WOOSTER, Ohio — Wayne County dairy production was celebrated during the annual Wayne County Dairy Banquet at the Amish Door Restaurant in Wooster.
The celebration began with greetings from Joel Oney, the emcee for the evening, followed by the dinner invocation given by Art Stoller and the banquet meal.
The dairy princess contest was held, along with presentation of the dairy herd improvement awards, the scholarship and outstanding youth awards and top herds and top cows of the county on test.
State rankings
The seven herds with state rankings were the Ohio State University Agricultural and Technical Institute Jersey herd at second; the Mixed Ohio State University Agricultural and Technical Institute Mixed herd also at second with the Sha-Ro-Dan Farm’s mixed herd at third; and the Dotterer’s mixed herd at fourth.
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The Spring-Run Farms placed fifth with their Ayrshire herd. The Holstein herd of Elmer Steiner placed 11th in the state and in the 13th place was the Hal and Rod Hunsberger’s herd.
The lowest somatic cell count herds included Spring-Run’s Ayrshire herd, Ro-LA-Sue Brown Swiss Dairy, the Homer Amstutz’s Holstein Dairy and Tom Noyes with his Jersey dairy.
Top herds
The top Holstein herds with energy-corrected milk included Elmer Steiner, Steinhurst, Ohio State University Agricultural and Technical Institute, Richard and Judy Wolf, K-Land Holsteins, Ackers Dairy Farms, Ltd., Dotterer Brothers, Sharo-Dan Farms and Pine Tree Dairy.
The top energy-corrected milk Jersey herds included Ohio State University Agricultural and Technical Institute and Schirm Jersey Farm.
The top energy-corrected milk Ayrshire herds were Spring-Run Farms and Ro-LA-Sue Farm. The Ro-LA-Sue Brown Swiss herd was top energy-corrected milk herd and Ki-Ja-Mar Farm was second.
The top individual cows with energy-corrected milk were recognized. Richard and Judy Wolf’s Ayrshire cow “Lily” topped this breed at 29,076 pounds.
K-Land Holsteins had their Brown Swiss cow “Dessert” top the list for this breed at 36,304 pounds. The Brook Hollow Farm had their Guernsey cow “Lila” top this breed with 19,391 pounds.
Stoll Farms had their Holstein cow No. 6789 top the list for this breed with 51,452 pounds.
The cow numbered 1599 of the Ohio State University Agricultural and Technical Institute herd topped the list with 31,857 pounds for the Jersey breed.
Honor roll
Honor roll cows of each breed were recognized for their production in five age brackets.
The herds with top 2-year-old cows included Toppglenn Holsteins (Ayrshire), Ohio State University Agricultural and Technical Institute (Brown Swiss), Ohio State University Agricultural and Technical Institute (Jersey and Holstein) and Stoll Farms, Inc. They also had the top Holstein yearling.
Wayne County herds with the top 3-year-olds included: Spring-Run Farms (Ayrshire), K-Land Holsteins (Brown Swiss), Ohio State University Agricultural and Technical Institute (Jersey) and Stoll Farms, Inc. (Holstein).
The herds with the top 4-year-old cows included: Richard and Judy Wolf (Ayrshire), Dotterer Brothers (Brown Swiss), Ohio State University Agricultural and Technical Institute (Jersey), and Stoll Farms, Inc. (H).
The top aged cows were from Richard and Judy Wolf, (Ayrshire), Ohio State University Agricultural and Technical Institute (Brown Swiss), Dennis Wise (Jersey) and K-Land Holsteins (Holstein).
Lifetime achievement
Lifetime production awards were presented to 12 farms for the 21 cows that have reached production of at least 200,00 pounds of milk in the Holstein breeds and colored breeds at least 150,000 pounds on test.
Miley Holsteins had two cows with No. 1106 reaching 316,720 pounds to be at the top of the list. Dotterer Brothers had two cows. Raygor Farms had two cows. Rupp-Vue Farms were awarded for five cows reaching this level. Spring-Run Farms had one.
Jiman Farm had two cows and Glenellen also had two awarded. Richard and Judy Wolf had one cow awarded along with Ro-LA-Sue Dairy Farm reaching the award level for one cow.
Toppglenn Holsteins, Wenger Farms and Schirm Jersey Farm also had one notable cow production award.
Rod Scheibe was elected to join the Wayne County Dairy Service Unit, including Mike Howman, Art Stoller, Dawn Schirm, Jon Miley, Kevin Lingle, Karol Mairs and Nancy Wise. The area Dairy Herd Improvement director is Clifford Steiner.
The dairymen and their families were treated with presentations by each of the dairy princess and junior princess candidates, Amanda Gessel, Julie Gress and Hannah Rennecker.
Wayne County dairy princess Laura Gordon and junior dairy princess Diane Gress reported on their activities of the year.
Quiz bowl
The 2008 4-H Dairy Quiz Bowl team members included senior members Hayden Gress, Laura Gordon, Brandon Meier and Paul Gordon.
The junior members included Mark Gordon, Diane Gress, Julie Gress, Allison Janes, Allison Mangun, Nathaniel Kinney, Sam Weeman, Zachary Kinney, Eileen Gress, Tessa Hershey, Logan Meier, Brandon Meier and Hannah Rennecker.
Dairy princesses
The evening of activities concluded with the coronation of the dairy court and door prizes.
Amanda Gessel was presented as the 2008 Wayne County dairy princess. The 2008 junior dairy princess is Julie Gress and Hannah Rennecker will serve on the court.
Gessel, 16, is the daughter of Michael and Susan Gessel. She attends Triway High School where she is a sophomore. She is a second-year FFA member participating on the junior parliamentary procedures team along with the soils and dairy judging teams.
Gress, 11, is the daughter of Joe and Lisa Gress. She attends Shreve Elementary School and helps out with the family dairy, Spring-Run Farms. She is a four-year member of the Clinton Lads ’N Lassies 4-H Club and was a member of the 2007 top state dairy quiz bowl team. She is the owner of three Registered Ayrshire cows.
Rennecker, 10, is the daughter of Brian and Heidi Rennecker and attends Smithville Middle School. She works along with the family attending chores of the Four Winds Farm. She is a member of the Smithville Shepherds 4-H Club.
Scholarship
The Wayne County Dairy Promoters presented the 2008 dairy scholarship to Jason Miley. He is a 2007 graduate of Northwestern High School and is currently attending Ohio State University. He is the son of Joe and Diana Miley and continues to work on the family’s Registered Holstein dairy and to show cows.
Named as the 2008 Outstanding Dairy Youth were Kristen Davies and Brent Hostettler.
