Magnochi named World Dairy Expo cattle show manager

World Dairy Expo announcing the new Dairy Cattle Show Manager is Ann Marie Magnochi. The Washington State University graduate grew up on her family’s purebred dairy farm at Carnation, Washington. She is active in Two Sisters’ Dairy, home to Magnaville Holsteins, Buttercrest Brown Swiss and her sister’s Amber Rose Jersey and Guernsey prefixes.

Most recently she has been a Field Reporter for Holstein World as well as a Youth Advisor for the Washington Junior Holstein Association. . Prior to that, she served as a Resource Planner for Small Farm and Dairy Planning at the King Conservation District.

She will begin her duties with World Dairy Expo on June 10th where she will manage the cattle show functions including the eight breed shows, breed sales, youth contests, ethics, Dairy Cattle Superintendents and Dairy Cattle Exhibitor Committee. She will work closely with the Wisconsin Division of Animal Health to insure animal health protocols are being followed. Ann Marie will also work with The Dane County Fair, North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge and Purebred Dairy Cattle Association organizations of WDE Management, Inc.

Sheep scholarship applications due June 1

Applications for the $1,500 Sheep Heritage Foundation Memorial Scholarship are due June 1, 2013.

To qualify, applicants must:

  • Be a graduate student involved in sheep and/or wool research in such areas as animal science, agriculture economics or veterinary medicine with proof of graduate school acceptance;
  • Complete an application (Click Here to Download the Application); and
  • Present two letters of reference.

The application form can be downloaded from the home page of the American Sheep Industry Association or by contacting the ASI, Attn: Memorial Scholarship, 9785 Maroon Circle, Suite 360, Englewood, CO 80112-2692, telephone 303-771-3500 or email mary@sheepusa.org.

View the full news release here.

Deadline ahead for Bayer Fellowship Program scholarships

The Bayer Fellowship Program offers foundation grant scholarships to applicants who want to work in Germany – and those from German-speaking countries who want to work abroad.

The program will accept applications from June 1 until July 15, 2013 for the above scholarships.

Find more details at the Bayer Foundations website.

FFA Spotlight: Oblong High School

Our next Beck’s Hybrids/Brownfield FFA Chapter Spotlight takes us to Oblong High School.

Leadership and responsibility are just two of the skills members of the Oblong FFA take from their participation in FFA.  One of the major projects for the FFA chapter is their greenhouse.  Chapter reporter Jolena Visner says their every year in their greenhouse they plant both annuals and perennials and during the month of May sell their plants in their community.  Visner says not only is the greenhouse and plant sale a big fundraiser for the chapter – it also teaches the members responsibility and how to take care of plants.

The Oblong FFA Chapter participates in numerous FFA competitions like horse and dairy judging and agronomy – but chapter president Hannah Lamb says they do particularly well in the poultry judging competitions.

The Chapter is also active in their community.  Every other year the students put on Ag Day event and host between 2,000 and 3,000 visitors from around the county and every October the chapter invites 1st, 2nd, and 3rd grade students to take part in what they call Pumpkin Palooza.  A day filled with educational activities, crafts, and lunch.

Taylor Musgrave, Oblong FFA Secretary says these community events help develop their people skills and better prepare them for future endeavors.

The Oblong FFA Chapter advisor is Kerry Travis.

They were nominated by Beck’s Hybrids’ Kent Glover.

2013 summer ag scholarship deadlines

June 2013

June 1
American Agri-Women’s Daughters of American Agriculture scholarships

American Sheep Industry Association scholarship due

June 10
Noah Morris scholarship deadline

June 15
American Association of Bovine Practitioners scholarship deadlines

Ohio State Fair scholarship deadline

June 17
Illinois Corn Marketing Board internship applications due

July 2013

July 1
Jersey Youth scholarship deadlines

July 15

Bayer Fellowship Program scholarship deadline

Noah Morris Memorial Scholarship deadline approaches

2013 Noah Morris scholarship

Students have until next month to apply for a Wisconsin memorial scholarship.

The Noah Morris Memorial Scholarship honors the former Clinton High School athlete, who died in an automobile accident in July 2012.

Two scholarships for $2,000 each will be awarded this year.

To qualify, students must:

  • Have exhibited swine.
  • Be a member of Team Purebred or NJSA.
  • Pursue a degree in agriculture.
  • Attend a technical school, junior college, community college or university.

Applications are due June 10, 2013.

Fill out the application at http://www.wisconsinshowpigassociation.com/noah2013_rev.pdf.

Find more details at http://www.wisconsinshowpigassociation.com/.

