The Dairy Show

The Quest for Genetic Improvement - Jonathan Lamb

The Quest for Genetic Improvement

Top shelf genetics put Oakfield Corners Dairy on the map. A robust ET and IVF program yields 7,500 to 8,000 embryos each year. Jonathan Lamb, joins us on The Dairy Show to discuss how genomics, index formulas and phenotypic data factor into matings that win in the showring and have worldwide appeal. 

 

In addition to managing more than 10,000 Holsteins in four facilities (three in New York and one in Ohio), Jonathan currently serves as President of Holstein Association USA and offers a producer's perspective on the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding Board of Directors, where he represents the Purebred Dairy Cattle Association. 

 

This episode sponsored by the Council on Dairy Cattle Breeding.

A Judging Dynasty in the Making - Carrie Edsall, SUNY Cobleskill Judging Team Coach

A Judging Dynasty in the Making

 

Winning dairy cattle judges not only accurately place the animals in a class, they also successfully “sell” those placings when they give oral reasons. Judging Coach Carrie Edsall, a born marketer, shares the valuable skills she has learned and in turn shares with her SUNY Cobleskill students and dairy judging team members on this episode of the Dairy Show. The SUNY Cobleskill teams have taken her lessons to heart, winning the Post Secondary Contest at World Dairy Expo four out of the last five years. Edsall and her family manage Black Willow Pond Farm.  In addition to marketing their pasture-raised meats, both at farmer’s markets and mail-order, they exhibit dairy cattle and are engaged in “solar grazing.”  

Annette Ostrom Memorial Supreme Showmanship Awards

Annette Ostrom had an affinity for showing dairy cattle and a love for youth in the dairy business.  While she lost her battle with cancer shortly after World Dairy Expo last year, those two aspects of her life will be fondly remembered through a memorial award sponsorship. Jim Ostrom, Annette's husband, joins us on this episode of The Dairy Show to share Annette's lasting legacies and to announce the changes participants can expect to the World Dairy Expo Youth Showmanship Contest.

A tribute to Annette and the World Dairy Expo Youth Showmanship Contest rules and entry information can be found at https://worlddairyexpo.com/pages/Youth-Fitting-&-Showmanship.php

Celebrating Expo’s Founding Fathers - Meet Howard Voegeli

From running out of gas on a first date to a firearms mishap in Cuba, Howard Voegeli didn't let obstacles stand in his way. Learn how  this Expo Founding Father's creative approach to life and problem solving served him throughout his time here on earth.  The same "let's get this done and have fun doing it" attitude that made Voegeli's Brown Swiss Farms of Monticello, Wisconsin successful over seven generations also laid a solid foundation for World Dairy Expo. Howard Voegeli's Dynasty in Dairy story is told by his sons, Bryan and Jimmy Voegeli.

If you've enjoyed this four-part series, featuring stories about Expo's Founding Fathers: Howard Voegeli, Norman E. Magnussen, Gene Nelson and Allen Hetts, consider ordering a copy of "We Need a Show," a full-color, 202-page, hard-cover book, celebrating World Dairy Expo's first 50 years, available at https://hoards.com/article-16862-we-need-a-show-(wnas).html

 

Expo’s Founding Fathers - Remembering Allen Hetts

Remembering Expo's Founding Fathers

At 18 years of age, Allen Hetts took over the reins at Crescent Beauty Farm when his father passed away at the age of 42. Described by his sons, Roy and Rodney, as a driver,  Allen built upon the foundation his father and grandfather laid with the Registered Holstein herd in Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin, becoming a highly respected breeder, judge and ambassador of the dairy industry on an international scale. This episode of The Dairy Show explores the history of Crescent Beauty and the network of friendships and partnerships that resulted in Allen Hetts laying the groundwork for World Dairy Expo. Roy and Rodney Hetts share stories about their father, mother Doris, Gene Acres Felicia May Fury and how the torch was passed in the Hetts family from one generation to the next.

Expo’s Founding Fathers - Norman E. Magnussen

Expo’s Founding Fathers: Part 2

Norman C. Magnussen, the youngest child of Norman E. Magnussen, recounts his father’s start in the dairy business and the personal dynasty he built, from serving as a herdsman of well-known herds in the eastern United States before starting his own herd with his wife Marion and brother Victor, and developing the renown Norvic Brown Swiss herd. In addition to also being a respected international judge of dairy cattle, Magnussen Sr. was also a noted sales manager. As owner of Brown Swiss Sales Service, he managed sales in 39 states and in Canada during his 30-year sales career, including the World Premier Brown Swiss Sale at World Dairy Expo, managed to this day by his son. Learn more about this founding father: a master breeder, super salesman, inspirational leader and eminent judge of all breeds on today’s episode of the Dairy Show.

Meet Randy Kortus, 2023 Dairy Producer of the Year

World Dairy Expo's 2023 Dairy Producer of the Year, Randy Kortus, from Lynden, Washington, takes type, production and longevity to a whole new level. With 20 cows over 300,000 lbs. and two over 400,000 lbs. lifetime production, he has achieved success not only with the Holstein herd he started out with, but across multiple breeds.  Learn more about how Mainstream Holsteins, Jerseys and Ayrshires have topped the charts and gained world-wide notoriety across all three breeds.

Founding Father Families – The Nelsons of Gray View

Dynasty in Dairy is the theme of World Dairy Expo 2023. It seems fitting that The Dairy Show would explore the personal dynasties of World Dairy Expo’s four founding fathers. In this episode, the first of a four-part series, we learn more about Gene Nelson of Gray View Farms. Gene’s son, Steve, shares his recollections of World Dairy Expo’s beginnings and the role his father played in getting the first show off the ground 56 years ago.

Meet Bonnie Cooper - World Dairy Expo International Person of the Year

With a newly minted agricultural journalism degree from the University of Wisconsin-Madison in hand, Bonnie Cooper moved to Canada in 1973 to serve as Associate Editor of the Holstein Journal. A "landed immigrant" for over two decades, she attained dual (US/Canadian) citizenship in 1994. For 45 years, Bonnie captured the events, achievements and stories surrounding Canada's Holstein business, immortalizing the cows and breeders. In this episode of The Dairy Show, learn how this international trailblazer has left an indelible mark on the dairy industry.

Ciolkosz Dairy - Caring for Cows, Land and Family

When Bill Ciolkosz and his wife, Bridget, took over the reins at Ciolkosz Dairy, located near Thorp, Wisconsin, they became the fourth generation to continuously milk cows and manage the land there. As they work to transition the farm to the fifth generation, Bill shares how a deep love and respect for the land, animals and family have served them in the past and positioned them for success in the future.

This episode of The Dairy Show is sponsored by Legacy Seeds.  Learn more at https://legacyseeds.com.