PTD post: November 2013

Our November issue traditionally highlights women in dairy. Which dairywomen do you look up to? What qualities do you admire?  

I look up to all dairy women.  A lot of them work right alongside their husbands, and they also have to take care of the home and kids and sometimes even have a job in town, too.  Then there are some dairy women who do all that AND travel to the shows for their family to exhibit the best of their herds.  Some of them hold important positions on committees or are state officers in dairy organizations.  I admire women who can do it all.  I admire women who can work until they are worn out and then work some more anyway, get up the next morning on time, and do it all again day after day.  God bless dairy women!

Surprisingly deadly

Most people use plastic shopping sacks "Walmart sacks".  Most people like helium party balloons.  Many people think it's fun to let them loose to fly away. Lots of school children have set them loose to get someone to write to them from a far away place.  Many people forget to take balloons off corner posts to show people the way to a party.  These are all bad ideas.

I see balloons and sacks caught on barbed wire fences or just snagged on tall weeds out in a field.  I run and grab them and put them in the trash as soon as I see them.  They can kill cattle.

Cattle are nibblers.  A necropsy can show digestive tracts clogged with balloons or plastic shopping sacks.  That can be a miserable way for an animal to die.

Tulsa State Fair 2013

Tulsa State Fair 2013 was great.  The weather was great, and then it rained, but that's okay.
I took the same animals to Tulsa that I did to OKC, and here's how I did:

OPEN SHOW

Ayrshire Class 4 - 1st place and Breed Champion Honorable Mention

Ayrshire Sr. 3 yr. old cow - 1st place and Breed Champion Honorable Mention

Ayrshire Daughter/Dam - 1st place

Ayrshire Produce of Dam - 1st place

Jersey Class 1 - 5th place

Jersey Class 4 - 3rd place

Jersey Daughter/Dam - 1st place

SHOWMANSHIP (11-12) 1st place  (They do not do an overall showman.)

DAIRY JUDGING CONTEST - 5th place team (Cody Barnes, April Christensen, Maddie Cook, Alex Dale)

JUNIOR SHOW

Ayrshire Class 4 - 2nd place

Ayrshire Sr. 3 yr. old cow - 1st place

Ayrshire Best Bred and Owned - 1st place

Jersey Class 1 - 5th place

Jersey Class 4 - 1st place

Jersey Best Bred and Owned - 4th place

The milking parlor stalls got fixed before the fair.  It was the first year that our automatic waterers did not leak and make a mess of something.  We had more parents than usual that came, and they worked, too, and made things easier.

Some of my friends and I did a little late night clowning around...  SHHH...

OK State Fair 2013

Big changes happened this year at the OK State Fair.
They brought back the cow classes, but we had to milk in a portable parlor.

They added AOB classes.  They added group classes.  This means I got to show a LOT more!!!
I only took Posey, Prim, Stopnstare, and Cupcake.

Here are my results:

OPEN SHOW

Ayrshire Class 4 - 1st place 

Ayrshire Sr. 3 yr. old cow - 2nd place 

Ayrshire Daughter/Dam - 1st place

Ayrshire Produce of Dam - 1st place

Jersey Class 1 - 3rd place

AOB  Class 4 - 4th place

AOB Daughter/Dam - 1st place

AOB Produce - 1st place 

JUNIOR SHOW

Ayrshire Class 4 - 1st place 

Ayrshire Sr. 3 yr. old cow - 2nd place 

Ayrshire Bred & Owned - 3rd place

Jersey Bred & Owned - 2nd place

Jersey Class 1 - 3rd place

AOB  Class 4 - 3rd place

SHOWMANSHIP (11-12) 1st place  and 

RESERVE CHAMPION SHOWMAN overall (9-19)!!!

Stopnstare was in heat and acting crazy, but I STILL did great in showmanship!!!

You are under my control...

You must vote for Braum's ice cream now...

pretty please?

I made it to NATIONALS!!!

A great big THANKS to everyone who voted for me and Braum's Chocolate Chip Cookie Dough ice cream for the regional competition!  

I'm celebrating with a little...you guessed it, ICE CREAM (you already know what flavor)!!! And what better way to get the maximum mouthful than to use my new Flavor Face-off ice cream scoops!!!  Who needs spoons?

To wash it all down, I've got some nice cold, refreshing water kept cold with my DCC Waterbeds koozie!!!

I've got on my Progressive Dairyman hat from last year's photo contest, and my Dairy Max MILK shirt from the Give a Pint, Get a Pint promotion last month.

I am full of dairy and full of joy!!!

Please vote for my favorite flavor in the finals!

http://bit.ly/2013FlavorFaceoffFinals_Week1

Super Moon Calf???

I'm waiting on Posey to pop!  She's due the 24th, but the SUPER MOON is coming on the 23rd...I just wonder.

If she is born under the super moon, I just know my mom is going to call her "Moon Baby" no matter what I name her.

Flavor Face-off Week 3

Good news:  It looks like voting is working from all smartphones, now.

