Iowa State University co-hosted and participated in this year’s North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge on April 12-14 in Sioux Falls, SD. Dairy Challenge is a farm evaluation competition where teams from universities across the US and Canada are able to analyze a dairy farm and present their findings and recommendations to a panel of industry judges. The Dairy Challenge Academy takes place at the same time and is an educational event where students are able to practice and learn these skills. This year’s contest was the largest event yet, with 36 teams competing in the contest and 282 total students participating across the contest and Academy.
This year’s team from Iowa State won a first place award for their presentation in Dairy D. Team members were Jadyn Beland, Tyler Machin, Anne Simpson, and Emily Zilisch. Additionally, Michael Schaal participated on an aggregate team. Academy participants were Leah Their, Logan Brand, Aidan Alberto, Claire Betley, Elle Ruffner, Teresa Sousa, Haley Ronnebaum, and Bianka Ronnebaum. Bianka Ronnebaum and Haley Ronnebaum received “Student’s Choice Awards” for their Academy presentations.
Kelsey Timp also joined from Iowa State as a member of the Social Media Corps, where she participated in promoting the event.