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2019 National Holstein Convention Report by: Roper Voskamp
Missouri Jr. Holstein Reporter, SW District

As summer came around and school whittled down to an end, most kids like me are ready for that much needed vacation from school with maybe some sports and some competitions like American baseball or softball or for some of the kids in the dairy industry the National Holstein Convention. Now you may compete in a public speaking contest, dairy bowl, dairy jeopardy, poster making and so on and so forth. Now as a junior for the second year I had the chance to compete in two of these events: dairy bowl and public speaking contest.

While I did not win, I did have a wonderful time in the other things I participated in. Starting from the first night we went to the badgers sport park that ranged from arcade games to virtual reality games, some laser tag, go karts, putt putt golf, and even escape rooms that we all had fun in. I mainly took place in go karts by teaming up with old and new friends and racing them and even played a round of putt putt golf which we all had our laughs while doing.

Day two consisted of the public speaking contest which I performed in. My speech entitled the “The Rise of Dairy Sell Outs” has now reached over a thousand views between Facebook and YOUTUBE!! I walked around the Fox Expo Center talking to representatives from ag companies about their product and looking at some of their booths which all were good and I learned a little bit form each one then enjoyed a fun night hanging with my friends at the indoor pool the hotel had.

As the night turned into morning we went to the float and farm tour and got to tour the Brookes Farm that had been there ever since 1886 and had been a closed heard until early 2000 and it was a nice facility to see from new the seven hundred max capacity free stall barn and double 16 parallel milk barn built in 2013 with about two hundred head. Brookes plan on growing into the new calf barn with rotating pens for different age groups built in about 2013. After the tour of Brooks farm we moved on to the float trip that took place on the Wolf River with about a hour give or take float in which we talked, joked and sang songs. After we floated me and about 20 people decided to play a boy vs girl volley ball team. But we weren’t keeping score so it was all laughs from the little kids trying to hit the ball twenty yards, to the bigger kids trying to show off what volleyball skills we thought we had but didn’t have. After all the fun on the river we went back to the hotel to hang out until the next day which included dairy bowl competition. My team didn’t win, but we had fun. Then we went our separate ways which mine was to go to the family tail gate party then to Lambau field and tour. Of course it was amazing, then to head back to the pool for another couple hours with friends playing the all time pool game chicken.

With the next day came the big part of the convention the sale and last junior event the mixer as the sale went on more and more kids went to the mixer as most of us realized it was better to go party at the mixer than to sit and watch a sale when our parents would probably tell us we couldn’t buy anything even no matter how hard we would say we would clean bottles, muck stalls, and wash barn the rest of the year. Myself, well I had my eyes on a beautiful Red and White, but… My Mom said no so we went to the mixer and had a good time dancing singing before the day we had to say farewell till next year.

All too soon the final day rapidly approached and the end of convention. We had the junior awards banquet in which awards were handed out in which our very own Lora Wright received Distinguished Junior! Congratulations Lora! Goodbyes then said to people who weren’t staying longer. The ones who weren’t leaving either went to the adult gala or just went to hang out with friends for a last time, as it would be a year until we see each other again. As the night came to a close, the last goodbyes and hugs were given we left knowing we had a wonderful time and saw some old friends and made some new ones! I can’t wait till Pennsylvania 2020!

Roper

A huge thank you to all of the youth, adults, advisors, and dairies that contributed to this years Dairy Judging Camp. We had a full camp this year, and had a lot of kids from all over. Campers traveled to 6 dairies in Southwest Missouri to practice their dairy judging skills and oral reasons over a three day period.

Dairies that provided cattle include: Groves-Vu (Holstein & Brown Swiss), Dean Dohle (Jersey), Dixon Dairy (Guernsey), College of the Ozarks (Holsteins), Kaiser Dairy (Guernsey & Jersey), and Wrightvale (Holsteins).

Missouri 4-H Dairy Cow Camp

IN THE NEWS!!
Cow Camp was featured on a local TV show 'From the Tailgate'. Watch the segment below highlighting the kids and this great camp!

Click on the play button within the video to play the segment.