Dr. Maurice Eastridge, Dairy Extension Specialist, The Ohio State University
The 10th anniversary of the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge® (NAIDC; http://dairychallenge.org) was March 31-April 2 in Hickory, NC. The contest attracted 127 college students from 30 schools across the United States and Canada. It was hosted by North Carolina State University.
Two pre-contest farm tours were made available to the students and their coaches: Myers Farms, Inc. and Lucky-L Jerseys. The four host dairy farms for the contest were Beams Dairy Farm, John Beam, III and John Beam, IV; Eaker Dairy Farm, Rusty and Cameron Eaker; Corey and Bridgette Lutz of Piedmont Jerseys; and Gar-Mac Farm, Inc., Gary and Sharon MacGibbon.
The two-day contest started with a walk-through by the team of the assigned dairy farm, analysis of farm data, and a question-answer session with owners. Then each team developed recommendations for the farm and presented them to a panel of five judges.
The highest award of Platinum was earned by teams from California State University-Fresno, Cornell University, The Penn State University, and University of Wisconsin-River Falls. The Reserve Platinum teams were University of Alberta, University of Idaho, Michigan State University, and Washington State University.
The next highest award is Gold and the third level is Silver. The team for Ohio State University received a gold award and consisted of Alissa Hunter, Andrew Lefeld, Stephanie Neal, and Teresa Smith. The team evaluated the Gar-Mac Farm and was coached by Dr. Maurice Eastridge. The 2012 contest will be hosted by Virginia Tech University in the Roanoke area.
Pictured: Back Row (L to R): Teresa Smith, Stephanie Neal, and Alissa Hunter.
Front Row: Dr. Maurice Eastridge (coach), and Andrew Lefeld.