The North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge Contest is a two day event that brings together students from around the world to gain real life, hands-on experience and learn from industry experts. Gathering together to discuss the 21st Annual Dairy Challenge are organizers, Amy te-Plate Church, Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, Kristi Fiedler and Barry Putnam.
Guests: Dairy Challenge Organizers, Producers, Coaches & Student Winners
The North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge Contest is a two day event that brings together students from around the world to gain real life, hands-on experience and learn from industry experts. Gathering together to discuss the 21st Annual Dairy Challenge are organizers, Amy tePlate-Church, Dr. Mike Van Amburgh, Kristi Fiedler and Barry Putnam.
Fielder, Dairy Sales Manager for Cargill and Board Chair for the Dairy Challenge Committee began the conversation, explaining the value of Dairy Challenge as a networking opportunity for the next generation. (3:29)
Each team has four students and this year there were 31 competing teams. In addition, 142 students participated in the 10th Anniversary of the Academy, an intensive training program in conjunction with the Dairy Challenge contest.
The Dairy Challenge is all about the next generation, Church mentioned. She said she believes it’s one place where students get the chance to meet many dairy leaders from various sectors, while growing and developing their skills at the same time. (3:58)
Host producers also joined in for the National Dairy Challenge Conversation, including Maxwell Chittenden from Dutch Hallow, Liam Hanahan from Turning Point Dairy and Kyle Getty from Ideal Dairy.
As host farms, Hanehan shared that each producer opens up their operations for two hours during Dairy Challenge for students to take tours and analyze their facilities, cows and even records. He went on to say that bringing a fresh set of eyes is a bit scary, but the students think big picture and usually are able to point out great strengths and weaknesses. (12:13)
Not only do the students learn, but so do the producers. Getty said oftentimes students point out things they’ve missed or even offer feedback that turns into a simple fix. (16:50)
Stuart and Jessica Ziehm with Tiashake Farm were the 2023 Dairy Challenge Academy Host Dairy Producers.
Sharing a few stories from the Academy, Jessica said they recently renovated a 200 year old barn into a farm store as an opportunity to not only sell their beef and pork products, but also other local products. She mentioned having students visit was a great opportunity that they hope to continue into the future. (25:09)
Also joining around the pub are National Dairy Challenge coaches Dr. Shaun Wellert, Dr. Joe Domecq and Dr. Lauren Mayo.
Selecting just four students for each team is not an easy task, but Dr. Domecq said the process is simple as students develop new skills fairly quickly. As coaches, they figure out who works best together and their individual strengths. 33:29
Dr. Wellert shifted the conversation briefly, sharing a few changes he’s seen over the last decade. He mentioned that ten years ago each student was from an agricultural background, but now trends show only one student out of seven is from a dairy or has any industry background. (35:61)
Closing the conversation, Dr. Jeff Elliot, podcast co-host and technical service specialist for Balchem mentioned the 2023 four first place teams, students and their individual studies of interest.
Placing first at the Dairy Challenge was four students from the University of Guelph including Madeline McClennan (Animal Biology), Allison Visser (Honors Agriculture), Corine Bateman (Food and Agricultural Business) and Johnathan Koot (Animal Science).
In addition, Emily Starceski (Animal Science), Kevin Jess (Ag Science and Animal Science), Blake Wadsworth (Animal Science) and Caroline Lafferty (Agricultural Business) all students at Cornell University placed first as well.
The University of Wisconsin River Falls team also won and included Alison Wagner (Dairy Science), Grace Haase (Agricultural Business), Ben Stone (Chemistry) and Haley Kirchoff (Agribusiness).
Lastly, was Purdue University. Team members included Lane Bollenbach (Animal Science), Chad Patterson (Agriculture Systems Management), Tobyn Smith (Animal Science), Miriam Cook (Agriculture Economics).
Congratulations to all participating teams from the 2023 North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge!
Please subscribe and share with your industry friends to bring more people to join us around the Real Science Exchange virtual pub table.
If you want one of our new Real Science Exchange t-shirts, screenshot your rating, review, or subscription, and email a picture to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Include your size and mailing address, and we’ll get a shirt in the mail to you.
Scott Sorrell (00:00:07):
Good evening everyone, and welcome to the Real Science Exchange, the podcast we're leading scientists and industry professionals meet over a few drinks to discuss the latest ideas and trends in animal nutrition. Tonight we're in, uh, Saratoga Springs, New York at the National Dairy Challenge with the organizers of the National Dairy Challenge. Um, to my right here is Amy to plot a church. Um, Amy, I didn't think I'd get through that, but I did. Perfect. Uh, if you wouldn't mind, give me a quick overview of, who you are and, and what you do for the Dairy Challenge. Yes,
New Speaker (00:00:38):
Certainly. So I've been involved with the Dairy Challenge, Oh, going on 12 or 13 years. Do you know how time flies? Yes. So I've done that in different roles from, uh, being a volunteer to start, and then a leader of our publicity efforts at one point, a member of the National Board and, then on the planning committee for last year at the National and Green Bay.
Scott Sorrell (00:00:57):
Oh, thank you, Dr. Van Amberg. Uh, welcome back to the Real Science Exchange. Good to see you here.
Dr. Mike Van Amburgh (00:01:03):
Good to see you, Scott.
Scott Sorrell (00:01:04):
Uh, same for you, about 15 minutes or 15 seconds.
Dr. Mike Van Amburgh (00:01:07):
Yeah. Yeah. So I got started with the Dairy Challenge in 2003, uh, when we first hosted it, um, at Cobleskill New York. That was the, uh, first regional contest. Uh, I've been the coach at Cornell ever since in the Nationals. I've been on the board, I've been chair, I've been the organizer. I've kind of done it all. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:01:28):
Excellent. And to my left is my, uh, co-host, uh, Dr. Jeff Elliot. Uh, Jeff, glad to have you back here again. Uh, hi, Scott. I know you're on the committee as well. Why don't you give us a quick overview of who you are and what you do?
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:01:40):
All right. I may be the younger one of the group as far as being on the, not age-wise, but experience. I gotcha. Okay. Christie's kicking me under the table.
Scott Sorrell (00:02:07):
Excellent. Christie,
Kristi Fiedler (00:02:09):
Uh, Christie Feedler. I've been involved with Dairy Challenge since 2008, when Amy Talo, uh, brought me to the National Dairy Challenge in Madison. And, uh, I've held several roles and helped with Midwest planning. Uh, been a judge, been an advisor. Uh, and most recently, I'm on my sixth year, uh, on the board and this year as the board of the National Dairy Challenge
Scott Sorrell (00:02:29):
Very well. And Barry,
Barry Putnam (00:02:31):
Well, I've been here, uh, 20 years, uh, working on the Dairy Challenge in various capacities. I've been the chairman of the, the, the board of Directors for the Dairy Challenge, and this year I was, uh, asked to be the host, uh, the Bring It here in Saratoga. So I'm happy to
Scott Sorrell (00:02:48):
Do that. Uh, very well. Thank you for that. Christie, I'm gonna start with you. Tell us what the Dairy Challenge is.
Kristi Fiedler (00:02:53):
Sure. So the Dairy Challenge is an event where we bring colleges from around the country and in Canada to come together and they come to one location to get real-life, hands-on experience of what, uh, people do in the industry. And so it gives them a chance to learn, it gives 'em a chance to network and at the same time compete. And it's really fun watching these students and how it's thrived over the years and how the schools have advanced their programs. And the competition has just gotten tougher and tougher because the presentations and what the students deliver to the farms that they've gone to have been astonishing.
Scott Sorrell (00:03:29):
Hmm, that's awesome. How many teams competing this year?
Kristi Fiedler (00:03:32):
So this year we have 31 competition teams. Uh, there are four students in each team, and then we also have 142 students participating in the Academy. And even more special this year, the Academy is celebrating its 10th anniversary.
Scott Sorrell (00:03:46):
Hmm. Very nice. And, uh, Amy, what, what makes a dairy challenge different?
New Speaker (00:03:51):
I think this is the one place where you can come and meet so many of the leaders in the dairy industry that come from different sectors. So you have, uh, leading producers in the area, you have the industry, the consultants that are serving them, and then the universities and experts that bring the students. And that's all about the students. You know, they are the next generation and they are the ones that are gonna take this excellent industry, even to another level as they learn and grow their skills.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:04:21):
I wanna hear about how things have changed from Mike. He's, he, he's been in it for a while. And how is the, how's the program itself matured?
