Select sires




Select Sires Inc.'s board of directors has selected Dan Andreas, of Sugarcreek, Ohio, to the position of Board chairman, succeeding Myron Czech of Little Falls, Minn. The board also elected first vice chairman, Dorothy Harms, of Reedsburg, Wis. and second vice chairman, Dr. Mark Tatarka, Bozeman, Mont. Select Sires' board of directors met in Columbus, Ohio, in conjunction with Select Sires' Annual Meeting held March 21 through 24.

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New chairman, Dan Andreas, was first appointed to Select Sires' board in 2007 and has served on the COBA/Select Sires Inc. board of directors since 2002 and was elected chair of the COBA board in 2015. Andreas and his son, Matthew, operate Andreas Farms in Sugarcreek, Ohio. The herd has grown from 180 dairy cows in 1978 to more than 1,500 Holsteins. Andreas is a graduate of The Ohio State University where he earned three degrees within the education and animal science departments.

The new first vice chairman is Dorothy Harms. She has served on the Select Sires board since 2010 and the East Central/Select Sires board since 2002, where she served as secretary for nine years. Harms graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with an agri-business management degree in 1981. Today, with her husband Don, Harms operates Valley Springs Farm in Reedsburg, Wis., which has been in the Harms family for 135 years. Currently, they milk 60 Holstein cows, raise replacement heifers and have a small herd of Red Angus cattle. The Harms' main focus is production and type, and they have incorporated Red and White genetics into half of their herd.

Dr. Mark Tatarka was elected as second vice chairman. He has served on the Select Sires board for more than a decade and is a member of the production review and research committees. For the past 17 years, Tatarka has served on the Select Sires MidAmerica Inc. board of directors and served as vice president. He grew up on a dairy farm in Montana and received a degree in veterinary medicine from the University of California. After operating a dairy farm in Idaho, Tatarka re-located back to the home farm in Bozeman, Mont. where he works with his father, siblings and four sons on their 100-cow Holstein, Jersey and Brown Swiss dairy.

New members Dan Hoffelt, Bruce, Wis.; Paul Daley, Pine Island, Minn. and Kenny Taylor, Fayetteville, Tenn. replaced retiring board members Mike Heckaman, Argos, Ind.; Myron Czech Little Falls, Minn. and Johnny Daniel, Charlotte, Tenn.

Other board members include: Pete DeGroot, Fresno, Calif.; Randy Kortus, Lynden, Wash.; Mark VanMersbergen, Lynden, Wash.; Craig Fledderjohann, Saint Marys, Ohio; Chad Steinberger, Windthorst, Texas; Larry Voigts, Platteville, Wis.; Dick Piechowski, Waupaca, Wis.; Dan Mielke, Waupaca, Wis.; Bruce Epley, Waverly, Iowa; Wynn Gibbons, Lewiston, Utah; Duane Koester, Wadesville, Ind.; Steve Craun, Bridgewater, Va.; Dr. Robert Cruikshank, Ogdensburg, N.Y. and Leigh Lane, Blanch, N.C.

During the annual meeting, the Holstein and Jersey sire committees, consisting of customer-owners from each of Select Sires' nine member cooperatives, met to discuss the direction of future sire acquisitions. Customer-owners and employees from each of the nine member cooperatives also participated in a number of other committees. At the employee awards program nearly 40 employees were honored for 740 years total service to Select Sires Inc.

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5.16.2016