Here is the update on the great World Dairy Expo 2011 and my grand adventure to Madison, WI.
5 am Friday morning my Father and I left our house to set off for a tour of UW-Madison. At 9:30 we finally found our way out of the parking garage and to the ag. building we were meeting in. Since we were a half hour early for our 10 o'clock tour, my dad decided we should walk around the building. Apparantly 20 feet into our walk we looked lost and one of the profressors there stopped us and asked if he could help us, we looked lost. It turned out the this proffessor was a dairy science prof. (the same area I was looking at at the school) and he told us a little more about the dairy department and took us to meet the head honcho of the dairy department. This was the guy that could give me lots of money was how i was introduced. He later told me that I was "special and diverse" because I was from Minnesota (basically because I talked funny) and interested in dairy science. We finally made it back to the ag. building for our tour. I was on the Madison campus last year for NDC and it didn't seem that big then, but let me tell you, it definitely was this time! When we finished the tour it took us a half hour to find the parking garage. The fact that this campus was so big was almost an immediate deciding factor that made me not want to be a Badger. But, I must commend the Madison prof. that took his time to make sure my dad and I weren't lost, and to help us learn more about my specific area of interest.
Then we moved on the WDE, now we have never gotten there at 1 pm before but we had to park over a half mile away from the grounds. We were lucky enough to get a ride on a trolley on the way in but no way did we get one on the way out! My dad was beside himself! But we still got to see all that the dairy industry has to offer and the newest technology. I even got to see my lovely sister :) Besides being sick and feeling like I was going to die that night, it was a terrific day.
Saturday was the national dairy quiz bowl competition. My team and I were first (out of three) but it was still a national contest so it still makes us sound really good. That took about an hour or so. Then we had to rest of the day to look around while we waited for the supreme champion to be named. This was my idea because I seem to have the knack for show cows while my parents just like cows that make milk. But i was thrilled! Show cows are really my weak point, put me in a barn full of them and i could spend all day admiring these great animals, that are realistically placed on this planet just to look good. (what a life). We saw Eastside Lewisdale Gold Missy from Alberta, Canada be named supreme champion of the 2011 World Dairy Expo, jumped in the car and were in home 4 hours later.
I love world dairy expo!!
I'll update you on my great trip to Indianapolis, Indiana in a few days, it was a terrific trip.
Have a safe and happy halloween!
Friday, October 28, 2011
Wednesday, October 5, 2011
the land of chocolate, cows, and amish
As Grace has begun to continuously nag me about updating the blog I finally will get around to doing it. So here it is, the blog update on my trip to the wonderful state of Pennsylvania and the All-American Dairy Show.
Well if you can recall at the beginning of the September my dairy judging team won a trip to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to the All-American Dairy Show held there. 2 weeks ago me, my 3 teammates, a coach and a teammates dad drove the 16 hours to Pennsylvania. We left friday night at 11:30 and arrived there around 3. That night we travelled to Gettysburg to look at the battlefields. Sunday morning we took 45 minutes to get to a farm that was 6 minutes from our hotel. We judging 3 classes with not enough time to judge them and ate a very nice lunch. That afternoon we travelled to Hershey and toured the chocolate plant. it was a very impressive mechanical tour. We then went to New Holland, which they told us was just a short drive, an hour and a half later we got there. But it was all worth it.
Monday morning, we woke up, ate our poptarts and set out for the judging contest. We ended up judging 10 classes of animals (which is a lot considering the most I've ever judged is six) and gave 4 sets of reasons (also a lot, but I ended up having too much time between sets and overmemorized). We went back to the hotel, watched friends, and were almost late to the awards. We ate a very nice dinner and waited to find out how we did. In the end, I was 1st in ayrshire (only ever judged ayrshires a handful of times in my life), our team was first in ayrshire, 3rd in brown swiss, and 1st in guernsey. Wouldn't you know that the 2 breeds we see the most often we did the worst in. We weren't in the top 5 for holstein or jersey. Individually, I was 5th overall and our team was 5th overall. Pretty good for a national contest. I was satisfied. We left at 5:30 from our hotel and arrived back to our coaches house around 9:30. I was home by 10.
Needless to say it was quite the experience, I definitely don't ever need to go on a van ride with an inconsiderate person who puts their seat back all the way the whole entire trip all 32 hours. It was fun to look at high quality cattle and to get to judge one last time for 4-H this year. Plus!! bonus showcase points next year! :)
It's sad though that I will never be able to judge FFA dairy again because last year I won, even though they didn't announce my name. I feel like i got chipped!! what's up with that?? well, enough of my ranting. Saturday we're in Madison, WI for national dairy quiz bowl. We'll see how that goes, hopefully well but no promises. Happy World Dairy Expo!! :)
Well if you can recall at the beginning of the September my dairy judging team won a trip to Harrisburg, Pennsylvania to the All-American Dairy Show held there. 2 weeks ago me, my 3 teammates, a coach and a teammates dad drove the 16 hours to Pennsylvania. We left friday night at 11:30 and arrived there around 3. That night we travelled to Gettysburg to look at the battlefields. Sunday morning we took 45 minutes to get to a farm that was 6 minutes from our hotel. We judging 3 classes with not enough time to judge them and ate a very nice lunch. That afternoon we travelled to Hershey and toured the chocolate plant. it was a very impressive mechanical tour. We then went to New Holland, which they told us was just a short drive, an hour and a half later we got there. But it was all worth it.
Monday morning, we woke up, ate our poptarts and set out for the judging contest. We ended up judging 10 classes of animals (which is a lot considering the most I've ever judged is six) and gave 4 sets of reasons (also a lot, but I ended up having too much time between sets and overmemorized). We went back to the hotel, watched friends, and were almost late to the awards. We ate a very nice dinner and waited to find out how we did. In the end, I was 1st in ayrshire (only ever judged ayrshires a handful of times in my life), our team was first in ayrshire, 3rd in brown swiss, and 1st in guernsey. Wouldn't you know that the 2 breeds we see the most often we did the worst in. We weren't in the top 5 for holstein or jersey. Individually, I was 5th overall and our team was 5th overall. Pretty good for a national contest. I was satisfied. We left at 5:30 from our hotel and arrived back to our coaches house around 9:30. I was home by 10.
Needless to say it was quite the experience, I definitely don't ever need to go on a van ride with an inconsiderate person who puts their seat back all the way the whole entire trip all 32 hours. It was fun to look at high quality cattle and to get to judge one last time for 4-H this year. Plus!! bonus showcase points next year! :)
It's sad though that I will never be able to judge FFA dairy again because last year I won, even though they didn't announce my name. I feel like i got chipped!! what's up with that?? well, enough of my ranting. Saturday we're in Madison, WI for national dairy quiz bowl. We'll see how that goes, hopefully well but no promises. Happy World Dairy Expo!! :)
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