Dr. Mike Van Amburgh (00:04:32):
Well, that's a really good question. Um, I, I guess I'd start by saying, when we started this whole thing, you know, the, the original intent was to be able to get students, there was a desire to wanna change, not change college curriculums, but to integrate curriculums to, you know, you know, we're all gonna learn about the biology of the Cal, we're going to learn about some human resource management, we're gonna talk about Cal management. What we were missing also was financial management. And the intent was to bring all of that together. So people who were out serving, either acting as a dairy farmer for a profession or serving the dairy farmers as part of the allied industry, could have functional conversations about how you, how you do all of that. Right. And we move ahead. So when we started, I think the, the biggest difference from, from now till then was a, a lot of colleges and a lot of students didn't know how to do that.
Dr. Mike Van Amburgh (00:05:29):
Right. They didn't know what to think, they hadn't taken any financial accounting. They didn't know how to do a partial budget, you know? Um, and now of a sudden we're asking them to tell us, you know, what kind of milk they're making at peak and mid lactation, and then what the cost of production is, and then what the margin is on that, and then what may need to happen to make that better. Right. And what the financial ramification is, the biggest change is we now have lots of students here who can do all of that, right? And they can have arguments about, did you do your budget right, right? Is that the right margin? Did you do your EBITDA correctly? We're talking about EBITDA now. Right. We never did. That wasn't even on the radar screen, you know, 20 years ago. So it's made tremendous progress.
Kristi Fiedler (00:06:15):
Yeah. I can say as a sponsor that we come here to recruit these students and it's been amazing cuz they come out and they are ready, they are prepared for what they're gonna do in the real world. And so we're always looking for this on resumes. And many, many of our, our nutritionists that are out there came from Dairy Challenge and they can talk to their professors and they had the, what they've learned, and it's been, it makes our job easier for training them because they're that much further advanced.
Scott Sorrell (00:06:42):
Yeah. I'm gonna throw this next question out to the group. Uh, you know, we talk about the Dairy Challenge is for the students, but it's, it's for the industry as well, right? It's, we're the students aren't the only ones benefiting. Can we, can we talk about some of the benefits? You talked about, you know, the nutritionist that is populating, uh, the countryside out there. What, are some of the other benefits?
Barry Putnam (00:07:02):
I see the benefit a lot is, uh, networking. That, um, we, we do talk to the students. Most of these students are gonna end up back in industry or, or back on the farm. But, uh, a lot of them, there is time. I just talked to a sponsor today that, you know, when the students are around, they're talking. So they're sharing ideas, they're sharing what works in their company, in their organizations. Uh, and quite honestly, we always used to say it's about your first job, but it's really about the second or third career that you will have in a different organization.
Scott Sorrell (00:07:38):
Hmm. Yeah. Well said. Um, Amy gonna ask you, uh, to kind of close this out, how can the industry, uh, engage, uh, with the Dairy Challenge?
New Speaker (00:07:49):
So the short answer would be to say yes. So when you're asked to be a part of the Dairy Challenge, then say Yes. So as a farm, that could look like inviting a team, uh, even for a practice session, Mike, you go out onto farms and say yes to having students come and visit your dairy. Uh, farmers could be, um, judges, advisors at the academy, um, and for the industry then, uh, certainly sponsoring through financial support or in-kind donations and having expertise here as judges, advisors, um, volunteering and committee. So, one of the real benefits of the Dairy Challenge is it moves around the country and we have four regional events in addition to this national. So a J Dairy Challenge is coming near you. So say yes when you're asked.
Scott Sorrell (00:08:36):
Oh, very well, well said. You know, this is a well-run, uh, event. It's amazing the amount of time that you guys put into it. I just wanna personally thank you, guys, for your commitment and the time that you put into the students. So thank you. And thank you for joining us this evening. Thank
Kristi Fiedler (00:08:51):
You. Thank you. Thanks.
New Speaker (00:08:52):
Tonight's podcast stories are brought to
Speaker 7 (00:08:54):
You by, by reassured Precision Release choline reassure is the most researched, encapsulated choline on the market today, consistently delivering results to your transition cows of higher peak milk, reduced metabolic disorders, and even in utero benefits to her calf leading to growth and health improvements. Visit bache.com to learn more.
Scott Sorrell (00:09:22):
All right, Jeff, we're back here with the host producers here at the National Dairying Challenge. This week, uh, with us is Maxwell Chittenden, uh, from Dutch Hollow, Liam Hanahan from, uh, turning Point Dairy, and Kyle Getty from Ideal Dairy. Uh, Maxwell, I think we're gonna start with you. Would you mind giving me a 32nd overview of your dairy?
Maxwell Chittenden (00:09:43):
So our farm is all Jersey cows, and it's me and eight other family members. Uh, mostly I'm on the crop and dairy, uh, tractor side. And then my dad and my brother-in-law are on the cow side. And then I sell my grandparents and my sister there with the calves. Uh, we do about 2000 acres. Milk, 850 cows, 900
Scott Sorrell (00:10:07):
And Liam, how about you just give us a 32nd old view?
Liam Hanehan (00:10:10):
Okay. Yeah. I'm part of the fifth generation. It's me, my cousin, and my brother. I do operations management. My brother does the herd management, and my cousin does the shop management, uh, and, and crops. We milk 920. We're very close to the city center. We're, we're just outside of the city limits, basically in Saratoga. And, uh, we're excited to be here. We're excited to hear everybody's opinion of our farm. Uh, mostly critical, which is always good. Those are the best opinions.
Scott Sorrell (00:10:38):
Yeah, very well. Uh, and Kyle, how about you?
Kyle Getty (00:10:42):
So ideal dairy's, uh, located about 30 minutes north of here. Um, multi-generation as well. Uh, um, it's a family partnership. Um, we have two senior partners, John and Denise Dickinson. And then, uh, three younger partners myself, my brother Luke and Crystal Grimaldi, uh, are the three, uh, kind of the operating partners at the farm. Uh, we milk about 3,500 cows and farm about 5,000 acres.
Scott Sorrell (00:11:10):
All right. Thank you. Now, as part of the challenge, uh, you guys, uh, basically open up your farm too, uh, the students, right? They have access to your facilities, your cows, and your records. Um, you'd mentioned it before, they, they found some negative things. So h how does that make you feel?
Liam Hanehan (00:11:27):
Well, it's nice because we all have lists of things that we would like to see changed. And what's cool is seeing these students that get two hours on our farm, they have two days to come up with basically what we spend a lifetime trying to figure out. And seeing the things on our list get checked off by these students, seeing them pick out the same things, is cool. It's really impressive. Plus all the things that aren't, that aren't on our lists, that, that is added to it after today, I've got my list here. Uh, it was pretty cool to see, and it's a lot easier opening up our dairy to people we know are in the industry and we know are looking to better themselves and us at the same time. It's a, it's a lot easier, easier to do, for sure.
Scott Sorrell (00:12:10):
Did most of the students see your dairy the way you do?
Liam Hanehan (00:12:13):
I think so. I think so. They, they all started with strengths of, of the dairy and, um, it's always good to see the strengths too before the, uh, the critiques
Scott Sorrell (00:12:25):
Maxwell Chittenden (00:12:34):
Uh, there were some new things, but nothing too major that wasn't already on our radar before. I mean, it's always scary opening up our farm and the financials of strangers, but they're all smart. And bringing a new set of eyes to what we don't, we would probably overlook on a day-to-day basis.
Scott Sorrell (00:12:51):
Yeah, yeah. Very well.
Kyle Getty (00:12:54):
I would agree with that. Uh, it's, it's always nice to have a unique set of eyes that have never been to the farm, things that we overlook on a day-to-day basis. And, uh, we're in constant pursuit of improvement. So, constructive feedback is, is very welcomed. I mean, we're, we're always striving to get better and, and having that unique set of eyes too, to point things out and then putting numbers to it. I mean, and there's a strong emphasis on financials here of saying, okay, you can make a recommendation, but how are you gonna pay for it? Or, or, or does this have a, uh, the financial implications of how, how does that work at the farm level? And they're, they're thinking big picture from that perspective as they, as they present these ideas, which is nice.
