG-88)
Consigned by Harris Dairyland, Richmond, UT

Lot 10 - $6,000
Canyon-Breeze GD Jacklyn-ET
Born 9/07 - Dam Jerian Leadership Janine (EX-92)
Consigned by Steve Gillins, Minersville, UT

 Alan Andersen, John Andersen, Greg Andersen and Jordan Leak.

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Idaho was a BREEZE!

Kathleen and I traveled to Idaho on Tuesday & Wednesday of Western Spring National week to visit with some breeders during our stay here.  Our first stop on Tuesday was about 2.5 hours north of Salt Lake City at Seagull Bay Holsteins.  When we got there, Alan Andersen and his sons Greg and John, along with Jordan Leak, were picturing with Frank Robinson.  On the blocks were an O-Man, a Gibson and a Shottle, all of who have some contract interest.  Greg Andersen runs Seagull Bay, while father Alan & brother Ben run Andersen Dairy just west of there.  John and Jordan are in charge of Double A Ranch, a group of six farms near Twin Falls that runs 25,000 milk cows. 

Wednesday morning, we awoke in Twin Falls to strong winds….really strong winds of 40 mph and higher.  And when you’re in the Magic Valley of Idaho, there’s not much to stop the wind.  We met John and Jordan just north of Twin Falls at the main Double A Dairy Ranch.  Owned by the Aardema family, John and Jordan both came to the large commercial operation from Registered Holstein backgrounds.  “We get the best of both worlds here,” John said.  “We love the efficiency and the big business of a commercial setup, but we get to play with the Registered side as our hobby.  Instead of playing the stock market, we do this!”  John and Jordan want to keep having Registered cattle within the herd, and when they flush their own (Triple Crown Genetics) cows, they automatically have a large pool of recipients available.  The other advantage they enjoy is working with the ABS young sire program and can see great numbers of young sire daughters at one time.  “Triple Crown Genetics started here because we were really working with mid-range Holsteins and making mid-range returns,” explained Jordan.  “We wanted to work with the top end Registered cattle.  It’s been a lot of fun so far!”

The duo both stated they need to work with high profile cow families to have genetics that are marketable, and because of that, they were partners on the high selling lot at the Butlerview Sale, Applicious.  They are also working with members of the Debutante Rae family.  “We don’t need more cows to milk,” Jordan continued.  “We need cows that will make us money.”  They have partnered with Kingsmill on several cows and commented that they have very similar merchandising goals as the Kingsmill group.  Besides Holsteins, they own D-C Imperial Ghost, a well-known Jersey on the show circuit, with Kingsmill. 

There are 350 employees in the Aardema Group, and John comments that they, along with fellow dairyman Louie Bettencourt, are the biggest employers in the county.  Since the pair came to Double A, they have added 5,000 cows and now milk in four, double-50 parlors on the main farm.  They do vet checks every Monday and Thursday and have their own vet on staff.  They also employ three, full-time hoof trimmers who work six days/week. 

The herd is at a 79lb. average in the tank and all corn and hay silage is grown at the dairy.  Dry hay is purchased. 

John and his wife have four children, while Jordan and his wife have three children.  “We have become more active in the showring since our kids are now getting older and it’s the one way we can let them be involved on the farm,” John said.  “It’s too big of an operation to have them out in the corrals or parlors, but having some show heifers in a separate area allows them to work with them.”

The best of both worlds is what lays at the doorstep for these two pioneering young men.  A little bit of commercial efficiency, a little bit of Registered blood, a lot of true love for the industry and great friends and business partners have made John Andersen and Jordan Leak very busy and very successful partners.

We then drove southwest from Double A in a wind so powerful you couldn’t see the road for the dust blowing.  Stay tuned for our next stop – Buhl, ID, and Frontier Dairy, the home of Mark & Honor Tatarka.

New York Spring International Guernsey Show
April 12 - Syracuse, NY
Grand Champion: Millborne Tiller Fancy, Morey Miller, Granby, CT
Res. Grand Champion: Millborne Tiller Julia May, Morey Miller, Granby, CT
Jr. Champion: Flemingdale Sunrise Vanity, Chris Fleming, Union Springs, NY
Res. Jr. Champion: Littlefields Skipper Surprise, Littlefield Farms, Watertown, NY

Welcome Logan Andersen Mills! Born yesterday in Syracuse, NY, to proud parents Jon & Jenny Mills, Logan spent the day before his birthday at the New York Spring Holstein Show! Jon and Jenny are partners in Jenny’s home farm, Monanfran Farms of Canastota, NY. Proud grandparents of the 8 pound, 6 ounce little guy are Maurice and Amy Kelsey.

