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PERHAM, Minn. – Most people try to put 2020 behind them, but Caylee Seedorf of Perham will always remember 2020 as the year she won a Brown Swiss calf from Dairy Star’s Great Christmas Giveaway.  
The Great Christmas Giveaway has been a tradition of the Dairy Star since its onset in 1999. The idea is to encourage the youngest generation of dairy farmers to get excited about the future of the dairy industry.
In 2020, Caylee was beyond excited when she learned she had won the calf. She welcomed home Port-Haven Silvers Jordana with open arms.
Jordy, as Caylee calls her, fit right in with the Holsteins and the crossbreds of Brown Swiss, Milking Shorthorn, Jersey, Montbéliarde, Angus and Charolais. Her enthusiasism toward Jordy has only grown during the past two years.
Caylee is the daughter of Paul and Amanda Seedorf and sister to Carter and Clayton.
“She’d rather work with calves than anything else,” Paul said.  
Caylee, an eighth grader at Perham Public School, is active in 4-H and added Jordy to her list of show animals for the Otter Tail County Fair. She was the one who insisted on joining the local 4-H club eight years ago to show her beloved animals. The Seedorf farm is also home to chickens and a couple of goats for 4-H projects.
 In 2021, Caylee showed five dairy animals, including Jordy. Caylee then showed Jordy at the Minnesota State Fair. Jordy was fifth in her fall calf class at the state fair and won reserve champion total net merit of the Brown Swiss heifer class.
 This past summer, Caylee exhibited Jordy at the Otter Tail County Fair again as a fall yearling but chose a different animal to take to the Minnesota State Fair.
Jordy is due to calve June 17, 2023.
“I want to continue to show her,” Caylee said. “I hope she has a few heifer calves in the future.”
In addition to showing calves, Caylee also shows dairy steers, a goat and participates in non-livestock events such as photography, wood working and quilting.
On the farm, Caylee is involved in the family dairy. She feeds the calves and also helps milk the 50 cows on a daily basis. She especially enjoys bringing the cows up to the parlor to be milked so she can check on Jordy. Caylee helps with chores after school and with morning and evening milking on the weekends.
“I see Jordy most every day, and she is spoiled because I let her in with the milk cows,” Caylee said.
Caylee hopes to be a dairy farmer when she grows up. She would be the fourth generation to take over the family dairy farm.
“You learn a lot growing up on a farm, life lessons and how things actually work,” Caylee said.

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