Liam Hanehan (00:13:39):
I like how you said that as, as dairy producers, we get such tunnel vision day to day. It's, it's hard sometimes to, to pick up on things. Sometimes my cousin who works on the crop side will come over and say, that fan's broken, and that fan's been broken for months, and I've been walking right by it. But I get such a tunnel vision in my day-to-day. It's, it's cool to get everybody else's perspective. Yeah.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:14:01):
Yeah. So is there anything, or do you have an example of something unexpected that you heard today or that fascinated you that I need to really look into that you have the group.
Maxwell Chittenden (00:14:13):
It was mostly all the groups had a lot of the same ideas and kind of honed in on, okay, this is a problem.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:14:20):
What about you? Other two?
Kyle Getty (00:14:22):
I think it, it was interesting, each, each group presentation that I saw everybody kind of, there was definitely some commonality, but there was definitely some unique perspectives, uh, probably caused by the regionality of it. I mean, kids that come from the West coast, I mean, it was really interesting, the first thing they said, they, they saw the TMR screenings and they said, where's the dry hay? So the, the regional perspective of having kids from all over the country and a dairy here in the northeast is very different than what you might see in South Texas or in Idaho. So that was, that was pretty unique for us to, to, to kind of see those different perspectives. Yeah.
Liam Hanehan (00:15:04):
Liam, one of the things they, they caught us on is, is we had stopped entering in some of our, our calf treatments in the dairy comp. And we, we had stopped maybe six months ago, and it was one of those things that just gets forgotten about. And then as it gets forgotten, all of a sudden, that's the new protocol. We don't enter in treatments. And every single group caught us on it and said, well, we didn't have any data on the calves, and we knew we had to make improvements on the calves, but their, their point was that you can't make improvements and measure it without that information in dairy comp. So that was, that was one of the things that, that we were tunnel vision on.
Scott Sorrell (00:15:40):
Yeah. So building on that, is that something now that you're gonna change back to?
Liam Hanehan (00:15:43):
Absolutely. Yeah. That's the first thing on my list.
Scott Sorrell (00:15:46):
Anything else that, uh, that you may change after this experience?
Liam Hanehan (00:15:49):
Yes. B our whole calf protocol, uh, is, is pretty lacking. We had a little bit of a change up where, uh, my mother was actually the calf manager and she's retired. Uh, then my aunt was the calf manager, then she retired. So right now we don't actually have a calf manager, and I think we've just been pushing it off. So I think that's, that's one of the big things is developing somewhat of a calf manager, whether it's promoting a feeder now into calf management or having one of us owners take on that extra responsibility. That's a big one. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:16:19):
Good. Maxwell, anything, uh, you heard today that's gonna, uh, uh, make some changes?
Maxwell Chittenden (00:16:25):
Nothing's gonna happen overnight, obviously, but I think we all have our eyes and on one thing, mostly just cow comfort and bunk management, uh, keeping parlors more efficient, protocols in the parlors, helping keep the milk cleaner. It's just things like that to hone in on. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:16:46):
Yeah. Perfect. And Kyle,
Kyle Getty (00:16:49):
Uh, we, a commonality between the groups. They recognize some opportunities, uh, in the transition cows and, uh, few milk quality things that maybe we were overlooking in the parlor, which was, uh, which would be immediately implementable, I guess. So that was some nice red, a feedback that we could turn around and possibly even implement next week.
Scott Sorrell (00:17:09):
Yeah. So now I heard that, uh, couple of you have participated, uh, in the dairy challenge when you guys were in college. Uh, can you guys maybe talk a little bit about, uh, your experience and how it's impacted you?
Kyle Getty (00:17:21):
So I went out to South Dakota in 2007, um, with Dr. Van Emberg. And that was, yeah, that was, uh, a real eye-opening experience getting, getting to meet and interact with students from all over the country. And it was just, uh, never been to, to that area of the country and seeing that regional dairy industry and what makes it unique and how it thrives, uh, what kind of processors they're trying to service. And it was just, just opens your eyes getting away from your, your home area and, and seeing how, uh, see how things are done differently in different areas.
Scott Sorrell (00:17:59):
Liam, do,
Maxwell Chittenden (00:17:59):
Were you, I think it was
Scott Sorrell (00:18:00):
Max while, was it Maxwell on
Maxwell Chittenden (00:18:02):
The, I had only did the academy, but it was nice going out there, seeing how Dairy Chows works, meeting all the people from all around the country, working together with 'em in such a short amount of time Yeah. In the time crunch and seeing what we could come up with.
Kyle Getty (00:18:15):
Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:18:15):
Very well. Well listen, folks, uh, appreciate you guys spending some time with us today. I know this has been a huge commitment for you, so we appreciate all you do for, uh, the Dairy Challenge. Thank you. Welcome back to the Real Science Exchange. We're here at, uh, national Dairy, uh, challenge, and we're here with, uh, Stuart and Jessica Zi from Tuk Dairies. Mm-hmm.
Kyle Getty (00:18:48):
We're a family farm. I'm a fourth generation dairy farmer, and, uh, we crop about 2200 acres and milk just over a thousand cows. And we, uh, we've been on the, the farm for quite a while. My father moved to the area in the sixties and has grown it over the years with us, and we've all returned back to the farm, and now we're trying to keep it rolling for the next generation.
Scott Sorrell (00:19:07):
Awesome. You know, I've had the good pleasure of being at your farm before and met Jessica. We did a photo shoot there, uh, in preparation for an article that we did for our Real Faces of Dairy Celebration that was designed to honor and celebrate the American dairy Farmer. Wanna thank you for that. But, uh, that aside, why don't you give us just a quick overview of what you do on the, on the dairy, uh, Jessica.
Jessica Ziehm (00:19:28):
Um, so what I'm doing on the dairy is trying to diversify, um, our offerings. Over the past, uh, 10 years or so, we have got into the beef and pork business, and it made a lot of sense. It's a nice compliment to the dairy. We are in kind of a area that is close to consumers. And so, um, you know, we're, we're thankful and benef and, um, blessed with that. We also have a pumpkin stand that has grown over the years, and Covid certainly has helped those two, um, those two commodities tremendously and, and bringing more people our way. Um, enhancing, you know, our visibility. And so over the past year we've worked on building a farm store and renovating an old barn that was underutilized, not utilized on our farm anymore. It's about 200 years old. And we renovated that into a farm store that offers not only our products, but other local products. And in addition, it's an authentic ex, uh, experience for people to come visit and, and just be in the country and enjoy the fresh air. And this an authentic, uh, farm setting. Cool.
Scott Sorrell (00:20:29):
Jeff, uh, I understand that Tuk Dairy was the host farm for the Academy. Uh, wanted to give us an overview of exactly what is the academy.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:20:37):
So the academy, as you both are aware, is a little bit different than the contest. It's more educational based. And so it gives those younger students, the two year students, um, a chance to participate, but also to continue their learning. But they, at the same time, they get to go through the same experience. They get records, they tour the dairy, they have to put a presentation together and present it without being judged, shall we say. But we were able to ask questions and, and this year was phenomenal. We've changed it over the years, and I was fortunate enough with my team, we visited, uh, their farm and, uh, it was a great experience. Um, so I don't even know, we had probably 60, 80 students there coming off two buses, and they just overwhelm the place. And I do know, based on the, uh, give you the little background, then we'll get into what they presented.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:21:36):
But at first, going in, there were a couple of things all the students thought they were gonna find. They were headset on it, they were going there first, and, uh, not tell you it was, uh, had to do with the calves. And they get there and the calves look phenomenal,
Kyle Getty (00:22:09):
Them? Yeah, so, you know, we're trying to challenge the, the younger students to think about as we continue to operate, like where can we invest in order to keep the farm sustainable and to really move it forward. And, and we've been struggling as a, as a team to, to, to determine where is the best dollars spent. So we said, Hey, if you had a million dollars or if you had 2 million, where is the best use of it? How could we spend it? And, and how could, how, how would it fit best for our farm? And I think they really enjoyed the challenge, and it was good to see 'em kind of go back and their wheels start spinning and, and, um, the presentations are really good.
