Special Report

Meet the 2014 WDE individual honorees

 

Each year World Dairy Expo honors four individuals for outstanding service to the dairy industry: these are the 2014 honorees:

Dairyman of the Year is James Huffard III of Crockett, Virginia.  His family has been milking Jerseys in southwest Virginia since 1929.  James and his brother are the third generation on the farm and his son is working into the 400-cow dairy.  They bought a milk plant a four years ago and bottle and sell milk from the farm to retailers within a 100-mile radius.  They make egg nog seasonally and are developing a drinkable yogurt.  He has been active in numerous farm and other organizations including national Jersey breeders.  Huffard talks about his farm:

 

The International Person of the Year is Lowell Lindsay of Guelph, Ontario.  He was a sire analyst for United Breeders which eventually became Semex Alliance.  He strongly encouraged the Canadian A.I. businesses to participate in World Dairy Expo.  A world-renowned dairy cattle judge, he has judged the International Holstein Show at World Dairy Expo three times.  He has also judged the Brown Swiss and the Red & White Holsteins at the show.  Over his years as a sire analyst and dairy judge he has noticed a distinct improvement in the overall dairy cow.  He expects that improvement to continue in the years ahead as genomics play a larger role.  Lindsay talks about genetics and judging:

 

The Industry Person of the Year is Dr. Curtis Van Tassell who works at the USDA Bovine Functional Genomics Laboratory at Beltsville, Maryland.  They presented the first results of the genome project in January of 2008 and the industry bought-in to it immediately.  “The speed of adoption and the impact has been breathtaking!”  He says the generation interval of bulls has dropped by more than half and “the race is on on the female side so people can benefit from elite heifers at an earlier age.”  Van Tassell feels this is just the beginning for what is a very promising science in the dairy industry.  Van Tassell talks about his work in genomics:

The Dairy Woman of the Year is Pam Bolin of Clarksville, Iowa.  She and her husband, Dave milk 70 cows on a farm that has been in his family for 124 years. She has been active in dairy promotion from the local level up to serving first on the National Dairy Board and now on the board of Dairy Management Incorporated.  She is a firm believer in the importance of educating the public about dairy farmers and dairy products.  “We are in this industry because of our passion to provide people with quality food.”  Bolin talks about her farm and her efforts: