Showcasing dairy

SAUK CENTRE, Minn. — Once upon a time, multiple regional youth dairy shows dotted the Minnesota landscape every June. Most happened in conjunction with the crowning of a regional dairy princess and other festivities labeled as Dairy Days.

While those regional Dairy Days are gone, youth dairy shows designed to give young dairy showman an early start to their season have evolved. Youth dairy shows in 2024 took place in Sauk Centre, Willmar, New Ulm and Caledonia.

A show in an area known as Region 7, moving between McLeod, Wright and Carver counties over the years, has been held annually but was canceled this year due to H5N1 challenges. Similarly, a youth show in Brainerd took 2024 off due to anticipated scheduling conflicts.

For each show, enthusiasm from dairy farmers, show alumni and community members kept the opportunities alive.

Mary Swart is a recently-retired dairy farmer from New London.

“We just had to keep this going for the youth,” Swart said.

Swart helps manage the Willmar show, which used to be part of a larger Dairy Days celebration.

“If you don’t keep it going for the kids, nothing (of dairy) is left,” Swart said.

Paul Fritsche, a New Ulm dairy farmer, agreed. He and his wife, Melanie, stepped in to continue what had been a regional Dairy Days event in the southwestern quadrant of the state. The New Ulm show has since been known as the Southern Minnesota Youth Dairy Show.

In part, history motivated them the Fritsches said to continue the show.

“(We do it) because somebody did it for us,” he said.

Fritsche showed at Region 9 Dairy Days shows as a kid. His wife showed at the Thief River Falls Dairy Days show. Now, their grandchildren are the second generation participating in the New Ulm show the couple helped to start.

Rebecca Joerger of Palisade, who grew up on the Caughey family dairy near Brainerd, said she helps to organize the Brainerd show because of her own experience as a youth.

“When I was young, I remember not everyone could do a whole fair week, but we could take that one day (to show),” she said.

Joerger said that while the Brainerd show did not take place this June, she expects to have one in 2025. The Crow Wing County American Dairy Association sponsors the show with assistance from several other area promotion groups and local sponsors.

Several people from Fillmore, Winona, Olmsted and Houston counties work as a committee to organize the Southeast Minnesota All-Breeds Youth Dairy Show, held this summer in Caledonia but in St. Charles for the four previous years. Each county’s representatives take a turn assuming leadership for the event, raising local funds to add to the committee’s fundraising.

Linda Kruse, a dairy farmer from Caledonia, has helped with the show since it began in 2003.

“I think we just want to get the kids out for the first time each year so they can see how their animals compare to others,” Kruse said.

A typical year at the southeast show brings in 100 competitors.

Several generations have moved through the youth show in central Minnesota, which was held in downtown St. Cloud on Lake George for years, with support from the Chamber of Commerce. Eventually, it moved to the Benton County Fairgrounds and finally to Sauk Centre. The show has 69 years of history.

The Thief River Falls show fell victim to changing numbers and priorities of dairy youth in 2021 after 71 years.

Ryan Griffin is a Thief River Falls dairyman who worked with a committee to put on the Thief River Falls show, long known as Northwest Dairy Days. While the final event had good participation and quality, managing the day’s events with minimal volunteers became difficult. Griffin said organizers also knew families in the northwest’s dairy industry might not continue supplying participants.

“Part of it was that kids had aged out and the next wave of kids aren’t old enough yet,” Griffin said. “We also had participants with leased animals from herds who had sold out.”

Mike Hanson, who dairies near Goodridge, showed in the Thief River Falls show for about 10 years beginning in 1962. He said he remembers how each showman received a prize based on their years of showing there, including a white showman’s jacket and a grooming kit.

“The whole thing took up several blocks of downtown,” Hanson said. “There was a parade of champions through town and I had to lead a not-so-well-trained dairy heifer.”

Griffin and his committee have kept open the possibility that a show in the northwest could happen in the future. The committee voted to keep remaining funds in place for five years in case someone pursues a youth show.

Meanwhile, the remaining shows have continued to give more than 200 dairy youth a head start on the county fair season, now in full swing across the state.