Scott Sorrell (00:22:44):
Yeah. That's awesome. So did they, uh, come up with some of the same investments that, that you've been
Kyle Getty (00:22:49):
Considering? So, so it was, it was interesting to see, um, they were thinking very similar, and I, and I made sure that when we, when we wrapped it up after their presentations, I kind of reviewed some of them, you know, with them. But, um, for our family, a milking parlor has been something that we've been, we've been tossing the idea around for, for many years. And I think we've done a, a good job of maxing that parlor out. I don't think that we can put many more cows through it. Uh, so one team did a really nice job of presenting, uh, the investment in that, you know, what it could do for our, our cows and our, our, our, our time away from pen in order to, you know, get the cows milked quickly,
Kyle Getty (00:23:26):
Return 'em back to their pens, you know, that helps with, uh, milk components. And it also, you know, helps us reduce some labor because in New York State, we're challenged with a lot of, uh, changes and increased in labor costs and those type of things. So another, another thing I was appreciative of them pointing out was because they're a little younger generation than me even, is this the increased, um, you know, investment in technology? And I think sometimes on the dairy we're a little, you know, maybe hesitant to, to make that change or make the shift. And, and I kind of came away today as a, as a good reminder to say, Hey, it's common, and we should be looking at that. Mm-hmm.
Scott Sorrell (00:24:01):
Kyle Getty (00:24:15):
Problems? Um, no. I, I think that if there was anything when I was a student, I wanted to, when I toured a farm, I, I wanted the whole story and I didn't want anything to be left out. And I wanted to really understand all aspects of it, whether it was financial or whether it was the, the partnerships that made up the business or the facilities. So I, I never once really have felt, you know, like offended or maybe they've crossed the line. I just think for them to really understand how the dairy farm runs, they have to be able to see that whole picture of, of all the money that comes in and all the money goes out, and the decisions that we make on a daily basis, you know, related to that. Mm-hmm.
Scott Sorrell (00:24:51):
Kyle Getty (00:24:58):
Just missed it. I, I, I graduated from Cornell and then the, the program was started, you know, shortly after that. Okay. Same for
Jessica Ziehm (00:25:06):
You. I missed it by a little bit of a longer shot
Jessica Ziehm (00:25:09):
But it is an amazing program, and it was great to see the kids, it was great to see their curiosity and, um, the questions that they asked were just so detailed. I mean, they really were looking at every nook and cranny of the farm, and it was just, it was inspiring to see like, that's the future of the dairy industry. Yeah. Right there. And, um, it, it just a wonderful experience to be able to share our farm with them if it helps them learn. And it helps us learn more about, you know, by having a, you know, outsider's point of view, you know, to point out some things. It's great. We actually had met with some dairy students a couple days before the, um, before the contest, and they weren't coming to our farm. And, you know, they, she had been the, the coach had been to our farm before as a Dairy Challenge contestant, and she took a picture of, um, the doorknob on the milk house. And I was like, what are you doing? And she goes, oh my gosh, I'm so excited. She goes, when I was here, this was one of our recommendations is to replace this door and you needed a doorknob. And I come back a couple years later and there's a doorknob and a brand new door. She was so excited. Oh,
Kyle Getty (00:26:13):
That's awesome. I
Jessica Ziehm (00:26:13):
Was like, that is, that's
Kyle Getty (00:26:14):
Awesome. I think what's, I think what's really cool is I, I, I, when I was following up with the students, I said, you know, guys, in a very short period of time, you know, you, you took a snapshot of our farm and you made some very good recommendations. And I said, I've been, I've spent 20 years trying to work on these things to move the Dairy Farm forward and, and what they presented back to us in such a short period of time, I was just very impressed. I I thought it was really
Scott Sorrell (00:26:41):
Great. Yeah. Well, it's obvious, uh, you guys are committed to this and you see value in it for, uh, your dairy and, and, and for the industry. And I just wanna, wanna thank you for, for, uh, the commitment and investment that you're making in the dairy challenge. No problem. Thank you for that. Thanks for having us. You're very welcome. All right. We're here, uh, at the Dairy Challenge with three of the coaches from this year's, uh, competition. Jeff, would you do the honors and uh, introduce them please?
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:27:13):
I can certainly do that. And I've got to know all three of these a little bit more each year. Um, some of 'em I see about once a year, others a few times. But we got Lauren Mayo, we first got to know her. I think you were at Tuskegee, is that right? Yep. And now she's at North Carolina a and t State, and we've got Joe Domek Yep. Down here. He would be our, probably our seasoned coach as probably seen more changes and gold now it's seasoned and, uh, at Michigan State University. And then we've got Sean Willard and he's at Ohio State a t i.
Scott Sorrell (00:27:53):
One of the things I'd like to, uh, uh, start, and maybe Lauren, we'll start with you. So how do you prepare the students for the Dairy Challenge? What's the process look like?
Lauren Mayo (00:28:02):
That's a really good question. Um, so like Dr. Um, Elliot said that I've kind of been around for a little bit. Um, and so I actually started as an undergrad, so that kind of at University of Florida. And so having that opportunity to actually go on farms before coming to the contest actually look at real data was really important. And so now that I've, through grad school, as we all know, you travel around the world for grad school in different places. So as I've coached several different teams at different places, it all, it changes mostly based on the students. Um, but definitely I make sure each semester to go on at least two dairy firms, um, and then make sure that they've taken dairy production course and then maybe an additional hour or two each week just to go over some more numbers and get them used to seeing those things. Um, and then speaking practice is probably the next biggest thing. Um, I tell all of my students, they have to have that confidence, that eagerness to learn, um, and just being ready for anything that comes at them. So those are the biggest things for me.
Scott Sorrell (00:29:05):
Yeah, very well. Um, how about you guys? You wanna add to anything to that?
Dr. Shaun Wellert (00:29:11):
Um, so, you know, I'm in a unique position cuz I'm a a I only teach two year students, so we're a technical school, so I only have them for about four semesters. So our programs pretty unique and that our, uh, classes are pretty much exclusively dairy centric and animal sciences that they take. So it's, it's a true dairy management program. So a lot of the preparation actually comes within the classes. So, you know, we'll have a class on reproduction and you, you learn the physiology, you learn kind of the, of the practical on-farm management. And then you do a lot of the, the data analysis and evaluation, which, which pretty much mirrors what we do here at the, the Dairy Challenge. So even though, you know, the two year schools, we, we can't compete in the, the contest. Um, I bring my students here to the academy, which is, is the sort of the practice contest. I don't know if you've talked about a lot yet, but, um, it, the ones I bring are, are actually freshmen and then they can compete in the regionals their, their second year. And, and that's kind of the, the process I've gone into that works. So, uh, the academy is, is a lot of their prep along with, with their coursework. And then, um, you know, if I have a group that's that's really excited, we, we do some extra out of the class stuff as well.
Scott Sorrell (00:30:23):
Mm-hmm.
Scott Sorrell (00:30:25):
Joe, Jeff said that, uh, you're seasoned. How many years have you been coaching and, uh, how many, how many, uh, how many times have you been in the winter circle?
Dr. Joe Domecq (00:30:33):
Um, we've done, well, we've been very blessed to, uh, kind of get the hang of it and know, uh, how to analyze the farm and those types of things. Uh, there's a lot of competition here. There's a lot of skilled individuals and coaches and so it takes a little bit of luck, a little bit of skill, the right farm on the right day for all this to happen. So, um, I've been involved in this, uh, some form of dairy challenge since the beginning. And, uh, I was utilizing farm analysis in my classes back in the nineties, um, just coming through the two universities that I went through, both as an undergrad and as as a master's degree. So the idea of doing real life evaluation, the communication skills, all that stuff. But then presenting in front of a dairy producer. I've been using that in the classroom since the nineties actually. And then the idea of dairy challenge kind of originated at Michigan State and it's kind of built from there. So I've had a role in it for the last 23 years, I guess at some point. How
Scott Sorrell (00:31:39):
Do you go about picking the, uh, students that that end up
Dr. Joe Domecq (00:31:42):
Competing? Um, for, for us, um, it starts as a freshman now for us. And, uh, we've built a kind of a legacy I guess. And, uh, it's a selection process. They earn their way through starting in their, in their freshman classes. Uh, the seniors become mentors to the freshmen and it, it just kind of keeps building on itself in that way. Each one of our classes, um, builds on itself within our dairy concentration. Within our animal science. We've, uh, added, uh, the practical classes cuz a lot of my background is technical school here also. So we have a lot of practical hands-on classes in our four year curriculum, which is the four year students really have benefited from, um, because it really helps them to see what actually happens on a dairy. Um, you know, we can teach 'em about amino acids and things like that, nutrition, whatever, hormones, whatever.