Bad news:  They said that voting responses are down for the week, so we need your help in picking up more votes for Oklahoma and BRAUM'S!

The regional contest is four weeks long, so please vote each week.  Let's make OKLAHOMA the regional and NATIONAL winner!

http://bit.ly/2013FlavorFaceoff_Week3

Tattooed Ladies

After the Jersey Field Day was over, we had to tear everything down, load it up, haul it away, and unload it where it belonged...but the day was not over for me.

Next we had to do chores at Windy Hill.  While we were there, Alan needed help catching and loading up three Milking Shorthorn heifers.  Then we had to catch up my little heifers so he could give them their tattoos.

It's pretty fast.  Doesn't take much longer to tattoo a calf's ear than it does to pierce a person's ears.
Love my girls!  I want to make sure they can be identified wherever they go.  Wouldn't want to lose one!

Week 3 Voting

Click on this link to vote for BRAUM'S chocolate chip cookie dough ice cream in the national flavor face-off.

http://bit.ly/2013FlavorFaceoff_Week3

I hope that you can get your friends and family to vote, too.  Thanks for your support.

~Maddie(:

Another calf for Carmelita?

Carmelita got a.i.ed the other day.  We used Hired Gun sexed semen on her.  Can't wait to see if it took!

Check out my competition...and ME!

Check out all the Flavor Face-off PARTICIPANTS

2013 Flavor Faceoff

What has two thumbs and is representing Braum's chocolate-chip cookie dough in the national flavor contest?  THIS GIRL!

They want ME to speak?!?!?!

I didn't post this before, but I guess I'll put it on here now.

Just got a mind-blowing email.
I've been asked to Skype in to talk to a group of dairy campers in IDAHO!  Even more crazy than that is the fact of the other speaker I am paired with...GREG PETERSON OF THE PETERSON BROTHERS!  You know, "I'm farming, and I grow it!"  He's been on Good Morning America and stuff!  He's spoken/performed at the NATIONAL FFA CONVENTION for goodness sakes!  He's world famous and talented!  (Fangirl moment...smiling tear)
Anyway, I can't even imagine talking to the same group as him.

Lieutenant Dan knows his ice cream

So vote for CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH ICE CREAM FROM BRAUM'S!!!

Vote and you could win $100!

It's Round 2 of the Flavor Face-off!
Here's all you have to do to vote:

You will vote for one flavor in each of the four regions.  You will cast a total of four votes on the ballot each week.

They will ask for your name and your email address at the end.  (It is to use to notify prize winners each week AND the $100 winning voter at the end of the contest.)  You may only vote once per week in the preliminaries throughout the month of June.  The finalists will run-off in July (national ice cream month).

Click on the link to VOTE.

http://www.progressivedairy.com/faceoff 

Thank you for your support.   I hope one of you wins that $100!

FFA Banquet - May 2013

This year was my first year as an official ag student.  This was also my first year to be any sort of part of the FFA banquet.  I applied for the Outstanding 7th Grader award.  It's the only award my age can apply for.

I didn't get it.

I wasn't surprised.  The boy who won it is the person I believed earned it.  I believed that even before I filled out my application.

The boy that won is my friend, Jacob.  He wasn't even going to apply.  I hounded him for days about applying.  After my application was turned in, I got out my computer and told him I would help him.  We almost got in trouble from Ms. Jennings.  She thought I was doing it for him.  We promised her I wasn't.  We explained that I was asking him questions and he was telling me what to write.  She was good with that, but I think she might have still kept an eye on us.

That night at the banquet, I was so thrilled for him when they called his name!  He has put in so many hours helping with the elementary kids in the FFA Shadows program all year long.  He's a good worker, too.

Even though I really wanted this award, I am just as happy for Jacob as I would have been for myself.  If I hadn't pestered him into filling out the application, and if I had won, I would have never believed that I earned it.  This way it was fair and square.  The better man won, and I'm good with that.  Of course, I also feel proud for having a hand in him turning in an application.

My family is really proud of what I did.  They are so proud, in fact, that my parents volunteered to buy the Outstanding 7th Grader their first FFA official dress jacket...this year for Jacob...and for each year's winner from now on.  The only thing they ask for is a photo of the recipient in their complete official dress once the jacket arrives.  I think it's pretty cool.

I can hardly wait to get our jackets.  We are also definitely taking a group photo the day we get them out of the package in class!  Just two more months and we can get measured for them!  Yea!  

"Give a Pint, Get a Pint"

"Give a Pint, Get a Pint"...of course, in my Irish ancestors' homeland, this would be a totally different promotion than the one I took part in. = )

I spent some time yesterday at the Edmond location of the Oklahoma Blood Institute helping with the "Give a Pint, Get a Pint" promotion.  I greeted people and handed out pints of milk, ice cream cups, healthy dairy recipe books, these limited production red shirts, squishy stress cows, and thanks to each person who came to donate blood.

They projected to perform 125 procedures.

They had 261 people register to give.

202 people we able to give blood! (They actually had a needle in their arm and gave a product of blood.)

