University of Maine hosted the 10th annual Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge which drew 105 students from nine northeast colleges and two Canadian universities to Waterville, Maine, on November 1-3, 2012.
The Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge is an innovative, three-day educational competition designed to prepare students for dairy careers. Working in mixed-university teams of four or five students, participants assessed all aspects of a working dairy farm, including facilities, nutrition, financials, reproduction, animal health and much more. Students collaborated on a 20-minute team presentation that detailed their observations and suggestions to a panel of judges and participating farm families. Teams were ranked as platinum, gold or silver based on how well their evaluations matched the judges’ evaluations of the dairy operation. The objective of this evaluation process is to create a real-life situation that stresses teamwork, communication and professionalism.
Teams, which were named after top sponsors of the Northeast Regional Dairy Challenge, were ranked as follows:
· Don Rogers Platinum (highest honors) – Merck Animal Health and Farm Credit System.
· Platinum – Cargill Animal Nutrition, Northeast Ag and Feed Alliance, Shur-Gain USA, APC, Inc. and Novartis Animal Health
· Gold – Farm Credit Northeast Ag Enhancement Program, Farm Credit of Maine, Holtz-Nelson Dairy Consultants, New England Jersey Breeders Association and Phoenix Feeds & Nutrition
· Silver – Elanco Animal Health, AgChoice & MidAtlantic Farm Credit, Select Sires, ABS Global, Alltech, CIDEC, Dairy One, Genex Cooperative Inc., IDEXX Laboratories, Northeast Ag Education Foundation, Pfizer Animal Health and Prince Agri Products Inc.