Dr. Joe Domecq (00:32:33):
But if they've never seen a mixer work or if they've never seen cows be bred, uh, we try to, to combine all of those things into our curriculum. So by the time we become seniors, we basically take 'em out to dairies and they work up the dairies, we mix 'em up in different teams and there's a team of us alumni included that sit down and figure out, uh, who are the best ones to stick together. And, and we're looking for different traits, we're looking for different skills. We're looking for a very balanced team that can, uh, handle just about anything thrown at 'em. So that's kind of, our freshmen know what they're getting into from day one in our program and we, everything is kind of geared toward this experience this weekend.
Scott Sorrell (00:33:16):
Hmm. Very well. Laura, would you mind talking about some of the benefits and some of the progress you've seen some of your students make sure over the years while competing?
Lauren Mayo (00:33:25):
Yeah, so I definitely have a variety of students cuz we know that all students are pretty unique and, um, how they respond to different environments and things like that. And so, um, probably different than some of the schools that compete in this competition. Um, most of the students that participate on our dairy challenge team or group are actually pre-vet students. Okay. Um, and so getting them to kind of see that there are other parts of the animal sin science industry, um, and how they can contribute. And so really breaking it down so that they can truly understand, um, you know, on a practical level and not just what's in the textbook. Right. Um, and so I've had a lot of students that start off really afraid and get overwhelmed with all the information. Um, but as soon as they start to interact with more farmers, they get more comfortable and they realize like, man, this is really just trying to make a better life for the cow, right?
Lauren Mayo (00:34:20):
Mm-hmm.
Scott Sorrell (00:34:53):
You know, I'm curious, um, how many of your students are from a, uh, an ag background?
Dr. Shaun Wellert (00:35:00):
Um, so it, it varies from year to year. Uh, you know, back 10 years ago in our program, the majority of students were from dairies and growing up and through consolidation in the industry, there's, there's just not that pool of students. So, um, I'm usually, you know, this year I, I have, uh, one student that actually grew up on a dairy that's here out of seven students I brought, um, in the program. I have, uh, two out of about 10 that truly had a, a dairy background in the kind of the historical sense of a, their family farm they grew up on. Um, you know, a lot, lot of 'em just, just come from rural areas where they may have worked on dairy farms, they, you know, through four H they showed cows and, and they took an interest in it. Um, some of 'em actually are, are pre-vet students that, that I advise as, as a veterinarian.
Dr. Shaun Wellert (00:35:51):
I advise a lot of pre-vet students and I was like, Hey, why don't you take this class? And, you know, they, they take a dairy class and then that kind of is the gateway drug to another dairy class. And the next thing you know, they're a dairy challenge, right? So, um, you know, moving forward as an industry, I think that's a really important thing we have to do, especially in academia, is bring people into the industry just because, you know, that that classic pool of, of, of students and workers that that grew up with it isn't theirs. So, um, you know, I like to think that we're making a good contribution by by doing that.
Dr. Joe Domecq (00:36:27):
It'd be very similar the, uh, population in my 30 plus years now in education. Um, when you were dealing with a class of all dairy kids or farm kids, whatever the right definition is, you don't have that anymore. Uh, the, uh, farm kid is the minority that they're, they're that, that they're not there. Um, there's fewer farms, there's fewer everything. So it is the student that, uh, maybe sheda cow through four H or had an uncle grandparents that were involved and get involved that way. Um, it's not a classroom full of farm kids anymore or not, and I don't think it's ever gonna be that anymore. If you look, we, Michigan State brought, uh, 11 kids, 11 students here to the, to to New York, and, uh, just off the top of my head, I think there's only two that are from a dairy that's milking cows today and the rest are associated in one way or another.
Dr. Joe Domecq (00:37:26):
And one of the members of our actual team two years ago didn't know dairy at all and just got interested in this. She was a transfer student, her interest is actually horses and has through this process, uh, gotten involved in dairy and is, and has and has really grown. And as a coach, that's what I'm looking for. And that's not a lot of what the judges and everybody sees here, but as a coach and why I stay with education, I know the growth that that young lady has gone through in the last all of 'em. But each one of 'em has had their own little journey, uh, to get to where they do. So how long do you got? And I can tell you all kinds of stories about internships and jobs and, and, uh, everything that, that this exercise, this dairy challenge has meant. Yeah,
Dr. Shaun Wellert (00:38:14):
Yeah. I, that's awesome. I had a, I had a student that that's kind of a proud moment for me that, uh, was not from a dairy and he came through our program. He actually came to the Northeast regional that was just up in Glens falls up the road from here and, um, ended up getting an internship at one of the, the contest dairies for this year. And now he's the herdsman for a 3000 cow dairy. You know, what
Scott Sorrell (00:38:35):
A great story. Yeah, that's awesome. You know, guys, it's obvious to me that you're very passionate about what you do and you work very hard at it. And, uh, I just want to thank you for that. I wanna thank you for the commitment to the students and to the dairy challenge. Yep. Thank you. And thank you for joining us today mm-hmm.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:38:49):
Yep. Thank
Scott Sorrell (00:38:50):
You. Thank you. Thanks.
Speaker 7 (00:38:50):
Brought to you by Nitric Precision Release nitrogen Nitro Sure delivers a complete TMR for the room and microbiome helping you feed the microbes that feed your cows. To learn more about maximizing microbial protein output while reducing your carbon footprint, visit.com/nitro. Sure.
Scott Sorrell (00:39:18):
Well, Jeff, this is what we've been looking for the, uh, 2023 winners of the National Dairy Challenge. Now, uh, before we get started, we're gonna have four winners. That's correct. And I want you to kinda explain to the, to the audience why there are four winners, might be a little, uh, different than what they're normally used
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:39:34):
To. You bet, Scott. So because of the number of contest teams, we must have four winners each from a different judging panel and also normally from a different Gary. So that's just how it works out. We can't judge more than that in one day.
Scott Sorrell (00:39:49):
Okay. Very well. So we got four winners, and I think you said there were like eight contestants in each, uh, in each pod. Yeah.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:39:55):
Eighteens in in each one. Okay. So our first winner tonight is University of Guelph
Scott Sorrell (00:40:01):
And the coach Trevor
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:40:03):
Dere. Trevor Dere. Okay. Can you first contestant here, can you tell us your name and major?
Madline McLennan (00:40:08):
Sure. I'm Madeline McClennan and my major is animal Biology.
Allison Visser (00:40:12):
My name is Alison Visser and my major is Honors Agriculture.
Carine Bateman (00:40:15):
Uh, my name is CRI Bateman and my major is Food and Agricultural Business.
Jonathan Koot (00:40:20):
And I'm Jonathan Coote, and my major is Animal Science.
Scott Sorrell (00:40:23):
All right. Very well, let me be the first to congratulate you guys. Uh, I'm sure that's a lot of work now that it's all over. You're relieved.
Carine Bateman (00:40:31):
Definitely. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:40:33):
You relieved? Yeah. Good. Now, did everything go as you had planned? Uh, maybe talk just a little bit about that. Let's go with you, Fran. So did everything go as expected, the plan you had put together? It all went perfectly.
Carine Bateman (00:40:45):
Um, we did a lot of preparation for the competition in terms of, you know, making our slideshow, but also talking to a lot of industry experts, uh, through the University of Guelph, but also in New York State, um, and really feeling out what it was the competition was going to look like. So yeah, we definitely thought we were prepared coming in. Um, and then you get to the farm and walking around a 3000 cow dairy is a, a lot of steps and b a lot of time. So by the time we came home, it was not only, it was overwhelming, it was fun, it was a great learning experience, but it was overwhelming to come home and then have like four or five hours to be able to put our presentation together. Um, so yeah. Did everything go as planned? Probably it was, I was according to schedule, but it was definitely different than maybe we had planned for in.
Scott Sorrell (00:41:28):
Okay. And what role did you play on the team? Did, did you guys have your own specific roles?
Carine Bateman (00:41:34):
Um, I wouldn't say we had like specific roles, but as I, my major is food and agricultural business, so I, I took a financial role. Um, however, uh, our team has worked together in our class before and we kind of understand, um, how each of us work, what each of our strengths and, um, work. We really worked together as a team before. Um, if you shoot out an idea and the team says, you know, that's maybe not something that I agree with, that's totally fine because the four of us, we work together, we understand the strengths and weaknesses of our team, and so we're able to, the opportunities that we came up with today were based on things we've done before, but also on everyone's input, not one person specifically. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:42:15):
Matt, I'm gonna start with you down there. Give me an idea of what you think the keys of, uh, success were for your team.
