Illini Dairy Club Pipeline

2000-2001

Below are some excerpts from the 2000-2001 Pipeline.

Illinois State Fair

Nine days, nearly 7,000 people, and tons of fun. Those words best summarize the infamous Milk-A-Cow booth at this year's state fair. Whether several squirts or just a few drops, each challenger received a much coveted "I milked a cow at the Illinois State Fair" button and a half-pint of milk, compliments of Prairie Farms Dairy. It took a large amount of manpower and cooperation to pull off this effort, and the Illini Dairy Club would like to thank everyone who played a part in making this year's booth such a success.

Co-chairs for the event were sophomores Melissa Rice and Stephani Hess. In addition, several club members, past and present, worked long hours caring for the show string and helping run the booth. These much valued members include: Grant Heinzmann, Ethan Heinzmann, Amy Meyer, Becky Meyer, Angie Haag, Adam Drinkall, Chad Bremmer, and Becky Ruemmler. Special thanks to Erin Johnson, who cared for the show string over the summer and assisted us during the whole week at the fair. In addition, a huge thank you to Gene McCoy who supervised the activities and made sure we got everything done.

The 2000 show string consisted of one Holstein, three Ayrshires, and six Jerseys. Our Ayrshire two-year-old placed second in her class, and was very close to being first. All the rest of the animals placed in the middle of their classes. Some of the highlights of the 2000 Illinois State Fair Milk-A-Cow booth included visits from the Illinois Director of Agriculture, Mr. Joe Hampton, and several central Illinois broadcast stations and newspapers.

By Stephani Hess

The Illini Dairy Club Fall Call-Out for 2000 was held September 12, 2000 at 6:00 p.m. in the Animal Sciences Laboratory and it kicked off another exciting year for the Illini Dairy Club. Approximately 30 dairy enthusiasts, many Animal Science faculty, Dairy Club advisors, and Dean Charles Olson attended the kick-off meeting for the 2000-2001 year.

President Michael Gunderson led the meeting. Various club members described all of the major events and activities that the club partakes in. A presentation was shown providing many pictures of the events from last year. Officers talked about their duties to give an idea to prospective members. Dean Olson spoke to everyone about the club and what it has to offer to the college and the members. Some internship and scholarship ideas were also presented. The meeting was adjourned and the members enjoyed ice-cream, milk and cookies.

By: Melissa Rice

On October 10, 2000, the Illini Dairy club hosted their 4th annual Cow Olympiad at the dairy farm. Several old and new members of the club showed up for a fun filled evening. Everyone was divided up into four teams and was responsible for creating a name for their team. The clever team names were as follows: Team #1-Goat Roping Swiss Herders: Mike Gunderson, Charlie Lenkaitis, and Leah Schleef; Team #2-Super Duper Pooper Scoopers: Missy Meyer, Stephani Hess, and Brent Pollard; Team #3-Purple Cows: Carey Baldwin, Angie Haag, and Amy Meyer; and Team #4-Barn Babes: William VanWassenhove, Adam Drinkall, and Becky Meyer.

Our first event was the wheelbarrow race. Each tem divided into pairs and one person pushed while the other rode, and when they got back, the second pair went. This was quite a race since one of the wheelbarrows had a flat tire. Have you ever tried to push Charlie Lenkaitis in a wheelbarrow with a flat tire on grass? I do not recommend it if you are trying to win the race. After a few races, the Barn Babes finally gained their first of many victories throughout the night. Teams 1, 2, & 3 followed them, respectively.

The second event was a true test of strength, a straw bale toss. The object was to see which team could throw the bale the furthest. Rod Stoll's feet were the official measure. Every technique was tried, from the discus throw to the overhead toss. Coming out first was the Goat Roping Swiss Herders, followed by Teams 4, 2 and 3, respectively.

Next, before it got too dark, we tried our hand at the butter stick toss. This event was run just like an egg toss, but with butter, instead. Girls proved to have the sure hand as the Purple Cows won their first event and were followed by teams 1, 4, and 2, respectively.

We then moved into the barn for our final event, the cow milking challenge. Each team tried to get as much milk as possible into their bucket in the 2 minutes allowed. With all of the excitement, the cows were getting edgy, but no one ended up spilling their bucket of milk. The most experienced team, the Goat Roping Swiss Herders won, followed by teams 2, 4, and 3, respectively.

After all of the results were tallied, the Goat Roping Swiss Herders were victorious. The Barn Babes and the Super Duper Pooper Scoopers followed them and Purple Cows tied for third.

