Dr. Maurice L. Eastridge, Professor and Extension Dairy Specialist, The Ohio State University
The 2012 annual meeting of the American Dairy Science Association (ADSA), held jointly with the annual meeting of the American Society of Animal Science (ASAS), was July 15-19 in Phoenix, Arizona. The meetings attracted more than 3000 professionals and guests from the US, Mexico, Canada, and beyond and more than 120 undergraduate students and academic advisors from the US. Many activities occur during the annual meeting, including an awards program and undergraduate and graduate student contests. Ohio State was in the spotlight with the following recognitions:
Dr. Jeffrey Firkins, Professor, Department of Animal Sciences, received the American Feed Industry Association Award for his outstanding research in dairy cattle nutrition.
Emily Stayduhar, 2012 Spring graduate with BS in Animal Science and accepted into College of Veterinary Medicine for 2012 Fall, placed first in an undergraduate student production division presentation on "Monitoring the Composition of Waste Milk Fed to Dairy Calves".
They make the journey to the Ohio 4-H Center from all areas of Ohio. The individuals and teams spend countless hours examining reproduction, milk marketing, bovine health and diseases, and even places and locations of major dairy events. Toss in all those acronyms and it is enough to test the genius of Mr. Einstein. It is the journey that challenges the competitors, but the destination promises rewards if luck is on their side. Prompted by the four leaf clover, they find it fun to answer questions quickly and even wager a few bets. Although dairy farming is as risky as Vegas, our gamblers go home with a pocketful of memories!
On Monday, June 18th, our Ohio 4-H Dairy Quiz Bowl and Jeopardy was held at the Nationwide and Ohio Farm Bureau 4-H center on the campus of Ohio State. After a light breakfast, introductions of volunteers, and some orientation, junior and senior contestants went to separate rooms to complete a pre-test that would be evaluated for points and brackets. Questions such as what is another term for calving and who is the managing editor of Hoard's Dairyman were just two of the many answered correctly! A walking tour of campus helped to pass the time while tests were evaluated and team brackets organized. The junior competition included teams and double elimination rounds and the senior division was formatted similar to the popular "Jeopardy" game show.
Top Senior Jeopardy Individuals (left to right):
6th place Logan Meier (Wayne County), 5th place Kadey Starkey (Champaign County), 4th place Mark Gordon (Wayne County), 3rd place Julie Gress (Wayne County), 2nd place Tessa Topp (Wayne County) and 1st and winner Levi Plocher (Mahoning County).
Winning Jr. Quiz Bowl Team: Wayne A (left to right),
Coach Lisa Gress, Todd Gordon, Denice Wolfe, Thomas Gress,
and Sara Wolfe.
High Score, Written Senior Test:
Mark Gordon (Wayne County; pictured
with Bonnie Ayars)
<p align="center" "="">High Score, Written Junior Test (left to right):
All tied for high score: Thomas Gress (Wayne County)
JD Nelson (Champaign County), and Brennan Topp (Wayne County).