Boomer is a field technical service manager with Arm & Hammer Animal Nutrition and the 2010 DCRC president. Skidmore is with Intervet/Schering Plough and is the DCRC secretary.
In 2009, the Dairy Cattle Reproduction Council (DCRC) created the Reproduction Awards program to recognize leading dairy producers who have successfully implemented management procedures to achieve high reproductive efficiency. In its second year, 94 dairies from 22 states and Mexico were nominated for the award by industry partners.
The dairies were narrowed to a semifinalist group by a panel of four industry judges, and those dairies provided in-depth information on every cow that calved between January 1 and December 31, 2009. The raw data was then analyzed in an independent analytical program to compare reproductive performance on the dairies. Based on the data submitted, finalists were ranked on 18 reproductive parameters and the sum of these rankings helped index reproduction programs from highest to lowest. The analytical program helps to remove some of the bias between herds that in reality are not different.
From this data, judges selected four levels of award winners - Platinum, Gold, Silver and Honorable Mention. In all, 15 dairies have been recognized for their herd's reproductive efforts. The top five herds received platinum honors and are highlighted below. The platinum herds will participate in a panel discussion at the DCRC annual meetings November 11 to 12 in St. Paul, Minn.
Congratulations to all the dairies honored in this year's program.
Gold: Blue Sky Dairy, Cleveland, Minn. Rock Bottom Dairy, Rock Rapids, Iowa University of Illinois, Urbana, Ill. Van Ryn Jerseys, Hartley, Texas
Silver: Darlington Ridge, Darlington, Wis. Golden Dawn Farms, Merrill, Wis. Green Mountain Dairy, Sheldon, Vt. Norswiss Farms, Inc., Rice Lake, Wis.
Honorable Mention: Kelsay Farms LLC, Whiteland, Ind. Prairie View Dairy LLC, Delton, Mich.
You can also see the November 2010 Hoard's Dairyman issue on pages 752-753 for more details.