Prizes were donated by the ADA of IL, and included "Got Milk" paraphernalia. After an evening of hard work, everyone enjoyed pizza, milk and cookies during the business meeting. We all left happy with a full stomach!

By: Melissa Meyer

The 2000 University of Illinois dairy judging team was composed of 11 members this year. The team was glad to have 3 foreign exchange students from the Netherlands travel with them this year. Coached by Gene McCoy and Dr. David Miller, team members practiced at 30 herds throughout Illinois and Wisconsin to prepare them for regional and national contests.

The first contest, hosted by Accelerated Genetics was held in Viroqua, WI on September 17, 2000. Team one consisted of three juniors, Charlie Lenkaitis, Angie Haag, Becky Meier, and one sophomore, Brent Pollard. Team two consisted of three juniors from the Netherlands, Anton Hylkema, Rudolph Samplonas, and Jeroen Nolles. Team #1 placed 6th overall and team #2 placed 15th. 16 teams were involved in the competition this year. Team one was high team in Brown Swiss, with Brent being the high individual in the breed. Brent placed third overall. IN addition, Team two was 4th in Guernseys and Rudy placed 5th in Jerseys.

One week later Gene took the crew out again, this time with the senior team heading to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania for the All-American judging contest. Expectations of the team's performance were mediocre, as we had never done very well at the contest in the past. Amy Meyer, Kelly Smith, Mike Gunderson, and Charlie Lenkaitis competed for the university this year. The team was 1st overall, THE FIRST EVER IN ILLINI HISTORY!! Amy Meyer was 5th individual overall, while Mike Gunderson was 9th. The team placed 2nd in Ayrshires, 3rd in Guernseys and 3rd in reasons. Kelly Smith was 5th in Brown Swiss, Amy was 4th in Guernseys and Mike was third high in reasons. Although we did not win a breed, we placed very consistently to bring us to the top.

The National Collegiate contest was held during World Dairy Expo in Madison on October 13, 2000. Once again Kelly, Mike, Amy and Charlie headed up the team. This was the most challenging contest any of us had faced. When the smoke cleared, Kelly placed 8th overall and Mike and Charlie were 19th and 20th, respectively. All three earned All-American judge honors for 2000. The team was 5th overall, 5th in Ayrshires, 4th in Brown Swiss, 1st in Guernseys, and 9th in reasons. Kelly was 10th individual in the linear contest and 2nd in both Brown Swiss and Guernseys. Amy was 2nd in Jerseys, while Charlie was 6th in Guernseys.

Our final contest was held almost one month later at the North American in Louisville, Kentucky. After a few practices along the way to work out our team's rustiness, we settled in to finish a very successful season. It was Mike Gunderson's day in Louisville as he finished as the high individual for the contest. He was also 2nd in Ayrshires, 4th in Guernseys, 1st in Holsteins and 5th overall in reasons. Kelly was 7th overall in reasons, while Amy was 3rd in Ayrshires. The team was 2nd in Ayrshires, 4th in Brown Swiss, 2nd in Holsteins, 4th overall and 4th in reasons.

The team and coaches wish to thank the many breeders who made cattle available to practice judging.

By: Kelly Smith

The 20th Annual Midwest Regional meeting of the American Dairy Science Association Student Affiliate Division was held at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign and the Chancellor Hotel and Convention Center on February 23 ­ 24, 2001. The first meeting of this ADSA-SAD group was held in 1982 at the very same university. During its first meeting, 75 students attended, and after 20 years, the group has grown to over 470 students. One of the first organizers of the meeting, Dewayne Dill, was on hand this year to represent his business, Dairy Strategies in the career fair. Those schools that were in attendance this year included: Kansas State University, Purdue University, Michigan State University, South Dakota State University, North Dakota State University, University of Minnesota, University of Minnesota-Crookston, Iowa State University, The Ohio State University, University of Illinois, University of Wisconsin-Madison, University of Wisconsin-Platteville and University of Wisconsin-River Falls.

Many events take place during the weekend to encourage students to become more enthusiastic over the dairy industry. DeLaval sponsored preliminary rounds of the quiz bowl started off the weekend on Friday evening, where 12 junior teams and 14 senior teams competed. UI dairy science faculty volunteered as moderators and judges, as UI students kept score. After the heated competition, the mood lightened up a bit when most of the schools presented skits that was related to the dairy industry. Some were modeled after the late night show, Saturday Night Live, while others copied dating games and game shows. This was an excellent opportunity to display rivalries between the schools and help everyone relax from their long journeys to Illinois. The UI dairy club seniors judged the skits and awarded UW-Platteville with the blue ribbon. Afterwards, the students enjoyed a live band, milk, cheese, and hors d'oeuvres, all sponsored by Monsanto Dairy Business, Pharmacia Animal Health, Dean Foods, and Avanti Cheese.

