World Dairy Expo Supplement (complete PDF) - Hoards Dairyman

HOARD’S DAIRYMAN
Circle No. 50 on Reader Response Card
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Circle No. 49 on Reader Response Card
EXPO 42 September 10, 2011
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(Continued from page EXPO 7)
I was asked to be finance chairman
for Holstein Canada’s annual
meeting. I told the group I would do
it under one condition: I wanted to
know what was going to happen if we
made money. Holstein Canada told
me to get our committee to come up
with a good idea. “If we like it, we’ll
back you and fund it,” they told me.
I said that we needed a 4-H dairy
judging competition in Ontario.
They agreed and allowed us to spend
money to get that organized.
It was originally set up so the coach
of the winning county team would go
to World Dairy Expo. My teams won
the first three years, so I went to
Madison the first three years. Then
a team from Niagara Falls won the
fourth year and their coach wouldn’t
go, and I’ve been going ever since
with the Ontario teams.
Last year, I was going to retire.
However, my son-in-law,
Jason French, who is manager
of the Ontario Holstein
Association, thought
I should continue. He said
he would come along and
help drive. So, last year
was pretty easy . . . he did
the driving and I did the
coaching. I made 20 trips
without an accident and
I think it’s maybe time
somebody else younger
should take it over. I don’t
know how long they are
going to keep me going,
but if I don’t have to drive,
it’s not such a big job.
You started the Ontario 4-H Dairy
Judging Competition in 1990 with
the goal of having the winning team
attend World Dairy Expo. Why did
you start bringing teams to Expo?
We thought we should make the
World Dairy Expo 4-H competition the
prize for winning the Ontario competition.
I had talked to the 4-H contest
organizers at World Dairy Expo and
they said that Ontario could come and
participate; however, we wouldn’t be
included in the competition as far as
winning prizes. That really wasn’t
what we were interested in . . . we
wanted to give the four contestants a
chance to see World Dairy Expo.
It’s turned out to be very, very good.
The Ontario dairy judging competition
is very well attended by the
good 4-H members because the top
four earn the World Dairy Expo trip.
We’ve had several of the boys from
past teams judge both at the Royal
and Madison, while others have taken
major positions in our industry. One
young lady who went to Madison went
on to become a lawyer at the largest
law firm in Toronto.
Why do you give so much of your
time to youth?
Many people gave me quite a bit of
their time. I played a lot of softball
when I was young, and my coach
actually drove out to the farm and
picked me up to play ball. My parents
didn’t have time to take me.
When I got into 4-H, I had people
who helped me with my judging.
Then, years later as an adult,
when I took on the job of being a 4-H
club leader, I just stayed at it. It has
been a family activity, as my wife,
Hazel, was a club leader for years.
She taught homemaking to the girls.
I also spent 20 years coaching fastpitch
softball teams and had some
good luck . . . I coached boys for 16
years and then I coached a girls
team for four years. During those
two decades, my boys teams won
five Ontario championships and the
girls team won two championships.
You’ve been a role model and
mentor to countless dairy youth.
Who was your role model?
I was the fifth of six boys in our
family. My older brothers were pretty
successful. My brother, Andy, was
high individual at the 1946 National
Collegiate Competition at Waterloo,
Iowa. My brother, R. J., who is the
second of the six boys, won the 1949
Royal Winter Fair judging competi-
HAVING LED MORE Royal Winter Fair Grand Champions
than any other person, Stewart still shows from time to
time. Stewart is shown leading the 2010 Junior Champion
of World Dairy Expo’s Holstein Show, Craigcrest Rubies
Gold Rejoice.
tion two years before me. My other
brother, Henry, was also on that team
with R. J. So, I lived in that kind of
environment . . . my dad did a lot of
horse judging and my mother judged
cooking and sewing competitions.
We were blessed to have good ag
reps in those days that were livestock
oriented. They pushed us to
do well. Our family had some pretty
nice Ayrshires. I hitchhiked home
from college and showed Ayrshires at
the little fairs to make some money
to get through school. When I graduated,
I wasn’t interested in buying,
working, or trying to make money
from Ayrshires. There were more
opportunities in the Holstein business,
and that’s where I got involved.
Dave Houcks was the first guy
who really got me involved in the
Holstein business. However, if you
were going to pick somebody who I
respected a lot, D. S. Dunton and J.
M. Fraser were the leaders at the
judging schools. There was a guy
by the name of Johnny Moles who
showed Ayrshire cattle; I used to
think I would love to be able to show
as well as he did with his Ayrshires.
I paid attention to how he did things
and learned from there. When
you’re working for different people,
they all have ideas of what you
should be doing when you’re leading
their cattle.
To read more about
Bert Stewart, go to www.hoards.
com and click on Dairyman Extras
under Dairy E-Sources.