• John Kappelman of Cedar Grove, Wisconsin, has joined the board of the Professional Dairy Producers Foundation. A former dairy producer, he is currently a consultant for Cereal Byproducts Company.
Logan Bower has begun his term as chair of the Professional Dairy Producers Foundation. Bower is a third-generation dairy producer from Blain, Pennsylvania, and is active in the Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania.
• Julie Alexander of Hanover, Michigan, has been named this year’s winner of the United Dairy Industry of Michigan (UDIM) Excellence in Dairy Promotion Award. Alexander has been married to her husband Jeff for 26 years.
Along with their oldest son Andrew, they operate Na-Lar Farm, a third-generation family farm that includes 1,000 acres and a 90-head herd of Holsteins that ranks among the top 10 herds in the state for milk production.
• Tom Barcellos, a Tipton dairyman and president of Western United Dairymen (WUD), was named Farmer of the Year by the Kiwanis Club of Tulare, California. Barcellos owns Barcellos Farms and T-Bar Dairy. He is also a partner in White Gold Dairy and LGT Harvesting.
• The National Dairy Herd Information Association (DHIA) Scholarship Committee selected 21 high school seniors and college students as recipients of $750 scholarships.
They are Xavier Almeter and Nicole L. Holdridge from New York; Johanna M. Knorr, Katelyn Blackwelder, Hailey Ihrke, Jacob Johnson, Mary Liebenstein, Katie Hirsch, Christine Leonard and Meghan Connelly from Minnesota; Mikayla Conrad, Diane Gress and Eileen Gress from Ohio; Cole William Davis from North Carolina; Mary Hammock from Virginia; Ashlie N. Hardy from Maine; Heather Hunt from Massachusetts; Joshua Peter Simon from Iowa; Andrew Thyen from South Dakota; and Anna Will from Indiana.
• Wisconsin’s Secretary of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, Ben Brancel, recognized four Wisconsin farmers for exemplary soil and water conservation efforts on their farms.
One of the honorees, David Meyer, is a member of the dairy community. He custom raises dairy heifers in Pierce County. PD
—From Professional Dairy Producers Foundation , UDIM , WUD , National DHIA and DATCP news releases