Saturday morning began with breakfast sponsored by Purina Mills, Prairie Farms, and Dean Foods and a business meeting at Foellinger Auditorium on campus. Dr. David Schingoethe, current National ADSA president, briefly addressed the students before the meeting got underway. New amendments were made to the constitution, as well as new officer elections being held. It was also decided that The Ohio State University would hold next year's convention. After the meeting portion of the morning and a small break, the quiz bowl finals were held. The University of Wisconsin-River Falls came out on top for the junior competition, while the University of Wisconsin-Platteville took home the senior division prize. Afterwards, students braved the rain and thunderstorms to make their way over to the Stock Pavilion, where the new Agriculture Sorority, Sigma Alpha, provided lunch for the hungry visitors. Cargill Animal Nutrition, Westfalia Surge, and Elanco sponsored the lunch.

This year the Illini Dairy Club made plans for new events to take place during the Saturday afternoon of the ADSA-SAD meeting. 10 dairy related companies were asked to participate in a career fair to be held after lunch for the students. Students were asked to submit a resume prior to the meeting, so that they could be bound and give to each career fair exhibitor. The companies represented included: Semex USA, BouMatic, Purina Mills, Monsanto Dairy Business, Accelerated Genetics, Pharmacia Animal Health, Vita Plus, Westfalia Surge, Dairy Strategies, and DeLaval. Their representatives were looking for student interns, as well as full-time employees. The students were given two hours to visit the career fair, and then each school designated 9 of their dairy club members to take part in the 1st annual Cow Olympics of the Midwest Regional ADSA-SAD meeting. Events included milk chug toss, wheelbarrow races, bale pyramid/stacking, and milk chugging. Taking home the first ever first place decorated bucket of candy was the University of Minnesota-Crookston. In addition, individual prizes were given to those contestants that won each event, as well as all participants in the gallon milk chugging contest.

To encourage participation in the career fair, companies were asked to provide questions for the students to answer. Questions were asked that could only be answered by interacting with the booth representatives. Those students that had all answers correct were entered in a drawing for door prizes. The grand prize included a framed Bonnie Mohr print and the next 4 prizes were cash and candy. This helped to get students involved in visiting with the career fair representatives and to reward students with some nice prizes.

The final event of the weekend included a banquet to honor and thank all of those students and advisors that attended. Dr. Mike Hutjens served as the master of ceremonies for the evening and entertained everyone with a few jokes about each school. The University of Illinois' head of the Department of Animal Sciences, Robert Easter, as well as the Dean of the College of Agricultural, Consumer, and Environmental Sciences, Dean David Chicoine were asked to address the group, as they helped to sponsor the banquet. Iowa State University was awarded with the most school spirit, while the University of Minnesota had the best yearbook and club display for the weekend. Finally, many donors made this event possible to help lower each student's costs for the weekend and we are greatly appreciative of them.

By: Kelly Smith

2001 brought yet another exciting Milk-A-Cow Booth at the ACES Open house. Co-chairs of the event, Melissa Rice and Leah Schleef along with fellow Illini Dairy club members had their hands full with children and adults of all ages. On March 2 and 3, 1700 anxious and excited people milked a cow, which is 1000 more people than in the past. Beside the problems of running out of buttons and milk because of the unexpected crowd the weekend was a great success. As a fundraising activity for the club, a profit of around $850 was made.

Everyone who visited the Milk-A-Cow booth at the ACES Open House was given a hands-on experience with the dairy industry. Each new milker left with the experience of milking a cow by hand but left with the understanding that in these times a machine does most of all milking. Along with the actual cow a large display was set up with many pictures showing the breeds of dairy cattle, process of the milk from the cow to the plant, and all of the dairy products made from the milk. Hopefully with the knowledge gained from the Milk-a-Cow booth everyone has a better understanding of the dairy cow and the milk she produces.

By Melissa Rice

Spring Break Trip

From March 9 - 16, 2001 members of the Illini Dairy Club and friends visited Holland on the annual spring break trip. The trip is planned by members of the club along with Mr. Gene McCoy and Dr. Roger Shanks. The trip members were not able to visit any dairy farms in Holland because of the hoof-and-mouth outbreak in Europe. However, they still learned a lot about the dairy industry in Holland, as well as learning first hand about international issues of animal and farm biosecurity.

