By SHELLY STRAUTZ-SPRINGBORN
Michigan Correspondent

EAST LANSING, Mich. — Merton Sowerby of Grand Rapids, Mich., was honored Feb. 4 as one of the National Dairy Shrine’s 2010 Pioneer Award winners, by industry colleagues and dairy producers during the 2011 Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference (GLRDC) in Frankenmuth.

Sowerby was presented a framed historical photograph of Michigan State College – now Michigan State University – cows crossing the bridge over Farm Lane during the Michigan Dairy Industry Recognition Night program. The Shrine recognized the dairy industry leader at its annual banquet during the World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wis., in October 2010.

Sowerby said he was honored and humbled by the accolades. “At this stage, I feel like a grade bull among the Thoroughbreds, but I am thoroughly enjoying the association,” he said.

The National Dairy Shrine was established in 1949 by a group of dairy industry leaders interested in preserving the country’s dairy heritage, inspiring future dairy leaders by providing scholarships and promoting the importance of the dairy industry. Each year, the organization honors living or deceased “pioneers” of the dairy industry. Members of the Shrine nominate Pioneer Award winners, and an anonymous committee selects them.

A charter member of the National Dairy Shrine, Sowerby received the honor based on his experience as a dairy herd manager and classifier, helping to incorporate linear traits into the Purebred Dairy Cattle Assoc. Dairy Unified Scorecard and developing the original evaluation coding for linear scoring of Guernseys.

His photograph will be displayed with those of other honorees at the National Dairy Shrine Visitors’ Center and Museum in Fort Atkinson, Wis.

While several family members were in attendance at the GLRDC event, Sowerby regrets his wife of 62 years, Frances, was not able to share the honor with him; she passed away three years ago. He said he is grateful to those who influenced him throughout the years, including former colleagues, industry leaders and his parents, Maurice and Luella Sowerby, whom he said “taught me how to work and gave me opportunities and challenges.”

Sowerby was born and raised on a farm in Kent County, Mich. Although his family owned some dairy cattle, it was not their primary form of income, and he never predicted that he would build a career working in the industry. His eye for dairy cattle, however, helped him rise to the top in judging contests as a 4-H and FFA member.

He ranked as the High Individual in the State FFA Dairy Cattle Judging Contest in 1936 and earned the title of High Individual in the Jersey breed at the national FFA contest in Kansas City that same year. After high school, Sowerby attended MSC and was a member of its Dairy Cattle Judging Team that competed at the National Dairy Cattle Show in Waterloo, Iowa, in 1942.
“He was easily one of the best cattle judges to come out of Michigan State College,” said Russ Erickson, retired faculty member from the Department of Animal Science at MSU. “Mert was a very meticulous person, who was genuinely interested in what made cows unique.

“When he first came to college, he looked at our animals in all the major dairy breeds and tried to, in his mind, say ‘What should the perfect cow look like and why should it look this way?’ I think that makes him one of the best officials, even in the country.”

As a way to fund his education, Sowerby traveled to dairy cattle shows around the Midwest for the Oaklands, a Jersey farm near Ann Arbor. This experience gave him the opportunity to meet several outstanding dairy owners and herdsmen.

He left school in 1942 to become herdsman of the Oaklands – a position he held for the next four years. During this time, he began judging dairy shows throughout the state, and eventually, at the national and international levels. From the Oaklands, Sowerby went to Brays Island Plantation in Yemassee, S.C., where he worked for the next nine years.

In 1953, the National Dairy Shrine recognized Sowerby with the Klussendorf Award, a highly-coveted recognition based on ability, endeavor and sportsmanship as selected by other dairy producers throughout the United States and Canada. He also received the American Guernsey Cattle Club Distinguished Award.

In 1955, he moved on to the herdsman position at Woodacres, near Princeton, N.J. There, he developed an excellent breeding program, selling several bulls to A.I. (artificial insemination) studs and breeding many award-winning Guernsey animals.

He also exhibited the Grand Champion cow at the National Guernsey Show four times, the Junior Champion female six times and the National Futurity winner five times, and he had the distinct honor of exhibiting the only five-time All-American Aged Cow of any breed.

During his years as a herd manager, Sowerby was an early adopter of using A.I. to breed cattle. In 1952, he worked with then-graduate student Ray Cragle on improving the viability of frozen bull semen. He also was an early believer in treating ketosis with propylene glycol and feeding fish meal to cows as a protein and fat source.

After the dispersion of the Woodacres herd in 1971, Sowerby continued his career in the dairy industry as a judge and classifier for the Guernsey, Jersey, Ayrshire, Milking Shorthorn and Brown Swiss breeds, as well as an unofficial classifier for Holsteins, internationally. He has classified more than 200,000 cows in his 12-year career and judged shows in 28 states and three foreign countries.

“Mert is a very soft-spoken, humble man, but he has made a large impact on not just the dairy industry in Michigan, but also across the country,” Erickson said.