Local dairies featured in Iowa Dairy Center’s Hall of Breeds

by Lissa Blake

Two Waukon dairies recently were honored by having one of their cows included in the Northeast Iowa Community-Based Dairy Foundation’s Hall of Breeds at Iowa’s Dairy Center in Calmar.

Featured in the display are Prairie Moon Y Antebella, of Prairie Moon Guernseys owned by Frank and Dan Sivesind of Waukon, and Snow-N Denises Dellia-ET, owned by Regancrest of Waukon and raised by Robert Snow of Viroqua,WI.

Friday, March 10, the Northeast Iowa Community-Based Dairy Foundation hosted an open house to unveil its newest attraction, which includes life-size photos of some of Iowa’s most notable cows. The Hall of Breeds is located in the corridor between the Iowa Dairy Museum and the facility’s milking parlor.

Family representatives connected to the seven cows chosen for the display were on hand to celebrate the completion of the Hall of Breeds and Nutrition Room areas at Iowa’s Dairy Center.

“This project will be instrumental in improving programming and education for the Dairy Center’s nearly 10,000 annual visitors, including Iowa Dairy Story youth participants and consumers,” said Dairy Center Coordinator Megan Kregel.

According to Kregel, the featured cows were selected by Iowa dairy producers. The Dairy Foundation began the selection process by sending a nomination letter to the membership of each state breed association.

“We only specified that she had to be an Iowa cow. We left the definition of that open to each dairy producer’s interpretation,” said Kregel. Once nominations were collected, a final ballot was mailed to each breed’s membership database in Iowa.

OTHER FEATURED COWS
Cows featured in the Hall of Breeds include:

• Ayrshire: Right Angle T Harley, owned by Ski Pal Ayrshires of Epworth (David Koss) and Yarrabee Cows of Brooklyn (Dane Lang). Breeder is Right Angle Ayrshires of Delhi.
• Brown Swiss: Onword Combo Viola, breeder/owner Dennis Worden, Onword Swiss, Oelwein.
• Red & White Holstein: Henkeseen Talent Ripple – Red – ET, breeder/owner Henkeseen Holsteins, Trent and Matt Henkes, Luana.
• Jersey: Lyon Character, breeder/owner Lyon Jerseys, Eric Lyon, Toledo.
• Milking Shorthorn: Lands-Brook Christina – EXP – ET, breeder/owner Lands-Brook Farms, Larry Landsgard, St. Olaf.

The contest grew out of a Silos & Smokestacks National Heritage grant the Dairy Foundation was awarded toward redesigning the interpretative signage at the Dairy Center. The educational signs and materials showcase key nutrition concepts and breed information for Iowa's Dairy Story youth participants and visitors.

Eric Lang of Brooklyn, representing the Iowa Ayrshire Association, spoke about the educational importance of Northeast Iowa Community College’s Dairy Science program. “We need this in Iowa. This is a good place for people to come to learn about herd management. Our young people are ambitious and bright, and producing milk is a good way to make a living,” said Lang.

ABOUT ANTEBELLA
Dan Sivesind said raising good cows is a team effort. He works with his father, Frank, on the farm and his children help to promote the cows as well.

With regard to the success of a good dairy cow, Dan said, “It’s not always the cows, it’s also the people with them.”

Prairie Moon Y Antebella was born March 11, 2011. She was the All-American and Junior All-American Spring Yearling in 2012, the 2013 Iowa State Fair Intermediate Champion and Reserve Grand Champion, the First-Place Junior Two-Year-Old National Guernsey Show (open and junior show) and Reserve Intermediate Champion Junior Show - World Dairy Expo 2013, Unanimous All-American and Junior All-American 2013, Grand Champion Iowa State Fair 2015 (open and 4-H show), First-Place Four-Year-Old National Junior Guernsey Show - World Dairy Expo 2015, Second-Place Four-Year-Old National Guernsey Show – World Dairy Expo 2015, Reserve Senior Champion National Junior Show – World Dairy Expo 2015 and Junior All American and Reserve All American four-year-old 2015.

ABOUT SNOW-N DENISES DELLIA-ET
During the open house, Shari (Regan) Danhof, representing Regancrest, said “Dellia” is the perfect example of a balanced cow. Born in 1986, Dellia had 186 offspring and two of her sons sold over 1,000,000 doses of semen. “They put us on the map,” said Danhof regarding Dellia’s progeny.

Snow-N Denises Dellia-ET’s lifetime stats include 2,558 days, 180,240 lbs. of milk, 7,108 lbs. of fat and 5,723 lbs. of protein. She was Queen of the Breed Runner-Up; Dam of Durham, who was the Premier Sire at the World Dairy Expo from 2003-2007 consecutively, establishing him as a once-in-a-lifetime type sire.

The description of “Dellia” on her Hall of Breeds display reads, “Durham sons were consistent in type. At one point, eight of them were in the top 10 spots for PTAT (2004). Durham daughters represent the area where Durham has had this greatest impact, including Kamps Hollow Altitude (EX-95-2E-USA DOM), Lylehaven Lila Z (EX-94-CAN 14), MD-Delight Durham Atlee (EX-92-4yr-USA DOM GMD); Regancrest-PR Barbie (EX-92-7yr-USA DOM GMD), Markwell Durham Daisy (EX-92-6yr-USA GMD DOM) and Sheeknoll Durham Arrow (EX-95) – Grand Champion and Reserve Supreme Champion World Dairy Expo 2016.”

The Dairy Center is operated by the Northeast Iowa Dairy Foundation, a non-profit, grassroots organization formed to prepare young men and women to operate dairy farms, provide ongoing education for existing dairy farmers and serve as a public educational facility.

The partnership with NICC allows students enrolled in agriculture programs to experience hands-on curriculum by working with the dairy herd. The Dairy Center site includes an educational facility with classrooms and labs, a milking parlor, new robotic milking system, free stall barn and calf barn.

For more information about the Dairy Center or Hall of Breeds, call Megan Kregel at 563-534-9957, ext. 107 or email info@iowadairycenter.com.