Rounding up the PDCA Calf Sale

There was something different about the 2001 PDCA Calf Sale. Illini Dairy Club members still did most of the work and Illinois dairy families still traveled to Champaign-Urbana in early April for the event. But they walked up the ramp of Round Barn #3 to view cattle instead of wandering around the dairy farm's tool shed.

For a few days the round barns, once the center of dairy research, were home to cud-chewing cattle, bustling dairy club members and curious visitors.

"Isn't it nice to see the barns filled with cattle again," was a comment heard and expressed by many attending the sale.

The sale was held on April 7 and 40 animals representing four breeds were sold in a white tent located east of Round Barn #3. The high selling animal was a Holstein Junior 2-year old consigned by Golden Oaks Farm, Wauconda, Ill. Golden Oaks Apolla Storm was sold for $2,750 to Kevin Knapp of Congerville, Ill.

The second high selling animal, Irwindale Leduc Morgan, a September calf, was purchased by Brent Pollard of Rockford for $2,400. Steve Irwin of Beason, Ill. consigned Morgan.

The overall sale average was $1,276. Individual breed averages were: Ayrshires (3)- $1,033, Brown Swiss (2)- $1,125, Jerseys (12)- $1,164, and Holsteins (23)- $1,379.

Dairy club members, lead by co-chairs Kelly Smith and Charles Lenkaitis, bedded down the top part of the barn with sawdust and straw on Thursday afternoon. The next day cattle were unloaded from trailers and tied in the barn. Club members washed, clipped, fed, watered and cared for the animals before Saturday's sale.

On sale day, club members got up early to wash the animals. The quiz bowl competition started at 9 a.m. Most people started arriving around 10:00. They circled the barn and discussed the cattle. A PDCA meeting was held for everyone at noon. Then at 12:30, the first animal was lead into the ring. Dairy club members led cattle, operated the food stand, passed slips and took care of the cattle.

By Sunday morning, all the cattle were gone. Club members cleaned up the bedding and removed the cattle signs. By the afternoon's end the round barns were once again lacking the cattle they had been designed to hold.

By Amy Meyer

Judging Contest

The Illini Dairy Club seniors hosted the annual dairy-judging contest on Saturday, April 28, 2001 at the Dairy Farm. There were three divisions: collegiate experienced, collegiate inexperienced, and youth.

Ray Ropp served as the official judge for the day. Ray is a Jersey breeder from Normal and is a University of Illinois alumnus. Ray served as the assistant judge for the 2000 NAILE Jersey Open Show making sure Ted Dement got the placings right there. Ray also took oral reasons on Brown Swiss senior heifers. Dr. Mike Hutjens, Dave Fischer, and Rod Stoll also took oral reasons. Ray placed three classes of Jerseys, three classes of Holsteins, one class of Ayrshires, and one class of Brown Swiss.

The youth division joined the contest after three classes had been placed and many of the contestants gave reasons on two classes. Forty-three dairy enthusiasts participated in this division of the contest. Winning the youth division was Andrew Lenkaitis of St. Charles. The Illini Dairy Club is pleased to welcome Andy as a member this fall!

Angie Haag walked away with top honors in the collegiate inexperienced division. In this division no reasons were given.

Finally in the collegiate experienced division there were nineteen contestants including students from the introductory dairy evaluation class, AN SCI 204. They judged all eight classes and gave four sets of reasons. Topping the reasons portion of the contest were: 1st-Becky Meyer, 2nd-Jeff Wilson, and 3rd to Brent Pollard. Overall the top five were: 1st-Becky Meyer, 2nd-Jeff Wilson, 3rd-Brent Pollard, 4th-Leah Schleef, and 5th-Korrin Ryterski.

Congratulations to all the students who did very well in a tough contest!

By: Mike Gunderson

The dairy club's annual banquet was held on April 28, 2001 at the Round Barn banquet center. Over 90 guests attended, including three newly found dairy club friends from Minnesota. We enjoyed comments and congratulations from the head of the Department of Animal Sciences, Dr. Robert Easter, and the dean of the college of ACES, David Chicoine. Charlie Lenkaitis served as the Master of Ceremonies for the evening and entertained the audience with many jokes about Dr. Hutjens and Gene.

Some special presentations were made during the evening, including honoring the graduating seniors with a special slide show. In addition, the presentation of the dedication of the Pipeline was presented to HiDee Ekstrom along with a beautiful bouquet of flowers and an etched flower vase. We wanted to thank her for all of her hard work and dedication to our club and for her work on our ADSA convention.

Many awards were presented for the evening, including six incoming student scholarships. It was very encouraging to see six new enthusiastic dairy students entering the university and our club!