Wayne County: Meeting recognizes No. 1 industry

WOOSTER, Ohio – Area dairymen were recognized for efforts in maintaining the county’s No. 1 industry during the 2004 Wayne County Dairy Service Unit annual meeting.

Holsteins. K-Land Holsteins was recognized as the county’s top Holstein herd for milk, protein and energy-corrected milk with 26,104 pounds of milk, 827 pounds of protein and 28,717 pounds of energy-corrected milk.

K-Land Holsteins also had the top Holstein cow with 45,300 pounds of milk, 1,633 pounds of fat, 1,314 pounds of protein and 45,947 pounds of energy-corrected milk.

Ayrshires, Guernsey. Cantendo Acres was recognized as the county’s top Ayrshire herd for milk, fat and energy-corrected milk with 17,534 pounds of milk, 676 pounds of fat and 18,354 energy-corrected milk.

Ro-La-Sue Farm had the county’s top Ayrshire with 21,256 pounds of milk, 1,559 pounds of fat, 836 pounds of protein and 32, 883 pounds of energy-corrected milk.

Gill Farm had the county’s top Guernsey cow with 18,820 pounds of milk, 832 pounds of fat, 643 pounds of protein and 21,815 pounds of energy-corrected milk.

Walnut Hill Farms was recognized for the county’s top Guernsey herd with 13,546 pounds of milk, 631 pounds of fat, 457 pounds of protein and 15,728 pounds of energy-corrected milk.

K-Land, again. K-Land Swiss had the top Brown Swiss cow with 35,960 pounds of milk, 1,435 pounds of fat, 1,101 pounds of protein and 38,710 pounds of energy-corrected milk, while Acacia Farm was recognized as the top herd with 20,068 pounds of milk, 997 pounds of fat, 684 pounds of protein and 24,672 pounds of energy-corrected milk.

Jerseys. Ohio State University/Agricultural Technical Institute had the county’s top Jersey herd with 16,487 pounds of milk, 828 pounds of fat, 624 pounds of protein and 20,830 pounds of energy-corrected milk.

Schirm Jersey Farm had the top cow with 24,060 pounds of milk, 1,266 pounds of fat, 863 pounds of protein and 30,166 pounds of energy-corrected milk.

Miley Holsteins received the high lifetime production for a cow producing 281,400 pounds of milk, 10,672 pounds of fat and 9,128 pounds of protein.

New award. This year, Wayne County added a new award to the program.

This award recognizes the herd with the lowest somatic cell count and was presented to Harmony Echo Farm owned by Walter Zimmerman.

Rough times. During the meeting, Paul Schirm, district director for DHI Ohio told the audience that the organization had been through some rough times, but things are improving, as both cow numbers and herd numbers have increased.

“We have worked on testing and improving relationships with our customers,” Schirm said. “We are working on getting records back to the producers as fast as possible.”

Ann Obrecht, Wayne County commissioner, told the group that with the state budget taking a 10 percent across the board cut in funding, extension, the Ohio Agricultural Research and Development Center, and the College of Agriculture would also be affected.

Obrecht and Tom Noyes, dairy agent, urged the group to write their legislators and express their concerns about the issue.

Noyes told the group that due to funding cuts, the state had been re-districted from six districts to four, and positions had been frozen.

Elections. Kurt Mairs, Nathan Fair, Mike Howman and Art Stoller were elected to a three-year term on the board of the Wayne County Dairy Service Unit.

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Wayne Co. youth recognized for dairy

By Susan Mykrantz

Farm and Dairy Correspondent

WOOSTER, Ohio – Sherri Gress, of Wooster, Ohio, was crowned as the 2004 Wayne County dairy princess during the 2004 Wayne County Dairy Service Unit’s annual meeting.

Gress, 16, is the daughter of Matt Gress and Robin Gress. She is a student at Triway High School where she is active in FFA.

She is also a member of the Apple Creek Wide-A-Wake 4-H club where her projects have included dairy cattle and veterinary science.

She participates in dairy judging and helps on the family dairy farm. She was also selected as the most improved senior member of the senior division dairy judging team.

Runner-up. Mallory Wells of Shreve was selected as the first runner-up.

Wells, 16, is the daughter of Denny and Jodie Wells.

She is a student at Triway High School and is a member of the Clinton Lads-n-Lassies 4-H club.

She has shown dairy cattle on the county, state and national level and was the 2002 Wayne County junior dairy princess.

Junior princess. Eileen Gress was selected as the 2004 junior dairy princess.

Gress, 10, is the daughter of Joe and Lisa Gress of Shreve. She attends Shreve Elementary and is a member of the Clinton Lads-n-Lassies 4-H club.

She is involved in dairy judging, the dairy knowledge bowl team and enjoys showing dairy cattle.

Junior runner-up. Megan Raber was selected as the junior dairy princess first runner-up.

Raber, 11, is the daughter of James and Tammy Raber of Creston.

She attends Creston Middle School and is involved in dairy judging and the dairy knowledge bowl.

Other recognition. Other youth recognized during the meeting included Kristen Davies, as the most improved member of the junior division dairy judging team, and Joe Weeman as the outstanding dairy youth. The dairy service unit scholarship recipients were Bethany Bechtel and Jaci Snyder.