SUNY Cobleskill hosted the 14th annual Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge in Glens Falls, NY. One hundred twenty students, representing 13 colleges and universities throughout the northeast and Canada attended the event.

The regional Dairy Challenge places students on mixed-university teams of four or five individuals to analyze all aspects of a working dairy. Teams assessed the dairy’s facilities, nutrition, financials, reproduction, animal health and much more. Together, they collaborated on a 20-minute team presentation that detailed their observations and suggestions to a panel of judges and participating farm families. Farms evaluated in the competition included Ideal Dairy, Toolite Dairy and Welcome Stock Dairy. All teams participated in educational workshops and tours at King Brothers Dairy.

· First place, Team 1: Emily Anger, SUNY Cobleskill; Emily Chittenden, Cornell University; Josh Keller, Ohio State-ATI; and Quentin Nelson, VermontTechnical College
· Second place, Team 2: Marikate Barber, SUNY Cobleskill; Gregory Bohemen, McGill University; Grant Feldspausch, Cornell University; Allison Mangun, Ohio State-ATI;and Nathan Oakman, Morrisville State College

Farm 2
· First place, Team 12: Carly Amsden, University of Maine; Kiersten Foster, Alfred State College; Jordan Hubbell, SUNY Cobleskill; Derek Oliver, McGill University; and Jamie St. Pierre, CornellUniversity

· Second place, Team 16: Chase Cashell, Penn State University; Kyah Hardy, University of New Hampshire; Shelley Nyentap, University of Guelph; Bryant Stuttle, Cornell University; and Katelyn Williams, University of Connecticut

Farm 3
· First place, Team 24: Courtney Banach, University of Vermont; Krystle Burger, Morrisville State College; Hannah Dye, Ohio State-ATI; Jacob Morgan,Cornell University; and Michael Shariff, SUNYCobleskill
· Second place, Team 22: Aaron Cuevas, Vermont Technical College; Lauren Hill, Cornell University; Daniel Hosking, Alfred State College; and Bethany Sloan, Morrisville State College

The objective of the Dairy Challenge is to create a real-life situation that highlights the importance of teamwork and professionalism.

About Dairy Challenge
NAIDC is an innovative event for students in dairy programs at North American post-secondary institutions. Its mission is to develop tomorrow’s dairy leaders and enhance progress of the dairy industry by providing education, communication and networking among students, producers, and agribusiness and university personnel. Over its 15-year national history, Dairy Challenge has helped prepare more than 5,000 students for careers as farm owners and managers, consultants, researchers, veterinarians or other dairy professionals. The next national event will be March 30- April 1, 2017 in Visalia, CA. Four regional events are held in late fall and winter; details are at www.dairychallenge.org.