Down Memory Lane with: Dave Gietzel Dave Gietzel lives on a quiet dead-end street in small town Monticello. His home is neat and tidy and blends in seamlessly with the homes around him. What lies below, in his basement, is a collection of registered dairy memorabilia – and maybe more appropriately termed as a mini museum of dairy history and collectables. Dave grew up in Horicon in Dodge County, a county rich with dairy history. While not growing up on a farm, Dave was always interested in dairy farming. Much of this interest started when he went to the Dodge County Fair and picked up any AI catalog he could. Dave would study sire stacks and pedigrees of these stud bulls. His first catalogs included books of Holsteins, Jerseys and Guernseys, all of which were quickly memorized, and were the
gateway to the collection Dave has today. Over time, he picked up more bull books from places like Farm Progress Days and started sending away to countries like Germany and Japan. Since Dodge County is a county rich in dairy, Dave’s passion for the industry grew when his family moved out to the country where their home was surrounded by dairy farms. He worked at Braunschweig Dairy in Burnett which was, at the time, one of the highest producing herds in the state. Braunschweig Dairy sold their cows in 1978 and their sale catalog is among Dave’s most prized possessions. It sits on display next to the Hageman Holsteins Dispersal catalog and the Paclamar Farms catalog. In total, he has over 1,300 sale catalogs. Through his years of collecting sire books, breed magazines, breed directories and much more, Dave’s favorite items are from the Registered Holstein breed. He jokes, but with an air of seriousness, that if his house was on fire the Paclamar sale catalog from 1967 would be the first thing he grabs. Paclamar Bootmaker became Dave’s favorite sire over the years. In 1977, Dave was fortunate enough to tour Paclamar Farms when the National Holstein Convention was held in Colorado. Located in Boulder, Paclamar was a progressive herd for their time. They bred from some of the big-name cows of the time like Harborcrest Rose Milly EX-97 and were incredibly successful at merchandising and advertising. His appreciation for Bootmaker is seen in pieces throughout his collection including a painting of Wapa Bootmaker Mandy that he found on eBay for $50. The painting is an original work by an artist named Barb Spike. The painting hangs
Dave Gietzel collects a variety registered dairy memorabilia and meticuously organizes and stores it in his museum-like basement in his home in Monticello. 12 – Wisconsin Holstein News – December 2021
