By MEGGIE. I. FOSTER
Assistant Editor
 
COLUMBUS, Ohio — As one of the first dairy shows of the year, the Spring Dairy Expo in Columbus, from April 10-11, marked the beginning of the season and the dawn of many reunions to follow for friends and family of the dairy show circuit.

In addition to the popular six-breed dairy show, the annual Expo also featured a trade show, silent auction and the Buckeye Classic Elite Holstein Sale and Buckeye Classic Jersey and Guernsey, as well as the Midwest Revue Brown Swiss Sale. Also, the dairy checkoff offered a dinner buffet Friday evening featuring the new Domino’s pizza with 40 percent more cheese.

One particular surprise event that occurred during the Expo was a young Holstein cow named Pippy that birthed twin calves, a heifer and a bull, on the morning of April 10.

“At 5 a.m. this morning, she had her first live calf ever, and it happened to be twins, too,” said owner Matt Oechsle, 14, of Van Wert, Ohio. (Unfortunately, with a bull and a heifer as a twin pair, it causes the female to be a free martin, or sterile.)

Oechsle, an avid young competitor, is the cow’s primary caretaker on his family’s small hobby farm of about five cows.

“I get up every morning and milk the cows, I do most of the work and then I go to school,” he said, adding that he enjoys taking his vacation and summer break to attend cattle shows. “I’ve been showing here and at state fair as long as I can remember, I can’t imagine doing anything different.”

Oechsle’s parents, Jim and Cheri, added their kids “enjoy spending time with friends at the shows; this isn’t much different from the state fair, everyone’s just here all at once.”

The Oechsles agreed the Spring Dairy Expo is good experience for the younger generation. “They learn a tremendous amount of responsibility preparing the animals for the show, tying them up two weeks in advance, then getting their butts out of bed and completing the job,” Cheri said.

She grew up showing Holsteins and Jim showed Guernseys. Today, the family predominantly shows registered Holsteins.

“We’ve both been doing this for a while, it’s an opportunity to get to see how they’re competing against other animals in their age class earlier in the year,” said Cheri.

“Also we can see if we need to slim them down, get a belly on them or just leave them in the barn altogether.”

Breed champions
Grand champion winners of the show included the following: the 2009 Mid-East National Holstein champion was presented to aged cow Lindale Eland Frisky, owned by Dale and Linda Drendel of Hampshire, Ill.; Jersey, to a senior three-year old, Indiana Veda, owned by Williams Jerseys of McConnellsville, Ohio; Milking Shorthorn, to an aged cow, Way-Lu Clay Prissy-EXP, owned by Ted Smart and family of Anna, Ohio; Brown Swiss, to an aged cow, RNR Jamboree Trinket, owned by Keaton Topp of Botkins, Ohio; Aryshire, to a senior three-year old, Shiredale Phil’s Susan, owned by Toppglenn Farms of Wooster, Ohio; and Guernsey, to five year-old Sunrise Goldie Lux, owned by John and Bonnie Ayars and sons of Mechanicsburg, Ohio.

The supreme champion was awarded to the Jersey champion owned by the Williams family on the last day of the show on April 11, just one day before the Easter holiday.

For more details and complete show results, go online at www.springdairyexpo.com