OHIO HOLSTEIN CONVENTION

The Ohio Holstein Association met for their 102 Annual convention in St. Clairsville, OH on March 3-4, 2023. District 3 hosted the event that provided two days of fellowship, fun and recognition for the Hol- stein breeders in Ohio.

On Friday, the farm tours included Plainfield Farms and Cain Farms. A sale greeted the visitors to Plainfield Farms, see their sale report on page ?????. And Cain farms was automation alley with Lely robots taking care of the milking, feeding and disposing of manure.

The Ohio Convention Sale was held Friday evening where everyone enjoyed a great sale and fellowship. A complete sale report can be found on page ????? On Saturday morning the annual meeting was held, those minutes can be found on page ????. The Ohio Holstein Women met and conducted their business while simultaneously the juniors met to elect officers and prepare for a potential contest at the National Holstein Convention in Lexington, Kentucky.

The annual awards luncheon honored award winners and crowned a new Ohio Holstein Queen.

By Barb Lumley

Spring Has Sprung

Spring is here! Flowers are blooming, trees are budding, babies are birthing, grass is greening, and farmers are fussing! In some areas of Ohio field work has begun, in other areas they are waiting for fields to dry. Tractors, machinery, and farmers will be running twenty-four hours a day until the last seed is in the ground.

Show season has begun and Spring Dairy Expo is over. Numerous registered dairy animals, including the Holsteins, have had their first test of the show season and the owners have to decide whether to continue with their first choices or return to the barn and look the herd over again. Youth have had their first experience on the halter and will be practicing and thinking about the comments they received from the showmanship judge. Parents and advisors are reminding the youth, especially the “first-timers”, that practice doesn’t always make someone perfect but it will make you better and hopefully less nervous. Just remember, parents, grandparents, great-grandparents, and anyone else who cares----regardless if the heifer lays down, the halter comes off, the legs were placed wrong, the head not high enough, or the judge was too scary to look at, give that young show person a big hug when they leave the ring and tell them how proud you are of them. That can make a difference in their life!

The Ohio Spring Sale is to be held on Friday, April 21 at the Wayne County Fairgrounds, Wooster. If you don’t have a show calf for the youth in your life to show, there will be show age calves and heifers selling there. Youth don’t have to live on a dairy farm to want to show a dairy animal. There are kids out there who would be thrilled to have the opportunity to show a calf in 4-H or F.F.A. at a county fair, or at any district or state show. There are dairy farmers who might like to have a good calf shown, but don’t have children to participate. Why not work together! I encourage reg- istered Holstein breeders, as well as those with other breeds, to consider this idea. The more our youth who do not live on farms can learn about farming, and especially dairy farming, the better it will be for both parties. Learning about how milk is produced and how all those other dairy products appear on the grocery store shelves the better it will be for the dairy industry.

There are counties in Ohio that no longer have any dairy farms and other counties who only have a few. I announced the dairy show in one of those counties last summer. In spite of only one or two dairy farms in the county, nineteen (19) youth of all ages showed dairy animals. All of them participated in Showmanship. They all entered the ring in their whites. Their animals were under control and you could tell they had been worked with. Animals were clean, properly clipped and halters were fitted correctly. Almost all were on loan from dairy breeders who lived in another county or dairy farmers who were only raising heifers. The youth went to the farms every week-end to work with the animals and learn more about dairy farming and hard work. The people in that county are very proud of those youth and of the program in their county that makes it possible for more youth to show dairy!

Giving youth the opportunity to learn about dairy animals and to participate in the show ring will not only help to keep them drinking milk and consuming dairy products as they grow, it will also instill the habit of buying and consuming dairy products throughout their lifetime! A blue ribbon win for dairy farmers!