Award Recipients of 2008 Illini Dairy Club Awards

Congratulations to the award recipients recognized at the Illini Dairy Club banquet held Saturday, April 19:

Dairy Challenge Program

The Dairy Challenge Team from University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign won a first place platinum placing in the Seventh Annual North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge (NAIDC) held April 4-5, 2008, at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, with 31 teams from the United States and one team from Canada competing. The Illinois students each received a $200 scholarship.

The team, all seniors in the Department of Animal Sciences and all from Illinois, consisted of Steven Fluty, Bloomington; Elizabeth Johnson, Carlinville; Matthew McCoy, Palestine; and John Mitchell, Winnebago. Kate Cowles coached the team.

NAIDC is an innovative two-day competition for students representing dairy science programs at North American universities. It enables students to apply theory and learning to a real-world dairy, while working as part of a four-person team.

Dairy Judging

North American International Live- stock Dairy Judging Contest - Louisville

The University of Illinois Dairy Cattle Judging Team are the winners of the North American International Live- stock Dairy Judging Contest held in Louisville, KY on Nov 9, 2008. The team was composed of Katie Boesche of Dekalb, Erin Lyons of Rockford, and Clint Harre of Nashville. Nineteen teams from all over the United States competed in this contest. The team was first in Ayrshires, Brown Swiss, and 3rd in Jerseys. Katie was High Individual overall and 4th in Reasons. Katie was also High Individual in Brown Swiss, High Individual in Jerseys and 5th in Ayrshires. Erin was Eighth Individual overall and 3rd in Brown Swiss. Clint was 9th in Guern- seys. Despite competing with only three individuals, the team won the final contest in which they will compete. This group was remarkably consistent over the last two years, having placed in the top four of each of the four contests in which they competed. The team was coached by Gene McCoy and Dave Miller.

World Dairy Expo - Madison

Team members consisting of Katie Boesche, Clint Harre, Steve Fluty, and Erin Lyons participated at the 2008 National Collegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest in Madison, WI on September 29th at the World Dairy Expo. Team members were 4th overall and 4th in reasons out of 22 teams. Fluty, Harre, and Lyons were All-Americans placing 12th, 20th, and 18th respectfully overall. Harre was 5th in reasons overall. Team placed 1st in Brown Swiss, 6th in Jerseys, 8th in Milking Shorthorns and 5th in Red and White Holsteins. Individually, Fluty placed 2nd in Brown Swiss, 4th in Holsteins, and 6th in Jerseys. Lyons was 8th in Brown Swiss and 2nd in Milking Shorthorns. Boesche was 10th in Milking Shorthorns.