It's June Dairy Month! The barn doors are open,
so join me on my daily A to Z journey
to learn more about dairy.
P Is For Princess
In order to become a dairy
princess you have to have a connection to dairy farming. In
my case I have loved growing up on my family’s dairy and diversified crop farm
in Hastings, Minnesota. We farm on the same land my great-great grandfather
began farming on in 1896 located right above the Mississippi River Valley.
Currently, we milk 300 Holstein cows three times a day. We also raise our
heifer calves and feed out our Holstein steers. In addition to raising
livestock, we grow corn, soybeans and alfalfa. All of this makes Sorg Farms a
busy place 24 hours a day, 365 days a year. This gives me plenty of
opportunities to help with chores! My favorites include calf chores of course,
and to many people’s surprise gopher trapping! I still find the calves just as
fun after 17 years, and love spending some high quality thinking time out in
the fields.
I was crowned a Dakota County
Dairy Princess near the end of April. A couple of weeks into May as my high
school classmates were anticipating graduation I was excited about a different
event. The Dairy Princess Leadership and Promotion Event in St. Cloud,
Minnesota which doubles as the selection of the 12 finalists for Princess Kay
of Milky Way. It was my first time attending “May Event” so along with my
excitement came a little bit of nerves. The selection process includes a
written application, a professional interview, a speech, and a mock media
interview. I thoroughly enjoyed my time participating in workshops and to my
surprise even some of the judging! I was reminded over and over again the dairy
community is truly an extraordinary one as I received support and encouragement
from other princesses, chaperones, and judges throughout the whole weekend. To
top off my already educational and thrilling weekend I was named as one of the
12 Princess Kay finalists! This means you will be able to look for my face
carved in 90 pounds of butter at the Minnesota State Fair this summer.
Aside from the State Fair I have
many other events to look forward to this summer. As a county dairy princess I
get to spend time promoting dairy and sharing the dairy farm story throughout
Dakota County. I have made visits to elementary classrooms to share with
students the importance of getting their three servings of dairy each day and
to answer questions they had about dairy farming. My two fellow Dakota County
Dairy Princesses and I will continue to make appearances throughout the summer
at parades and other community events.
I am grateful for the
opportunities I have as a dairy princess. Not only do I get to share my passion
with members of the community, but I get to serve the dairy community that has
had a tremendous impact on my life. Dairy farming will continue to be part of
my life as I pursue an agricultural career at the University of Minnesota Twin
Cities. Happy June Dairy Month!
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