Putt, Loveday lead Tuscarawas herds

RAGERSVILLE, Ohio – The sister act got into play when the Tuscarawas County junior and senior dairy princesses were crowned for 2004.

Approximately 100 people attended the countywide annual dairy banquet Feb. 26 at Ragersville Zion United Church of Christ.

Heidi Schwab was chosen senior dairy princess and her sister, Stephanie, was chosen junior dairy princess.

They are the daughters of Mike and Amanda Schwab of 4612 Fry’s Valley Rd., Port Washington.

The girls are members of Oldtown Boys 4-H Club and Eastern Ohio Youth Rodeo. Heidi was an attendant to the 2003 dairy princess.

Production awards. Top dairy herds, in both the official and unofficial category, received production certificates or plaques.

The unofficial category was new this year. With the unofficial herd, the dairy farmers use DHI equipment, but do the weighing and testing themselves.

Loveday, Putt lead ranks. Jim and Marcia Loveday of Dundee had the high official herd for milk for a herd of 100 or less cows. Their herd of 74 cows produced an average of 23,782 pounds of milk per cow.

The Loveday herd was also the top official herd of 100 cows or less for production of protein, with an average production of 687 pounds.

Putt Dairy Farms, owned by Dean Putt of Sugarcreek, had the top herd in both milk and protein production for a herd of more than 101 cows. The herd of 354 cows produced an average of 28,287 pounds of milk and 886 pounds of protein.

The high official herd in butterfat production award, with an average of 1,021 pounds per cow, went to Gary Burky of New Philadelphia for a herd of 341 head.

Carlene Farms, New Philadelphia, received the high official herd award for butterfat production for a herd of less than 100 cows. The 78-cow herd averaged 919 pounds per cow.

Unofficial tests. High unofficial herd in milk production went to Ray Mutti for a herd of less than 100 cows with an average production of 22,350 pounds, and to Bill Deetz for a herd of more than 101 cows with an average of 26,143 pounds.

Mutti also received the award for high unofficial herd in butterfat, with 882 pounds, and Dale Putt received the high unofficial herd award in butterfat for a herd of more than 100 cows, with 920 pounds.

High unofficial herd in protein production also went to the Ray Mutti herd, with 663 pounds, and to Bill Deetz with 765 pounds.

Most improved. The official most improved herd award went to Pine Grove Farm, owned by Terry Gaskill of Newcomerstown, with an increase of 2,917 pounds of milk on 93 cows.

Putt Dairy Farm had the official high lifetime cow, with a production of 288,855 pounds of milk, 9,058 pounds of fat, and 8,728 pounds of protein in 10 lactations.

Dale Putt had the unofficial lifetime cow, with a production of 260,220 pounds of milk, 10,060 pounds of fat and 7,861 pounds of protein in seven lactations.

The Kenneth Ridenour herd was honored for the official low somatic cell count 146,000, while the Vernon Mutti Dairy Farm had the unofficial low somatic cell count of 150,000.

In Tuscarawas County, 54 dairy herds are currently on DHI test.

Anderson’s Jerseys had the top colored breed herd. The 84-cow herd produced an average of 15,261 pounds of milk, 750 pounds of fat and 556 pounds of protein which exceeded state averages for all Jersey herds.

Scholarship. Connie Finton presented a $300 scholarship award in honor of the late John Demuth to Laken Stocker, 18, daughter of Richard and Kay Stocker of Port Washington.

Demuth was fair board president and a strong supporter of the county youth program.

A senior at Indian Valley High, where she is president of the FFA, Stocker plans to attend the Ohio State University’s Agricultural Technical Institute at Wooster.