Madline McLennan (00:42:21):
Um, I think adding on to what Corrine said, we, uh, had a lot of preparation. Um, we had really great coaches that guided us through, um, everything and allowed us to set up a lot of those meetings with industry professionals, um, to give us a good perspective as well as, um, through our class we had a lot of preparation and feedback through our own versions of many dairy challenges, and I think that helped us a lot.
Scott Sorrell (00:42:44):
Yeah. Good. So Alison, I'm sure you've got some underclassmen back home that are looking to do this next year. What kind of advice are you gonna give them?
Allison Visser (00:42:55):
That's a tough one. Um, I think you just have to go with your gut sometimes suggest something that you don't are unsure of. Um, I don't, we do always do a lot of digging through different things. You have to try different things and they don't always end up being the suggestion you put in your presentation, so you just have to take the time and go through it and not be afraid to fail. You might go through a whole thing and then discover you're not gonna make any money on the end, so you have to go back and start at the beginning and it's frustrating, but that's sometimes what you have to do. And you have to learn to rely on your teammates and trust them to do their best because you have a time constraint. And that's one of the hardest things. You have to have something that all of you collectively can present, but at the same time, you can't all be doing all parts of it. So you have to be able to let parts go and trust your teammates and work together.
Scott Sorrell (00:43:49):
Allison, that's great advice. Jonathan, I want you to think back for when you, uh, first started your dairy challenge adventure. Thank you, Jonathan. Then think of Jonathan now. What kind of progress have you made? What kind of growth have you made?
Jonathan Koot (00:44:01):
I think the major thing, and it's of course the goal of this whole presentation is to learn a lot. And I think that's something that I very much took away, especially from industry sponsors and other people that we've had coming to talk to us either throughout our course or that we've brought in for preparation for this. And I think it's really helped me kind of fine tune what I think a good dairy farm is and how to improve a dairy farm and maximize the production and efficiency on these farms. And it's really changed the way I look at dairy farms now instead of being awed by the allure of a newer barn, I can look at maybe some of the management aspects that maybe go unnoticed when we first walk into a new barn.
Scott Sorrell (00:44:36):
Yeah. Excellent. Great answer folks. Uh, this has been a great interview. Thank you for joining us this evening and congratulations. All right, Jeff, we're back here now with our second winner. I'm gonna give you the honor of announcing winner. What, which dairy was this? Dairy?
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:44:54):
This was Dairy D. All
Scott Sorrell (00:44:56):
Right. Okay. The winner is,
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:44:57):
The winner is Cornell University.
Scott Sorrell (00:44:59):
Awesome. Congratulations Cornell.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:45:02):
Yep. Cornell is coached by Andrew LaPierre and Mike Van Amberg.
Scott Sorrell (00:45:06):
All right, awesome.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:45:07):
They're having a good time now. They've been put through the rigors.
Scott Sorrell (00:45:10):
Yeah,
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:45:11):
So, and you may not be aware of it. Basically 24 hours you have to look through data, walk a dairy, put a presentation together, and then they go before the judges. So I'd say they're happy now. It's all done. Yeah.
Scott Sorrell (00:45:25):
Good deal. Yeah. So, uh, why don't we start down on the end here. Uh, would you mind introducing yourself and uh, uh, tell us just a little bit about yourself Yep. And maybe what your role was on the team if you had roles.
Caroline Lafferty (00:45:37):
Uh, I'm Caroline Lafferty. I'm a senior here at Cornell University studying animal science with the concentration in dairy management and AG business minor. I was mostly the finance person, uh, on this year's team, but I also helped out some other areas as well. Blake,
Blake Wadsworth (00:45:51):
I'm Blake Osworth from Cornell University Animal Science, Terry Management. Uh, I'm the team this year. I did some nutrition work, some repro work all around kind of.
Scott Sorrell (00:46:02):
Alright. Very well, thanks Blake. Yep.
Kevin Jess (00:46:04):
Uh, Kevin Jess, senior at Cornell University, double majoring in ag science and animal science. Uh, helped some with the repro and then some also with some Cal management, uh, helping with some production stuff.
Scott Sorrell (00:46:16):
Very well. Thank
Emily Starceski (00:46:17):
You. Uh, Emily Starski from Cornell University, majoring in animal science, concentrating and dairy management helps a lot with facilities and also some employee management.
Scott Sorrell (00:46:27):
Great. So Emily, I'm gonna start down there with you. So what do you think the keys to your success was?
Emily Starceski (00:46:35):
I think the keys to our success were time management and working well as a team.
Scott Sorrell (00:46:39):
So Kevin, why don't you talk about that a little bit. What is the process that you guys went through and, and becoming a champion?
Kevin Jess (00:46:46):
Oh. Um, it really just kind of took a lot of practice together as a team and kind of getting to know how we all worked and being able to, um, help each other out in the best ways we could without wasting time and being the be I really, as Emily said, just learning how to be time efficient through practicing a little more. Yeah. Getting to know each other and then figuring out how, how our team functions.
Scott Sorrell (00:47:05):
So when did you start, um, um, preparing for this? Has it been months?
Kevin Jess (00:47:11):
Yeah. Oh yeah, months. It's been, uh, since the beginning of the semester back in, uh, February or or so.
Scott Sorrell (00:47:17):
Okay. Very well.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:47:20):
So what I wanna know is were you confident in your presentation going in?
Blake Wadsworth (00:47:26):
Uh, for the most part we were pretty confident. I feel like, um, there were some things that we caught after the fact that we were second thinking a little bit, but confident for the most part. Yeah, you were pretty happy with it.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:47:37):
Okay. Were there any arguments or disagreements as you're trying to pick picking those top 2, 3, 4 opportunities?
Caroline Lafferty (00:47:45):
I think we kind of had this process of where we threw out a bunch of ideas and then we kind of talked through each of them and prioritized them that way. And then as we got lower on the list, we were just like, okay, if we're not gonna have time, we're not gonna do 'em. And then we might have had a disagreement about like the top few, but we t talked it out to fi figure out which ones we really needed to prioritize.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:48:04):
Okay.
Scott Sorrell (00:48:04):
Let's start, Emily, I'd like to know what you're gonna do, uh, um, after graduation.
Emily Starceski (00:48:09):
After Graduation. I'm looking, uh, to go into herd and employee management, going to the Dominican Republic in August to learn Spanish and then gonna implement that on farm.
Scott Sorrell (00:48:19):
Uh, good for you. Yeah, Kevin? Oh,
Kevin Jess (00:48:21):
Scott Sorrell (00:48:31):
Industry. All right. Fair. Cool, cool.
Blake Wadsworth (00:48:34):
Uh, so after I graduate, I'll be going back to e Tweed Farm where I come from, uh, 1400 cow dairy right here in Saratoga County. Uh, about 25 minutes from here actually. Oh my. Cool. Doing a little bit of crop work, cow work all around.
Scott Sorrell (00:48:47):
Ah, very good.
Caroline Lafferty (00:48:47):
And I'll be joining the Farm Credit East team as a business account analyst, uh, in the CLA rack office right here in Eastern New York as well.
Scott Sorrell (00:48:55):
All right. Congratulations. Congratulations, Holly.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:48:57):
So do you, do you think this experience is preparing you for that, that job and career choice as you got in the field?
Caroline Lafferty (00:49:05):
Absolutely. I, uh, I wanna be on the consultant track, uh, at Farm Credit, and I think this experience is what kind of made that more evident to me, especially doing Dairy Academy last year.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:49:15):
Okay.
Scott Sorrell (00:49:16):
Very well. Congratulations folks. Uh, thanks for joining us here this evening at the Real Science Exchange. Thank
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:49:23):
You. Thank you, thank you.
Scott Sorrell (00:49:24):
All right, Jeffrey, we're getting down to the end. We've got, uh, winner number three. Yes. Once again, you've got the honor, sir.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:49:32):
Okay. Hand me the envelope. So the winner that we're talking to this time, university of Wisconsin River Falls.
Scott Sorrell (00:49:40):
Ah, excellent. Congrat coach
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:49:41):
Sylvia Kehoe.
Scott Sorrell (00:49:58):
My name is Ben Stone. Uh, I'm a dairy science major with a minor in chemistry. Uh, my role was more the herd health aspect and also looking at those heifer inventory numbers on our farm.
