National Mastitis Council recognized the best when it comes to quality milk production at its awards luncheon, held in conjunction with the NMC 58th Annual Meeting on Feb. 1 in Savannah, Ga. Several Michigan dairies were given gold and silver status.

The platinum award recognizes outstanding quality milk production through NMC’s National Dairy Quality Awards program.

Platinum winners included Cottonwood Dairy (Jim Winn and Brian and Randy Larson), South Wayne, Wis.; RKB Dairy (Randy and Kathleen Bauer), Faribault, Minn.; Rock Solid Dairy LLC (Zane and Juanita Garber), Shippensburg, Pa.; United Dreams Dairy LLC (Tim and Lisa Evert, Rick and Ronda Lehman, Jeff Evert and Michael Nieman), North Freedom, Wis.; and University of Wisconsin Marshfield Agricultural Research Station, Stratford, Wis.

In addition to the six platinum winners, there were 18 gold and 17 silver NDQA winners. These farms were selected from 165 applications submitted for the 2018 awards. Farms were nominated by professionals, such as dairy plant field staff, veterinarians, extension specialists and Dairy Herd Improvement supervisors, who serve the dairy industry.

NDQA judges considered many criteria when reviewing finalists’ applications. In addition to milk quality indicators, such as somatic cell count and standard plate count, judges looked at specific details about each operation, including milking routine, cow comfort, udder health monitoring programs, treatment and prevention programs, strategies for overall herd health and welfare, and adherence to drug use and record keeping regulations.

Nominee information for the 2019 NDQA program will be available this summer on the NMC website.

Other winners include:

Gold
Beattie Farms (Don Beattie), Holton, Mich.

Ber-Sher Farm (Ron & Barb Brinks), McBain, Mich.

Chambers Valley Farms (Bob Chambers), Salem, N.Y.

Circle K Farms (Brad & Debbie Kartes), West Branch, Mich.

Clover View Dairy LLC (Steve & Kim Fischer), Manitowoc, Wis.

Crandall Dairy Farms LLC (Brad, Mark & Larry Crandall), Battle Creek, Mich.

Dick Haven Farms LLC (Gordon Dick), McBain, Mich.

DNL Farms LLC (Dave & Lynn Dummer), Elk Mound, Wis.

Dorner Farms (Cory & Maria Dorner), Luxemburg, Wis.

Gasser Farms LLC (Virgil, Lois, Steve, Aaron & David Gasser), Creston, Ohio

John Rohlfs and Tim Narges Partnership (John Rohlfs & Tim Narges), Eden, Wis.

K&K Dairy Farms LLC (Matt & Kristi Keilen), Westphalia, Mich.

Kleinhans Dairy Farm (Michael Kleinhans), Kiel, Wis.

Mud Val-E Farm (John Christian & Rhoda Chupp), Sugarcreek, Ohio

OARDC/Krauss Dairy Center (Brent Hostettler), Wooster, Ohio

Oz Dairy (Paige Mier), Prescott, Mich.

Selke Farms (Walter & William Selke), Dakota, Minn.

White Gold Dairy (Terry, Kelly & Natalie Eick), Plainfield, Iowa

Silver
David Z. & Anna F. Beiler, Christiana, Pa.

Benthem Brothers Inc. (Jason Benthem), McBain, Mich.

Boehm Dairy Farm Inc. (Mark, June, Andrew & Jenny Boehm), Rawson, Ohio

Bosscher Dairy (Michael Bosscher), McBain, Mich.

Dinnerbell Farms LLC (Dale, Ann, Adam & Elizabeth Grahl), Eden, Wis.

Hagley Farms (Timothy Hagley), Standish, Mich.

Ladine Dairy Farm LLC (Lynn, Clint & Parker Bivens), Bellevue, Mich.

Lambrath Farms (David Mageean), Ann Arbor, Mich.

Harley & Marietta Lambright, LeRoy, Mich.

Mark Ramer, Hale, Mich.

Red Mountain Jerseys LLC, (Marco Verhaar), Bad Axe, Mich.

Sandstone Dairy (Henry M. Miller), Millersburg, Ohio

Stoney Creek Meadows (William & Rachel Yoder), Butler, Ohio

Theisen Family Farm (Jonathan Theisen), Campbellsport, Wis.

Van Rijn Dairy (Dick Van Rijn), Deford, Mich.

Wenkel Farms (Gerald Wenkel), Standish, Mich.

Wolf Farms LLC (Tom & Debbie Wolf), Bonduel, Wis.

Source: NMC, which is solely responsible for the information provided and is wholly owned by the source. Informa Business Media and all its subsidiaries are not responsible for any of the content contained in this information asset.