Sixty students from six western universities and one Canadian university competed in the seventh annual Western Regional Dairy Challenge March 1-3, 2012 in Visalia, Calif.
The Western Regional Dairy Challenge is an innovative dairy management analysis competition developed by industry and university professionals from across the U.S. A key objective of the dairy challenge is to present students with real-life situations that stress the importance of teamwork and professionalism.
Participating universities at this year’s competition included: the University of Alberta (Canada), California Polytechnic State University-San Luis Obispo, California State University Fresno, Utah State, Washington State University, Texas A&M University and the University of Idaho.
The host farm for this year’s Western Regional Dairy Challenge was Double Oak Dairy a 1,400-cow operation in Visalia, Calif. Double Oak Dairy is owned Vivian Vander Poel and managed by her son, Brad Vander Poel.
Receiving 1st Place awards were:
Team Gustine: Robin Diether, University of Alberta; Catherine Whitney, Utah State University; Dani Smerek, University of Alberta; Abbi Olson, Washington State University; Brent Wickstrom, California Polytechnic State University.
Team Hollywood: Adam teVelde, Texas A & M University; Geoff Cox, University of Alberta; Benjamin Enger, University of Idaho, Brittney Day, California State University Fresno; Amber Quann, Washington State University.
Students from the regional contest will go on to compete at the national contest which will be held March 29-31st, 2012 in Roanoke, Va. This will be the 11th anniversary of the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge and it will be hosted by Virginia Tech and North Carolina State University.