7 folks were first-time donors because of the promotion! (They’ve never seen them at OBI before!)

202-125= 77 people (62%) over their projected goal for the day because you all are awesome!!!

“Since 202 people were able to give DairyMax and the milk producers of Oklahoma helped save up to 606 lives yesterday!!!! Pretty awesome numbers if you ask me! It is partners like DairyMax that help support the community blood supply and our life-saving mission throughout the year.”

It was great to be part of a promotion that will help save lives.

Hello, Idaho!

I'm very honored to have been asked to speak to a group of Idaho 4-H Dairy Campers, but I am going to be out of town at a dairy event myself.  I will be at the Oklahoma Ayrshire and Milking Shorthorn Dairy Field Day, so since I couldn't Skype in, I offered to create an imovie.

My farm name is Godbless Dairy Enterprises.  God has given me everything and blessed me in every way.  I have gone from one heifer to eight in four years.  He blesses me every day with those animals and every other thing I have in my life.  I want people to know it and for Him to be given the glory for all successes.

There is a little bit of everything in this presentation:  baby pictures, shameless dairy promotion, adorable heifers, and a real quick fangirl moment in honor of the Peterson Brothers.

I wish I had more time to work on it.  I've been gone A LOT the past three weeks.

If you have any questions, you can comment at the bottom of this post, and I'll answer you back.

Thanks for having me.

P.S. 4-H is great, not only for showing livestock.  Personally, I am involved in:  Shooting Sports (air rifle), Food Science/Nutrition, Photography, Impressive Dress, Prepared Speeches, Extemporaneous Speaking, Web Page Design, Farmhand Olympics, Judging, Arts/Crafts, Flyers/Posters/Brochures/Working Displays, Cake/Pie Contests, Share the Fun (Talent), Food Showdown, Powerpoint/Keynote Presentation, and probably some other stuff that I'm going to feel stupid for forgetting.  Get involved!  See what 4-H has for you!    

Hello, Idaho!

PTD Post: June 2013 - Promoting Dairy Like a Wild Woman in JUNE!

June 2013:  What has been your favorite dairy promotion? (Could be one that you have participated in, one that you attended and/or one that you read about and would like to try to do someday.) What did you like about it? 

Oh, this one is an easy question!  THE FLAVOR FACE-OFF is definitely my favorite dairy promotion!   For those readers who don’t know, the Face-off happens each year during June, National Dairy Month.  People from the four regions of the United States nominate their favorite brand and flavor.  They promote it through Progressive Dairyman and Proud To Dairy and Facebook.  They get people to vote for their flavor, and the most votes wins.  The fun part is the promotion part.  I’m SO EXCITED to be a competitor this year!  I learned about it last year and voted.  I knew then that I wanted to be part of it this year.  So I waited all year, nominated Braum’s Chocolate-ChipCookie Dough Ice Cream, and I got selected!

Each year the promotion requirements are something different.  There’s a really cute video on the website from the first Face-off four years ago when people from the magazine held ice cream cone shaped masks in front of their faces. 

Campaigning is getting REALLY high tech now.  This year contestants had to lip sync to a parody of Vanilla Ice’s “Ice Ice Baby” which is now “Ice Cream Baby”.  We had one month to get it filmed and uploaded.      

Since I'm an ice cream GANGSTER, I kidnapped two of my friends one afternoon, and they helped me dance and run around the country to film in different locations:  in the truck, in a yard, on a tractor, with my heifers, on my GrandDad’s Ranger, on round bales, and in front of the Braum’s sign.

We also had to answer some interview questions about who we are, our connection to dairy, and basically why people should vote for us and our flavors.  Then I started writing some promotional blog posts to put on the Proud To Dairy site.  I get kind of wound-up when I go after something.  I get kind of crazy.  You can tell that I'm an ice cream FANATIC by my answers, but even if you don't read my answers, you can tell by the look in my eye.  After I got the "Ice Cream Baby" video clips uploaded, I started on some movie parody videos.  Forest Gumpwas a perfect fit!

Then I made some contacts to my friends and asked them to vote.  After that I guess you could say that I went on the campaign trail.  I traveled/am traveling across the great state of Oklahoma to promote the Flavor Face-off at each of the state Dairy Field Days and ask for everyone to support me and Braum's Chocolate-Chip Cookie Dough Ice Cream.  I'm "shakin' hands and kissin' babies" trying to get as many votes as possible!  I'm sure it doesn't hurt to tell them that there will be weekly winners of VOTERS and in the end, one lucky VOTER will be given a $100 GIFT CARD!

If you are lucky enough to have access to a Braum's Ice Cream and Dairy Store, get in your car, go to Braum's and buy yourself a scoop of my favorite ice cream, taste the happiness, and you will know why I am such a CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH ICE CREAM FANATIC!   If you truly love your family, bring them some home, too!

So get online, go to THE FLAVOR FACE-OFF and vote for me and BRAUM'S CHOCOLATE CHIP COOKIE DOUGH ICE CREAM!!!