The author is the dairy marketing communications lead for Cargill Animal Nutrition and a former associate editor at Hoard’s Dairyman.
I almost cried,” I said.
“I did, too,” he responded.
That was the conversation I had with Wayne Sliker shortly after his cow, Top Acres Supreme Wizard ET, was named Grand Champion of the Brown Swiss show at the 2017 World Dairy Expo. It was such a significant and emotional moment for me because it was the first time Wayne, a Brown Swiss breeder that I have looked up to for a long time, had captured Grand Champion at the show.
With 117 All-Americans and over 100 Reserve All-Americans to his name — both all-time records — perhaps no breeder has accomplished more than Wayne and his wife, Connie, in the Brown Swiss breed. But, until Judge Keith Topp named Wizard Grand Champion, World Dairy Expo’s top title had eluded them.
For a man who means so much to so many, the story of Wizard’s victory is best told by those to whom Wayne means the most. So, I asked them to put his victory into words, and here’s what they said.
Let me tell you a story
“Let me tell you a story to understand what kind of guy Wayne is,” longtime associate and friend, Brian Garrison, began with emotion already welling up inside him.
“I showed against him at the Ohio State Fair in 1980 and beat one of his favorite cows with one of mine. After the show, he was the first one who came over to make sure I had a ride for my cow to get to World Dairy Expo, because she deserved to be there. That was my first trip to World Dairy Expo. And my cow won there. I’ll never forget that,” said Garrison.
“I met Wayne at the National Dairy Cattle Congress in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1962. I’ve sold sales for him as an auctioneer for 25 to 30 years and have shown against him for most of that same time frame,” said fellow Brown Swiss breeder and Klussendorf member Darrell Worden. “It was always a contest between us to see who would win, and he usually did!”
When Idyl Wild Improver Jinx was Grand Champion for us in 1985, he was one of the first people that walked to the middle of the ring and shook my hand and said congratulations,” Darrell recalled. “You don’t forget a moment like that.
“He’s as strong a competitor as there is in the industry,” Darrell continued. “Several times, I know he was really disappointed that he didn’t win, and probably thought he could have. One of the last times he was reserve, he turned around and said, ‘I don’t mind getting beat by a really good cow.’ I think that says a lot about the man.”
New York breeders Gordon and Kathy Demay have been friends with the Slikers for almost 50 years. “Back before the internet, we might not even know who won at Madison until we saw Wayne at the Eastern Breeders Sale in New York, a few weeks after the show,” the pair said. “We always looked forward to his astute analysis of the show. I’m sure he might have grumbled to himself in a year where he felt he should have won, but he never complained about it.”
“I didn’t think it would ever happen,” Wayne’s wife, Connie, told me. “I haven’t been to Madison since 1998. I just didn’t like leaving my September babies so early, so I stayed home.”
“Wayne means a lot to us; he’s family,” Deb Hoffman explained. Deb’s late husband, Palmer Hoffman, and Wayne were best friends for more than 50 years. “Leading up to the show, my daughter, Jenna, and I were debating if we should go to World Dairy Expo or not this year. But I kept thinking that if Wayne were to win it, I had to be there. So, we went.”
Always his cow
“Wayne raised Wizard as a calf,” Connie said. It’s unique that Wizard wasn’t under her care because Connie is the calf-raiser extraordinaire at Top Acres. “I had knee surgery shortly before she was born, and wasn’t going to the barn then. She was a special one to him.”
“This cow is pretty darn remarkable. She’s not a one-and-doner,” Gordon Demay explained about Wizard, who is scored 2E-95, was Reserve Grand Champion at World Dairy Expo in 2013 and 2015, and has been a seven-time All-American nomination.
“Wizard went to seven straight World Dairy Expos; that is remarkable. Wayne appreciated that about her. I think Snickerdoodle might be the only other cow that has done that in recent times,” Gordon continued.
“Wizard almost didn’t make it on the trailer to Madison this year, let alone into the ring,” said Heather Yoder. Yoder and her husband, Delbert, care for the Top Acres string at several shows including World Dairy Expo. Leading up to Expo, Wizard had battled a prolonged and severe calcium deficiency. “At the last minute, Wayne decided she should make the trip because it would be easier to watch her on-site rather than at home.
“Every day that week, she kept getting better and better. When it was show day, we started to think she was looking pretty good,” Yoder said.
Where were you?
“I was watching the show on the computer in the office with our herdsman, Jayson Garrett. Jayson’s been with us 28 years,” Connie Sliker said. “We were texting Wayne throughout the day and watching the show off and on at the computer.”
Darrel Worden stopped what he was doing to watch, too. “As the show was ending this year, I was making my way over to the sale pavilion to prepare for the World Premier Sale. I stopped at the exit because I wanted to see it. I don’t think there was a person in that Coliseum who wasn’t pulling for him,” Worden said.
“I was ringside, and when the cows turned to display, all three senior champion cows were right in front of me,” said Jake Hushon, Brown Swiss breeder and sales manager at New Generation Genetics. “There was no question she looked great.”
“When she hit the ring, I said he (Judge Topp) has to pick this cow,” Chris Keim from Sunshine Genetics added. “Wayne’s someone all of us look up to, and we were all pulling for him.”
“I was watching on my laptop, and had typed a message that was ready to send. I wanted to be the first to send him a message after she won, but I waited and waited to be sure,” Kathy Demay said.
“Once Deano (Associate Judge Dean Dohle) and I had decided who we were going to name our champion, it started to come over me,” Judge Keith Topp recalled. “Up until that moment, you don’t think about anything other than looking at the cows.”
“Wayne was the first person who ever hired me to clip cows for him when I was 17 years old,” Topp reminisced. “As I walked over to him, I couldn’t look him in the eye, because we were both getting pretty emotional about the whole thing.”
“To me it was a great feeling, I’m so glad I got to witness it. He’s worked his whole life for that accomplishment,” Deb Hoffman said. “Jenna and I had to yell and scream. Uncle Wayne had won.”
“It’s even more special that it happened with a cow that he dearly loves; a cow that Connie dearly loves; and a cow that Jayson dearly loves. It was a special thing for us to see. I will never forget it,” she continued.
“It’s hard for me to put into words what this means to me, what Wayne means to me, and what he means to all of us,” Garrison said as he fought back tears. “After all that he’s been through with that cow the past few months and how close he was to losing her . . . it’s the perfect ending.”
“When it was over, Jayson and I turned off the laptop and we headed out to the barn to do chores,” Connie said. “I had babies to feed. You never know which calf might be the next one.”
