My Favorite Time of Year

Spring is here! This is my favorite time of year. The grass is green, the sun is out, and the days are getting longer. I love spring because it gives me a chance to do lots of the outdoor activities that I enjoy.

I am currently on spring break from Cal Poly and am home enjoying the beautiful weather. One of the first things I did when I got home, after saying hello to my family and our dog “Buck,” was to go for a horse ride. I have been riding horses since I could walk. As far as I know, my mom probably had me sitting in the saddle with her before then. We have a couple geldings that we keep on the ranch to use when we round up the cows. Although most ranches have gone more modern, using motorcycles to round up the cows, our ranch is covered with trees and has quite a few steep hills. Using the horses is usually a lot safer and more fun. As with most ranch horses, our horses have quite a bit of what is called “cow sense;” meaning that they can read the cow’s body language and can typically react quicker to an unruly cow than a person.

Today, my ride had a purpose. I wanted to visit all of my cows and heifers that I had not seen while I was away at school. My horse, Zipper, and I made our first stop in what is called the springer field, where the heifers and cows that are pregnant and close to calving live. They have a beautiful green field, a pretty stream, and a cozy barn for nighttime. This group is well pampered. We continued on our ride and saw the yearling heifers in the back field. These heifers are definitely enjoying the benefits of living in California, grazing on the endless green grass and dozing in the sunshine. Zipper and I ended our ride back at the barn, where after putting him away, I stopped by my favorite group, the babies! I hope to spend a big part of my spring break in the sunshine visiting my four- legged friends.

The rest of my spring break will be busy with Dairy Princess events. I am traveling to Willits where I will be giving a school presentation to over 100 students. While Willits is an extremely rural community, the primary occupation in the area is logging. In my emails with the principal, she mentioned that the children have little to no knowledge of the dairy industry and dairy products. In addition, I will be doing a similar school visit in Lake County at Upper Lake Elementary School. With over 150 students at this school, I am certain it will be a long day, but I hope to have a positive influence on the next generation of dairy consumers.

In addition to school visits, I will be in attendance at the Sonoma County Agriculture Days at our local fairgrounds. This annual event, sponsored by the Sonoma County Farm Bureau, is fantastic and draws thousands of elementary students. Local 4-H clubs and FFA chapters volunteer their time, knowledge, and animals to the cause of educating these students on the many different aspects of agriculture. I look forward to this event every year.

Even while at school, I have been keeping busy with Dairy Princess activities. I attended the World Ag Expo in Tulare where District 9 Tulare County First Alternate Sarena and I handed out carton after carton of chocolate milk to the wide variety of expo attendees. We met FFA students and dairy producers from around the state, as well as college groups from out of state and visitors from out of the country. I loved being able to meet people who had traveled from exciting places, like France, Italy, Brazil, Australia, Japan, and Switzerland. I even met several Minnesota Dairy Princesses who came with their university’s dairy club. One of the best parts of the day was having a dairy producer from Iowa ask me, “Why are California cows so happy?”

Another event that I had the opportunity to attend was the Petaluma Rotary Club’s Annual Stew and Polenta Feed. This night is also known as “farmer’s night” to many of the older members. I really enjoyed being able to socialize with the producers before the dinner. I have so much respect for the hardships and struggles that each of these producers has persevered through in the last year. It is through their dedication and triumph that our agriculture industry has become an industry to be proud of. Later in the evening, Petaluma FFA and Liberty 4-H members helped me pass out ice cream. Of course the ice cream was locally produced by Happy California Cows!

My year of being a California Dairy Princess is coming to an end. While I am sad about not being able to wear my crown and sash any longer I know that promoting dairy products and educating consumers is a lifelong duty that comes with being involved in the dairy industry. I am confident in the next group of girls who will be elected in District Three.

We had a mother-daughter luncheon with the candidates recently and I was able to meet each of them and they are fantastic. The amount of passion and love that each of the girls has for this industry is obvious. Any one of them would make a fantastic ambassador to the dairy industry. I would like to wish each of the six girls the best of luck in the next couple weeks preparing for the big night on April 10th. Best wishes, Mandy District 3 First Alternate Dairy Princess