Haley Kirchoff (00:50:12):
Um, my name is Haley Kirkoff. I'm a senior at RF this year. I'll be graduating soon. Um, I'm majoring in agribusiness with minor in Spanish and I was a finance person
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:50:22):
Majoring in agribusiness. Okay.
Alison Wagner (00:50:25):
My name's Alison Wagner. I'm Also from the University of Wisconsin River Falls and I am a dairy science major and I focus more so on the nutrition and parlor.
Grace Haase (00:50:36):
My name is Grace Haas. Uh, I am a dairy science major and I have a minor in agriculture business and my role on the team was going over like the reproduction and that sort of stuff.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:50:48):
Okay. So it sounds like y'all were very, I don't wanna say segregated for lack of a better word, you each had your roles.
Scott Sorrell (00:50:55):
Yes.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:50:56):
Was did you talk a lot or how did you come up with your original opportunities?
Grace Haase (00:51:03):
Uh, we bounced a lot of different ideas off of each other, and I think that was one thing that made our team really strong is that we we're all very knowledgeable about all of our areas so we can bounce ideas off of each other and just kind of hone in on what we wanna talk about for that specific Area.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:51:20):
Okay. Y'all, y'all agree with that? Yeah,
Alison Wagner (00:51:24):
I would. You did. I would echo what Grace said. I think that, uh, each of us kind of had a little bit of an advantage in certain areas in terms of being able to deep dive in some of those things, but being able to bring it back to that team aspect and say, Hey, does that make sense? Like, is, am I thinking this right? Like, does this make sense if I explain it to you this way? Um, I think was extremely beneficial in being able to kind of hone in on some of those main opportunities that we were looking at on our farm.
Scott Sorrell (00:51:46):
So it sounds like teamwork was one of the keys to success. Anything else you'd point to?
Haley Kirchoff (00:51:52):
I don't know. I just, so as someone who doesn't really come from a dairy background, um, working with Grace, Ben and Allison was really great. Um, as a finance person, I can tell you what those ratios mean, but essentially with this contest, if that farm can't afford to implement the recommendations, um, it's kind of all for not, and then they did a really great job by kind of explaining some things to me, because again, I don't come from that area background, so it, it was really helpful.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:52:20):
So what was the preparation to get here?
Alison Wagner (00:52:22):
Yeah, that's really great question. I was actually just gonna say, I think that that's probably one of the biggest things for me personally, is just that preparation. Um, in terms of those classes that we had at school, um, our work with our coach, our work with industry professionals, and some of those other experiences that we've had within the industry, um, and have had opportunities to go to because of the, um, because of our university. Um, I think that's been a big help in terms of learning, um, more about the things that kind of come into industry analysis and farm analysis. So yeah, I would add going to the Midwest Dairy Challenge, I think that was really great prep for us. And then Ben and I also were at the National Academy last year in Green Bay, and that was also a huge help in prep for today.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:53:09):
Okay. So the regionals and the academy. Yes.
Scott Sorrell (00:53:11):
Yeah, those competitions. I can, I know myself, I'm getting better each competition I go to and just billing off the knowledge that I've learned at that previous competition.
Scott Sorrell (00:53:21):
Do you guys have a feel for how the, the Dairy Challenge has impacted your prospects for, uh, your future career? Any thoughts about
Scott Sorrell (00:53:31):
That? Oh, I think I can go first. Uh, at Midwest, I met a gentleman who had reached out to me earlier than the week saying, stop by my booth at the career fair. Uh, I talked to him again here at, uh, national Challenge and I have an interview with them in two weeks about a potential job. So yeah, the Dairy Challenge networking opportunities have greatly helped me in my career.
Scott Sorrell (00:53:53):
Yeah, excellent story. Yeah. Good.
Alison Wagner (00:53:55):
Yeah, I would for sure say that, um, in terms of like professional development and some of those skills that you don't necessarily get to, um, enhance in the classroom, this is a great opportunity to do some of that and network with industry professionals and, um, kind of just build your network as well.
Scott Sorrell (00:54:09):
Yeah. Good. Um, as we kind of close out here, I'd like to get an idea of what you guys are planning to do after graduation. And so, grace, why don't we start with you?
Grace Haase (00:54:17):
Yeah, so I will be graduating December of 2023, and I'm currently in the process of getting into grad school.
Scott Sorrell (00:54:25):
Okay, good.
Alison Wagner (00:54:28):
Um, I actually have a job lined up with, uh, feed Mill, uh, from my hometown Farmer Grain in feed in Allenton. So that's where I'm gonna be headed back
Scott Sorrell (00:54:35):
To. Okay, very good. Gonna do nutrition work or whatcha are you gonna do there?
Alison Wagner (00:54:38):
Yeah, ideally getting into nutrition work. So have some training ahead of me, but that's, that's what we're going for.
Scott Sorrell (00:54:43):
Good for you.
Haley Kirchoff (00:54:45):
Um, so I'm looking at getting into either ag finance, which is kind of my niche or appraisal. I'm looking at farm credit, other agri banks, et cetera.
Scott Sorrell (00:54:53):
Yeah. So you were talking before also that you're gonna a minor in, in Spanish. And so how do you plan to deploy that?
Haley Kirchoff (00:55:00):
You know, I would, if I could, if I could be like a financial analyst or like a, a finance advisor who visits farms and if they have like Spanish speaking workers where I could communicate with 'em, I think that would be really great. Um, but it's until I find that opportunity, I'll just be watching a Netflix show in Spanish. So I keep it, keep up with it.
Scott Sorrell (00:55:21):
All right. Very well.
Scott Sorrell (00:55:22):
Uh, I too am also graduating like Grace in December of 2023, and I'm also looking at going into grad school.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:55:29):
So what area do you want to go into? Because you said you're, uh, graduating with a degree in chemistry?
Scott Sorrell (00:55:35):
Uh, minor chemistry.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:55:36):
Oh, mine, okay.
Scott Sorrell (00:55:37):
A degree in aero science for minor and chemistry. I'm looking more towards that trans transition cow and, or maybe some like metabol uh, metabolism and how that works and affects those cows going through cabin.
Scott Sorrell (00:55:50):
Huh. Excellent. Jeff, we may wanna talk to him later. Yeah,
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:55:53):
We might. I've got one last question, honestly, now that this is over, what did you think of the judge's presentation and was yours better?
Alison Wagner (00:56:04):
Oh, I wouldn't say ours was better, but definitely different
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:56:08):
How was it different?
Alison Wagner (00:56:09):
Yeah, I think just in terms of experience and um, like judges experience and what they can see on a farm is definitely different from what we are seeing and experiencing on a farm and just at our level and, uh, of experience and education. Um, it's those things that we might not have time to look at within a 24 hour period, um, or can't necessarily see outta data. So definitely think that it was different in that sense, but,
Scott Sorrell (00:56:35):
Well, congratulations folks. Uh, um, the future's bright for the ag industry with the folks like you, uh, going into industry. So thanks for joining us here at the Real Science Exchange. Yeah, thank
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:56:46):
You. Congratulations.
Scott Sorrell (00:56:48):
Well, Jeffrey, this is the one we've been looking for, the fourth winner of the 2023 National Dairy Challenge competition. So if you, uh, will announce that the final winner, Jeff would appreciate
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:57:00):
It. You bet. You bet. Congratulations is to Purdue University, coached by Jackie Borman.
Scott Sorrell (00:57:08):
Excellent, congratulations. Thank you.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (00:57:11):
Yeah. Maybe let's just start, if each of you will start down here, just give us your name, major, maybe how, what your role was in the team.
Lane Bollenbacher (00:57:20):
Uh, my name's Lane Bollenbach. I'm an animal science major, and, uh, I really, uh, took the photos on the farm, mostly
Chad Patterson (00:57:29):
My name's Chad Patterson. My major is Agriculture Systems Management. Uh, on the farm I focused on facilities and animal health.
Tobyn Smith (00:57:40):
Uh, my name's Tobin Smith. I'm a animal science major. And, uh, my role, uh, been going through and analyzing, uh, the parler and Parler data.