Rochelle Ripp looks back on her year as “Alice”

DATCP photo

DATCP photo

On Friday night, the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection will announce the 66th Alice in Dairyland. Four young ladies are going through an extensive interview process this week in Calumet County including radio and television interviews, speeches, written presentations, product presentations, public appearances and business tours…all under the watchful eye of a selection panel. 

It was one year ago that Rochelle Ripp was going through this…for the second time. She says the process is designed to give the candidates a good idea of what a day-in-the-life of Alice is like and to give the selection panel a good look at how each candidate can handle it.

Ripp says it is hard to believe her year as the 65th Alice in Dairyland is almost over, “Eleven months have passed in the blink-of-an-eye.” She says her biggest surprise as Alice was “the disconnect with consumers and agriculture.” She somewhat expected it in Milwaukee but not out in the rural areas. “We need to continue to tell our story.”

Ripp especially enjoyed visiting the various agricultural businesses around the state and learning more about” how agriculture impacts our daily lives, the food we eat, the clothes we wear, the shelter over our head even our fuel.”

Does she have any suggestions as to what could make the Alice program better? She says it is a great way for agriculture to connect with consumers and a great opportunity for people like her. Her advice to the next “Alice”: “Take each day as it comes, enjoy it and be proud of what you are representing and the people you represent.”

Rochelle’s last official day as Alice will be June 2nd, after that, she is hoping to find something similar in the agriculture industry, “It won’t be the last you see of me, I promise you that!”

AUDIO: RIpp talks about her year 11:00 mp3

Further details on the finale in Calument County can be found here:

Alice in Dairyland is a public relations professional working for the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection. She travels throughout the state, nation and world to promote Wisconsin products to audiences of all ages, educating the media, youth and civic groups about the many facets of the state’s agricultural industry.

Registrations due May 17 for Missouri 4-H Public Speaking Academy

Registrations are due May 17, 2013 for the third annual 4-H Public Speaking Academy, June 18-19 at Central Methodist University in Fayette, Missouri

University of Missouri Extension staff, former 4-H volunteers and college professors will provide educational workshops to youth to build public speaking skills.

Youth ages 11-13 will be guided through the basics and finer points of writing and delivering a speech.

Lodging will be provided on the CMU campus; activities will include swimming.

For more information, contact Patty Fisher at fisherp@missouri.edu or 573-324-5464, or Kathy Bondy at bondyk@missouri.edu or 660-584-3658.

2013 Farm Mom of the Year finalist

Americas Farmers photo

Americas Farmers photo

Tina Hinchley of Cambridge, Wisconsin  is the Midwest Regional Finalist for America’s Farmers 2013 Farm Mom of the Year. Tina milks the 105 registered Holsteins in the herd, “my husband doesn’t really enjoy milking, they’re my girls and I like it.”

In 1997 they started doing farm tours as an extra source of income plus “it would also make us better farmers because we would keep the place tidy, making sure the environment around the animals would be safe for the kids.” They host everything from school groups to families. The tours are booked in advance but the amount of time they spend on the tour is kind of up to the visitors. “The schools have a limited time but some of the families come at 10 o’clock in the morning and they are here all day.”

While the school tours are an annual occurrence, most of the individual tours are from on-line inquiries. When the internet was first becoming popular, Tina got “dairyfarmtours.com” so if you Google dairy farm tours, theirs is the first search result. A tour starts with a basic lesson in farm safety “we put basic rules down”. They go into the milkhouse where they learn about how the milk gets from the cow to the store. “A lot of the families that come out think the cows are still milked by hand” says Hinchley. A visit to the haymow gives her the opportunity to explain that the drought is the reason there is no hay in the mow right now. The farm also is home to turkeys, chickens, pigs, dairy goats, sheep and a couple of beehives which each present the chance to talk to the visitors about meat, eggs, hormones, free-range, GMO’s, monoculture, pesticides. In the fifteen years she has been doing tours she has noticed people are further-removed from the farm along with more concern from people about where their food comes from and what is in it. She says transparency is the key, “If you’re not willing to show them or tell them why you do what you do it seems secretive to these consumers.” You need to let them know, share your feelings, “let them hear your passion.”

[Read more...]

Iowa native to lead World Dairy Expo

The Board of DIrectors of World Dairy Expo has named Scott Bentley to be the new general manager effective June 3rd.  A native of Ames, Iowa, Bentley earned a Dairy Science degree from Iowa State and a Master’s in Business Administration from Purdue. He is the Global Supply Manger at ABS Global in DeForest, Wisconsin.

Bentley will replace Mark Clarke who resigned last November to become executive director of the Alliant Energy Center and oversee a planned remodel and expansion of the facilities which host World Dairy Expo. Bob Kaiser has been serving as interim general manager while the WDE Board conducted the search for a permanent GM.