The Scoop from the big Grand Rapids! GLRDC 2009

So this year's Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference has come and gone! It was jam-packed of informative and exciting speakers.

Thursday
The opening session was all about the dairy industy and the new global environment by Jay Waldvogel. Then, an Wayne Humphrey an Iowa farmer gave an inspirational speech, "Leading with Your ACES."

• Attitude
• Communications
• Enthusiasm
• Sincerity

Later that afternoon, Dr. Gordon Atkins stressed the importance of cow conformation and breeding for cows that will live for a long time. Additionally, Dr. Nigel Cook took some time to discuss cow comfort, and how a comfortable cow will make a happy, healthy cow and in return a profitable cow.

Friday
I was all over the conference on friday, bouncing between some of the regular workshops, the Michigan Dairy Ambassador contest and some of the Partners' Program. There were a ton of excellent speakers there this weekend, it was difficult to pick only one!

I first sat in on Tom Earleywine's session on heifer calf management. He stressed that many farmers were underfeeding their calves and suggested feeding less per feeding, but increasing the feeding times to three (generally most feed two).

I then jumped over to the room where the Michigan Dairy Ambassador contests were to sit in on their discussion they had - after they listened to a presentation from Annie Link about farm tours that they have on their farm (Swissalane Dairy) and how people are able to discover how their dairy operation works. It was very interesting to hear their ideas. I know that the dairy industry has a bright future with people like them! These are bright students, who are passionate about this industry, willing to make a difference and show people that the animal ag. industry is all about producing a safe and quality product.

Later that afternoon I sat in on a discussion about a grazing farm in New York and the young women discussed how their family operated and worked together to be profitable and met their goals. It was very interesting to hear how different their farming techniques were from my own farming experiences. With their grazing farm, cows will start calving in March and they will milk them just about until the end of the year. They have two months where they aren't milking (or getting a milk check for that matter). I saw that their way of farming was much less stressful, however learning how to stay on a budget during those months with no income could result in stress.

After I went and picked up some Moo-ville ice cream, I went to listen to Amanda Nolz speak about the future of the ag. industry. She is a student at South Dakota State University and grew up on her family's Limosine farm. I could really relate to her speech, as I am also facing the dilemma on future plans: life after school. I know that I would love to have a 9-5 job with a steady income, but I also know that I love the farm and the animals in which that job is all about. Sometimes God's plan for our life is not always what we had in mind, but with trust and faith - his plans will endure.

Later in the evening at the Dairy Recognition Banquet, Brittany Westendorp and I had the pleasure of introducing the 2009 Michigan Dairy Ambassadors! This year's Junior Michigan Dairy Ambassador is Matt Mann from Hillsdale, Michigan. The 2009 Senior Michigan Dairy Ambassador is Nicole Schaendorf from Hopkins, Michigan. Congratualtions to both!


GLRDC 2009, was a huge success! Next year it will be back in Frankenmuth, Michigan and I hope to see an even better turn out again!