Most popular display? Many visitors and fellow breeders have stopped by to see the new Co-Vale display complete with an ongoing slide show presented on a computer screen!

Taking a break! Jen & Chris Hill take a break from their show string that contains mostly Red & White and Brown Swiss cattle.

Clipping away! Sean Johnson helps prepare the Savage-Leigh show string.

The big crowd! Standing room only for the NY Holstein Spring Holstein Sale.

Purple Fever! Jack Lomeo and Michelle Ritshard have a busy week with their show string that contains Milking Shorthorns, Holsteins, Red & Whites & Jerseys.

The Ohio Spring Dairy Expo has come to an end for yet another year! Cattle representing the Holstein, Jersey, Ayrshire, Brown Swiss and Milking Shorthorn breeds were presented in the Showring and the Sale ring. Cattle were exhibited from all over the country including - OH, IN, KY, MD, PA, IL, TN, TX, and SC.

Check out www.holsteinworld.com and www.allbreedaccess.com for show and sale reports! For class results - visit www.springdairyexpo.com!

Buckeye Classic Holstein & Jersey Sale

Ringside Crowd

Junior Champions of the Jersey Jr Show

Farthest Traveled? Premier Exhibitor - Bush River & Skip-A-Rilla Jerseys, SC

Waiting patiently for her turn in the ring!

Supreme Champions of the Junior Show

Supreme Heifer Champions of the Junior Show

Supreme Line-Up…Champion Cows from the 2008 OH Spring Dairy Expo!

Supreme Champion Heifer - Open Show: Wengerlann Goldwyn Gung Ho (Holstein) Triple-T Holsteins, Mike Heath & Kurt Wolf, OH

Reserve Supreme Champion Heifer Open Show: Sweet Peas Justice Davine (Jersey), Triple-T Holsteins, Mike Heath & Willy McKay, OH

Supreme Champion Cow - Open Show: Irwindale Leduc Molly (Holstein), Team Holsteins, IL

Supreme Champion Heifer - Junior Show: La-Foster Durham Jen (Holstein) Cole & Olivia Cummings, OH

Reserve Supreme Champion Heifer - Junior Show: Kulp-Terra TA Showgirl-ET (Brown Swiss), Lindsay Rucks, FL

Judges: Jeff Stephens & Ted Dement

March is Barn Meeting Month in Wisconsin and one of the three 2008 meetings sponsored by the state association was held last Tuesday at Our-Favorite Holsteins in Fall Creek, WI. Todd and Mary Stanek, along with their two sons Cade and Tyler, own and operate the 130 cow herd in west-central Wisconsin. The herd is milked in two separate barns, with 70 being milked at the home farm where the meeting was held.

The Stanek’s built an attactive new office onto the barn (with the rumor being it was completed just in time for the visitors!).

The day’s host, Todd Stanek, welcoming the crowd in the shiny, new office area.

The RHA for the herd is 31,273 3.65% 1140 2.98p 933 and the BAA is 107.5%

The most prominent cow family stems from EDR V I Angie Melvina EX-93 3E GMD DOM. Melvina was a well-known Wisconsin show cow in the early ’90s that the Staneks purchased in a herd dispersal. She became the matriarch of an extensive and popular cow family that has garnered worldwide attention and placed numerous bulls in AI.

Their National Convention Sale consignment hails from this family:
Our-Favorite Envyous-ET, a VG-86 Titanic daughter.

Her VG-88 Outside dam, Our-Favorite Outburst-ET, is still in the herd.

A milky individual that catches your eye happens to be the Champion sister to Jet Stream - Applouis Champion Jemima-ET VG-86 - who looks to surmount the 2000F barrier in this lactation.

Todd has had two back surgeries and can no longer do any actual milking. He credits his family and his three full-time employees with keeping the operation running smoothly. He is focusing attention on doing more merchandising while still building the herd. He would like to get to the point where all embryos are implanted in heifers, instead of using some of the cows in the herd, as then he would have the capability to sell any cow at anytime without concern as to what she is carrying.

In recent years, Todd has made a point of adding females from other notable cow families to the herd, including members of the Elegance, Laurie Sheik, Roxy and Ideal families.