Bonnie Ayars, Dairy Program Specialist, Department of Animal Sciences, The Ohio State University
History of OSU Dairy Judging
In the past 9 years, I have been slowly collecting information on all of the previous OSU college and 4-H dairy judging teams that represented our State at national competitions. Dr. Spike had a very detailed scrapbook of all his team's photos and names. I also had a listing of all of the Harold Kaeser teams but very few photos. Esther Welch and her daughter went back through old editions of Holstein News and found some limited information. After a trip to the Archives of Ohio State, I also came up with a few more photos that matched up to the Kaeser list. I even spoke to Harold's children about items that might be in their possession. Just last year, the staff of Hoards Dairyman went through all the notebooks at National Dairy Shrine and graciously shared Ohio photos available with me on a CD. During my tenure in this position, I have made requests for former team members to search their scrapbooks and old photos for what they could share. As a note of interest, I do have a photo of a 1922 team that included Ralph Porterfield as a student member! This is proof that we have had a team for 93 years!
In this age of technology, it is important that we preserve the rich heritage of our judging program for the benefit of all who have come before us and those that will follow. The walls of the Animal Sciences building already have livestock and meat judging teams featured in posters!
IF I have created some interest, please take time to peruse your scrapbooks and boxes of vintage photos to locate our history. If you know of anyone else that I should personally contact, please let me know. Winter months provide an excellent opportunity to work on these sorts of projects!
Collegiate Team Competes at the 2015 Fort Worth Stock Show
The Ohio State collegiate dairy judging team recently traveled to the Fort Worth Stock Show to compete in their contest. A total of 15 teams from as far west as California competed in the event. OSU finished second in reasons, with Rachel Townsley as the high individual in reasons. If you will recall, she also won top honors for her reasons at the Eastern States contest and was tied for fourth at Madison. Overall, she was 6th high individual and the team finished in 5th place. Beyond the contest, members also toured the AT&T stadium where some confetti could still be collected from the championship game. Other stops of cultural interest included two dairy farms, a yogurt production facility, old Ft. Worth museums and Longhorns, Joe T. Garcia's authentic Mexican restaurant, and the renowned Billy Bob's!
Dairy Palooza
For those of you who promote programs for youth and assist with Quality Assurance training, please note that not only will Dairy Palooza Northeast be offered at Trumbull County on May 2nd, but we will also sponsor Dairy Palooza West at the Auglaize County Fairgrounds on May 9th. Dairy specific quality assurance training and adult programs are presented during the morning. Various workshops and sessions will take place in the afternoon outlined around content for three different age groups and levels of experience. We are unique to any other youth program in Ohio. For more information, registration forms, and program content, please go to www.ohiodairypalooza.com.