VERSAILLES, Ohio – At the 94th National FFA Convention and Expo last October, 19 members represented Ohio with proficiency awards. Five of those finished first in the nation. One of those national champions was Renea Schmitmeyer, of the Versailles FFA chapter. She was crowned the Dairy Production Placement Proficiency award winner.

Schmitmeyer’s Supervised Agricultural Experience (SAE) was a job placement at her parents’ LineView Dairy Farm, where she has worked roughly 5,300 hours the past four years.

“I began recording my SAE during my eighth grade year in school,” she said. “How far I’ve come has been amazing. Back then I was just doing the basics of what my dad was telling me and now I’m part of the management of the dairy farm.”

During her four years in high school, Schmitmeyer worked hard on her family’s farm, milking 180 Holstein cows in a double 10 parlor and 30 breeding age heifers with three herd bulls. She also bottle-feeds 200 baby calves.

Her tasks on this 1,550-acre farm in Darke County include morning and evening milking, feeding calves, scraping and bedding heifer pens, hauling calves, ear tagging, recordkeeping and checking for irregular health issues.

“I do get a lot of help from my dad when it comes to questions because I’m still learning, but I’ve kinda taken over the dairy portion of this farm,” she said. “I love to see our cows producing and knowing I’m having an impact on their success. I have a strong love for the dairy.

“Our farm is beginning to diversify a lot, too, because now we’re raising pigs, steers and we have a lot of land where we now grain farm. I’m the one left to tend to the dairy cows now. It’s going to be a challenge, and I’m up for that. The real challenge, though, is getting the respect from my dad, convincing him that I know how to care for the cows, that I’m responsible and I’m constantly learning.”

The Schmitmeyer family is a large and successful one. Renea has seven siblings – six older sisters and one older brother. Four of those siblings were finalists for the National Dairy Placement Proficiency Award and Renea is the third winner of that award from her family.

“I‘ve had all the siblings in my ag classes here at Versailles High and they’re all motivated, driven individuals,” said Dena Wuebker, Versailles High FFA advisor.

Driven indeed. Four national finalists in the same family and three of them national champs.

“It’s not a competition,” Schmitmeyer laughed. “We all just work hard for what we have and my dad has taught us all very well. And it all started from a very young age. When we were little, we grew up around 4-H, watching my uncle who was in 4-H. We were all raised on the dairy farm. All of my memories are those of working on the farm with my older sisters and brother.”

Today, Schmitmeyer is a freshman at nearby Edison State Community College in Piqua, Ohio. There she is studying agriculture business.

Last summer she worked at MVP Dairy in Celina, Ohio, making the 45-mile trek to work and learn more about the dairy industry. At MVP Dairy, she gave tours of the large dairy business, explaining to visitors the production of milk and the importance of dairy cattle, showing them around the facility with its 3,800 cows.

“Working there was a lot of fun as I was able to explain to visitors where their milk comes from and how it ends up in their yogurt bowl,” she said. “I gave tours to adults and many young kids who make field trips there. I worked there three to five days a week in high school.”

Visitors from as far away as Japan have walked through MVP’s Learning Center. Renea took pride in guiding visitors through the huge, modernized dairy facility. The Learning Center features a timeline of MVP’s development, exhibits explaining the components of dairy farming and interactive displays, culminating with an overhead view of the milking carousel.

Outside her dairy obligations, Schmitmeyer was deeply involved in a multitude of activities in high school, such as participating in the school’s Ag Ed Mechanicals courses, swim team and track team. Of course, she showed her dairy cows at the local fair and even competed in county fair queen pageants. Above all, though, she treasures her time spent in FFA.

“With FFA there is an age limit,” she said. “After you turn 21 you can’t be in FFA anymore, but a lot of FFA chapters have FFA alumni and you can become involved again. I have plans of doing just that.”

Upon graduating from college, Schmitmeyer will return to the homestead.

“Our farm is a family-owned farm and will remain that way,” she said. “It will be passed on to generation after generation. I also plan on remaining on the dairy farm. I really enjoy it.”

Renea is the daughter of Douglas and Brenda Schmitmeyer. She was also supported by FFA advisors Dena Wuebker and Taylor Bergman.