Miriam Cook (00:57:51):
Um, and I'm Miriam Cook. Uh, I'm, uh, an a major in agriculture, economics. Um, and so I guess I was kind of like financials and then just overall and, and don't let these boys fool you. They were, uh, a big part of it, especially lane. He wasn't just pictures. He, uh, he did a lot the help with that. So they kind of keep me in check, uh, also as well,
Scott Sorrell (00:58:09):
Very well to, and my first question's gonna be for you. How in the world do you grow a mustache like that? I've been trying to do that for 64 years, and I have to color mine in with a crayon, but, uh, that's, that's a heck of a mustache. Well,
Tobyn Smith (00:58:22):
First of all, thank you. Um, and, and second of all, it is a, it was a, um, so-and-so experiment, uh, masks were on and there was a lot of people not looking at my face from the nose down. So it was like, uh, hey, how long can I get away with this? And then, um, I got to a point where I was like, well, now I'm invested. And that was, uh, November of 2020. So, ah, it's been sitting there for a little while.
Scott Sorrell (00:58:46):
Yeah, great story. Great story. So Miriam, did everything go as planned today? The smooth as silk, uh, or were there any bumps along the way?
Miriam Cook (00:58:55):
Oh, uh, heck no.
Miriam Cook (00:59:35):
I was like, what else are we gonna do? And then these boys were just like, I don't, I don't think we need anything more. And I'm still like sitting there like, I was like, we can't just talk about like two, maybe 2.5 things. Like usually it's four in practice. So I was like, I was like, no way. I was like, no way. Like, you're gonna do it. And I was like, and then when it came to the presentation and everything like that, like, um, definitely a couple of these, I could see their nerves when they did it. And I was like, I was like, I was like, ah, the pressure got to us. I was like, but they came. I was, I was like, I was proud of us beforehand. And then, and then like, I was actually, they announced I didn't understand, like they announced like participating teams in no specific order. And so when they announced all the teams, I thought they were announcing all of 'em. I didn't get that, they weren't announcing the top two, they did those separately. So they announced the participating ones for DARE C and they didn't say our name. And I was like, oh my gosh, we did that bad
Dr. Jeff Elliot (01:00:28):
Good. So let's back up a little bit. You did end up pointing despite some of your anxiousness. So what, what do you attribute to, to the win? What prepared you for this? Chad, let's start with you. Um,
Chad Patterson (01:00:43):
Honestly, I grew up on a dairy farm, so coming from a dairy farm really helped a lot knowing what you need to look for. Thank you. Knowing how things should operate really helped a lot. Um, there's a couple classes we took in school dairy management, it was helped out, our coach helped.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (01:00:59):
Okay. Blaine, anything you dad? Yeah.
Lane Bollenbacher (01:01:02):
Uh, professor Borman took us on, uh, took us, uh, quite a few great dairies to evaluate and, uh, yeah, lots of similarities. Uh, great dairy like this, and we took a lot of time practicing.
Scott Sorrell (01:01:15):
Yeah. So I'll just throw this out to everybody, but I'm just kind of curious. Um, have there been aspects of the dairy challenge that has, uh, prepared you for your next step in your career?
Tobyn Smith (01:01:29):
Uh, I'll start us out here. I'd, I'd definitely say it's, it's the networking aspect and it's not just with people in the industry, it's, it's various, uh, students that are also competing. And, and, uh, personally I can attest that Miriam, no matter where we go, always seems to find people that she knows and she'll fly away for five minutes when we're in a social area and she's like, oh, I'll be right back. And she's chatting it up with everyone else and, um, been able to make those connections and then also make those connections within, um, industry leaders. And even on our bus ride pack, um, we got to have a great conversation with the CEO of Slice. Uh, his name escapes David, David, David's
Speaker 21 (01:02:09):
Last name,
Tobyn Smith (01:02:10):
Scott Sorrell (01:02:23):
Yeah. Yeah, that's a great answer. Yeah.
Dr. Jeff Elliot (01:02:26):
So I've got one question. I need an honest answer now that this is over. You said you were a little anxious about your presentation, but was it better than the judges? How would you compare 'em?
Lane Bollenbacher (01:02:44):
I would say not quiet. Uh, you know, judges are always right. That's what I always say,
Miriam Cook (01:02:49):
Lane Bollenbacher (01:02:53):
Yep.
Miriam Cook (01:02:54):
I think, I think I'll need a couple weeks to process the judges' presentations. Actually, ironically, our coach, Dr. Boorman, she, before we went in the room to see the coach's presentation, she said, she pulled me aside and she said, I know what they're gonna say. I want to prepare you. So your reaction is not bad and you don't ask too many questions and grill them. Um, and so like she told me beforehand so that I wasn't like overwhelmed because I definitely disagreed with what they had said. Um, and I was like heavily texting another, um, member of another team that I was like, they're like, there's no way that they're actually saying, you know, this farm is leveraged right now, but yeah, build a new barn that's totally great. So I was like, definitely questionable, but then like I take a step back, right. And just briefly, like looking at financially wise and kind of that risk being risk averse and everything like that makes sense. Um, but I mean, I, I'd like to say like, you're convincing the judges you are, right? So I may not, I think we should, you know, do a little bit better than them, but they're smart so they have experience. We don't.
Scott Sorrell (01:03:56):
Would you guys, uh, mind, uh, just kind of letting us know what your plans are after graduation lane? Why don't we start with you?
Lane Bollenbacher (01:04:02):
Uh, I'd like to go back to the family, family dairy farm.
Scott Sorrell (01:04:05):
Okay. And where's that at? In
Lane Bollenbacher (01:04:07):
Northern Indiana, a small town called
Scott Sorrell (01:04:08):
Argu. Okay.
Chad Patterson (01:04:11):
Um, I'm only a junior, so I still got another year, but, uh, I also plan on going back to my family's dairy farm. I'm actually from the eastern shore of Maryland.
Scott Sorrell (01:04:19):
Okay. Very well.
Tobyn Smith (01:04:21):
Um, I've got a, a job lined up, uh, in Chicago actually, but, um, it doesn't encompass anything with the dairy industry. Um, personally, I hadn't stepped foot on a dairy farm up until spring of last year.
Scott Sorrell (01:04:35):
Is that right? It's,
Tobyn Smith (01:04:36):
This has been quite the trip. Uh, I'd say the main reason I'm here is because I made friends with Miriam and our, uh, dairy management classes pass fall, and she, uh, said, Hey, come out for this class. I think you'd really like it. It'll be fun. And first week and first farm we evaluated. I'm sitting here like, I don't know what I got myself into and I've learned a lot along the way, but, um, I'll be working for a company called Fletcher International Exports in Chicago, so
Scott Sorrell (01:05:02):
Congratulations. Like, yeah, well deserved.
Miriam Cook (01:05:06):
Uh, I wish I had an answer to that question. Uh, I do graduate in May, so I should probably find an answer. Um, so, uh, tentatively just kind of, uh, doing an off the wall internship at a ranch in, uh, Canada working with beef cattle. Um, and so, uh, beyond that, um, my dad would like the answer to be, to come back to the farm. Um, my answer's probably gonna be, I like international things and policy, and I really like staring at Excel sheets and numbers, so I'm trying to figure that out after today. Uh, a nutritionist said I should go into nutrition. I don't believe I should do that, but he said I was good at it. Um, and so just kind of figuring out in weighing all that, just trying to find in something that I really fall in love with. All right.
Scott Sorrell (01:05:50):
Very well. Congratulations guys. Yeah. Congratulations. Job well done. And thank you for joining us here at the Real Science Exchange. Jeffrey, thank you for joining me once again. Yep. Appreciate the invite to our loyal audience. As usual, thank you for joining us and spending some time with us here. We hope you had fun. We hope you learned something, and we hope to see you next time here at the Real Science Exchange, where it's always a happy hour and you're always among friends. We'd
Speaker 7 (01:06:14):
Love to hear your comments or ideas for topics and guests. So please reach out via email to anh.marketing@balchem.com with any suggestions, and we'll work hard to add them to the schedule. Don't forget to leave a five-star rating on your way out. You can request your Real Science Exchange t-shirt in just a few easy steps, just like or subscribe to the Real Science Exchange. And send us a screenshot along with your address and t-shirt size to anh.marketing@balchem.com. Bal Chem's Real Science lecture series of webinars continues with ruminant-focused topics on the first Tuesday of every month. Monogastric focused topics on the second Tuesday of each month, and quarterly topics for the companion animal segment. Visit alchem.com/real science to see the latest schedule and to register for upcoming webinars.