JEROMESVILLE, Ohio — The Ashland County Dairy Service Unit met for its 65th annual meeting March 14 at Hillsdale High School.
The evening began with a welcome by Unit Director Ryan Welch who introduced Ashland County Farm Bureau Organizational Director John Fitzpatrick.
Kathy Davis and Brenda West gave the secretary’s and treasurer’s reports and Brian Funk introduced the special entertainment of the evening, Steve McGranahan, The World’s Strongest Redneck.
Unit Director Kevin Spreng recognized the Ashland County Junior Fair dairy exhibitors and the sale supporters. A slide show of the junior dairy exhibitors and sale was presented.
Directors Spreng and Todd Harpster presented the Ashland County dairy awards. Award certificates were presented to each of the farms with the top records for individual and whole herd achievement in production of milk, fat, protein and low somatic cell as well as individual cows for milk, protein and lifetime production.
Ayers
Ayers Farm received recognition for their achievements. They milk 697 cows in a three-time rotation. They were recognized for having the high herd in milk production at 27,589 pounds, fat production of 951 pounds, protein production of 810 pounds, and the lowest SCC of 157,000.
Additionally, they were awarded for several high scoring Holstein cows, including cow #5592, with 39,113 pounds of milk, which was also the No. 1 aged cow in production of protein with 1,076 pounds.
The Ayers Farm received awards for nine cows with lifetime production surpassing 200,000 pounds, with the highest cow having a record of 236,149 pounds.
Idyl Wild Farms
Idyl Wild Farms are milking 688 cows consisting of a mix of Holsteins and Brown Swiss.
They held the record for the highest Holstein 3-year old in milk with 37,162 pounds.
They also had the highest Brown Swiss in milk and protein with cow #1590 producing 30,205 pounds of milk and 969 pounds of protein.
Idyl Wild Farms was also recognized for having three cows reach lifetime production records, with cow #2049 reaching 226,331 pounds.
Mutchler
The Mutchler Farm was awarded for the highest Holstein in protein production with cow #323 producing 1,164 pounds. They also hold the testing records for two lifetime production awards above 200,000 with cow #185 at 220,021 pounds.
Mong
Harold Mong is milking 283 Holsteins in a three-time schedule and was awarded for the highest 2-year-old cow in milk with production records of 32,181 pounds. He also had the highest 2-year-old cow in protein with cow #742 at 929 pounds.
Brightbill
Robert Brightbill, also milking three times, was awarded for the highest 3-year-old cow in protein production with 1,088 pounds, the highest 4-year-old in milk with cow #199 with 37,968 pounds, and cow #122 for her lifetime production record of 215,708 pounds.
Emerald Quest
Emerald Quest milks 96 Holsteins and was awarded for the highest 3-year-old in milk production and overall Holstein milking in a two-time schedule. The top production of all cows all ages was cow #3 tallied 36,840 pounds in milk and as well had a total of 1,102 pounds of protein.
Cow #278 was also reported to have the highest total of 36,840 pounds in milk.
They also had cow #192 reach the lifetime production of 241,888 pounds.
Clair Oberholtzer
The Clair Oberholtzer family dairy milk 60 Holsteins in a two-time schedule. They were awarded the top herd in both milk and protein production with 22,612 pounds in milk and 690 pounds in protein.
They also had the highest 4-year-old cow in milk with cow #249 reaching 33,527 pounds.
Harpster Enterprises
Harpster Enterprises, Ltd. have their 212 head milking herd on a two-time schedule and achieved three cows with lifetime production awards with cow #640 reaching the highest tally at 238,270 pounds.
Their aged cow #965 achieved the high tally in both milk and protein with 33,840 pounds of milk and 975 pounds of protein.
The 2-year old cow #224 was the highest in protein at 800 pounds production.
Broad-Vue Holsteins
Broad-Vue Holsteins has 31 head of registered Holsteins and achieved the award for the lowest SCC count of 88,000.
Steve Gilbert
Steve Gilbert also was awarded for the highest herd for the two-time schedule with 889 pounds in protein.
Dan Eichelberger
The Dan Eichelberger family milks 153 cows twice a day and was awarded for the cow #551 achieving the lifetime production of 226,771 pounds of milk. They also were awarded for their 2-year-old cow #117 holding the highest in milk with 27,999 pounds and their 4-year-old cow #878 topping the records with 960 pounds of protein.
Rooks Brothers
Rooks Brothers milk twice a day and were awarded for their cow #134 reaching the lifetime production award at 202,021 pounds of milk.
C W White
C W White Farms have a 164 milking head and were awarded for three cows reaching Lifetime Production Awards with their top cow achieving 220,289 pounds in milk.
Cletus Garver
Cletus Garver has a 67-head dairy herd of Jersey cows placed on a twice-a-day schedule. He was awarded for cow #4 with 23,565 pounds of milk on test and cow #55 achieving 853 pounds of protein.
Youth winners
Four youth present were drawn to receive savings bonds. They were Dillon Esselburn, Marie Elliot, Megan Timmons and Brandon Stoner.
