Dear Wisconsin Holstein Association members:
I would like to invite you and encourage you to attend the 121st Wisconsin Holstein Association annual meeting on February 24 and 25 in Waupaca, Wis. It will be an action-packed two days filled with opportunities to learn more about your state and national association. The event is open to all members.
The convention will kick off at noon on Friday with the Holstein USA Regional Meetings. The town hall meeting will be led by Wisconsin’s national directors Robert Nigh and yours truly. Additionally, there will be Holstein USA staff on hand to answer your questions and discuss all things Holstein.
Over the years, I have learned that a number of Holstein Association members believe that the Regional Meeting is only for national convention delegates. That is far from the truth. It is a chance for all Holstein breeders and industry enthusiasts to discuss concerns about the Holstein cow and get answers to your questions during the open forum. It is also an opportunity to talk to national staff in the event you are unable to attend the national convention.
We have a number of topics that will be discussed at the Regional Meeting, including:
• State of the Association Address and a financial review
• An update on 2012 director elections
• New options for Holstein Complete
• The status of U.S. genetic evaluations and the Dairy Data Alliance
• Milk marketing update
• Judges conferences
• And most importantly, a new software product will be a very valuable addition to all Holstein breeders. To be the among first to hear about it, you will have to be at the February 24 meeting.
After the Holstein Regional Meeting, we will move onto state matters. Every one of the Wisconsin Holstein Association’s committees will hold meetings late Friday afternoon. As you may know, it is through our state committees that most ideas are molded into recommendations brought forth to the board of directors.
In the evening, Wisconsin Holstein’s Young Adult Committee will host its third annual Wisconsin Futures Sale. In addition to offering some great cattle for bidders, the sale has become the best-attended function during the weekend convention.
Based on feedback from last year’s past WHA President’s breakfast, we will begin featuring an early-bird session speaker at each convention on Saturday morning. This year’s presenter is Carl Kent who serves as International Marketing Coordinator for Holstein USA. He will focus his talk on “International Markets for Holsteins.”
Following Kent’s talk, we will move into the 121st annual meeting of the Wisconsin Holstein Association in which member’s can bring forth any issues regarding our state association. During the annual meeting, we will hold elections for four director seats, and we now have six declared candidates for four open positions. The newest candidate to declare is Sherry Siemers Peterman, and her write-up can be found on page 11. The other five candidate bios (Bill Calvert, Kevin Jorgenson, Matt Lippert, Todd Stanek, and Mark Ulness) are in the January issue on page 15. All six are very qualified candidates, and our Association should consider itself blessed to have these quality leaders throw their hat in the ring for this election.
Following the annual meeting, we will have a luncheon to recognize our state’s top juniors and our Hall of Fame inductees. That will be followed by Waupaca-Waushara farm visits and then our evening awards banquet.
After Sunday morning’s reorganizational board meeting, my eight years of service as a Wisconsin Holstein Association board of director will be complete. In my final column as President in the March Wisconsin Holstein News, I will share with you highlights of my State of the Association presentation from the annual meeting.
During the past eight years, I have had the pleasure to serve with 27 WHA directors. I learned something from each of them as I grew as a leader. It is through careful thought and good debate that organizations grow and ultimately flourish. I thank each and every one of these 27 individuals for their contributions to this Association. Together with our talented staff, we have made Wisconsin Holstein Association a stronger organization.
In dairy we trust,
Your President,
Corey
