Last direct Hoard relative to work for the company passes away

For over 40 years, Mark "Bud" Kerschensteiner diligently worked for the company that his great grandfather, Governor William Dempster Hoard, founded in 1870. With his passing, an era comes to a close, as Kerschensteiner was the last direct relative to work for Hoard's Dairyman and the W.D. Hoard and Sons Company. Shown in the photo are: Mark "Bud" Kerschensteiner (right) with Verna and Jim Baird (retired Hoard's Dairyman art director) at the 2006 open house following National Dairy Shrine's latest renovation.

Kerschensteiner's career with W.D. Hoard and Sons Company began on December 1, 1945, after two years of service in the U.S. Marine Corps where he was deployed to the Pacific Theatre during World War II and was stationed in Guam and Okinawa. His employment with the company began with his service as advertising manager for the Jefferson County Union. In June 1953, Kerschensteiner became an advertising representative for Hoard's Dairyman and a decade later he was promoted to advertising manager. It was a position he held until his retirement in 1986 when Gary Vorpahl succeeded him in that role. At the time of Kerschensteiner's retirement, he also was senior vice-president and director of the American Agriculturalist, Inc., a Hoard company affiliate in Ithaca, N.Y. During his career, he led the application effort to have the historic Hoard's Dairyman Farm placed on the National Register of Historic Places by the United States Department of Interior.

Born in 1921, Kerschensteiner was the only child of Mark and Shirley Hoard Kerschensteiner and the lone grandchild of Frank and Luella Hoard, whose former home now houses the Hoard Historical Museum which is also home to National Dairy Shrine. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Journalism. Kerschensteiner served as the Fort Atkinson chairman of the UW-Madison Capital Gifts Campaign and was a member of the Bascom Hill Society. Kerschensteiner was a die-hard Badger fan and a generous donor to many University of Wisconsin initiatives.

In his local community, Kerschensteiner was the prime mover in the formation of the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation, Inc., founded in 1973. The foundation which began with Kerschensteiner's vision and a $25,000 gift from the late Mary C. Hoard, has grown to current assets of $18.6 million. Kerschensteiner led the group as the first board president for eight years. At the time of its inception, the Fort Atkinson Community Foundation was only the fourth one of its kind in the state with Milwaukee, Racine, and Oshkosh, all considerably larger than Fort Atkinson, having already established foundations.

Hoard's Dairyman turns 125 years old on January 23

On January 23, 1885, Wisconsin's 16th Governor, William Dempster Hoard, launched the very first edition of Hoard's Dairyman. In Hoard's own words, the masthead read, "Hoard's Dairyman is especially devoted to dairy and stock interests, being the official organ of the Wisconsin Dairyman's Association," W.D. Hoard Editor and Publisher

Back in those early days, Hoard's Dairyman took on more of a look of a newspaper than that of a magazine. In the first edition, Hoard explained the launch of his new venture: "PLEASE READ THIS," Hoard set in bold type. "Hoard's Dairyman, a dairy edition of the Jefferson County Union, will be issued weekly hereafter, in the form of a six column to the page folio sheet.

"We have entered upon this enterprise in response to the request of a great many dairymen in outside portions of this and other states, who want a cheap weekly, dairy paper.

"We shall give the choicest original and selected dairy literature to be obtained on the Continent, as well as a wide range of market reports. We have arranged with several of the most practical dairymen in the Northwest, for frequent contributions from their pens. Our weekly Elgin Letter will alone be worth the price of the paper to any butter maker that wants to keep posted. The leading dairymen of the Northwest are subscribers to this paper." — W.D. Hoard, January 23, 1885.

In those days, when Hoard said Northwest, he wasn’t referring to Washington and Oregon, he was referencing what we now call the Midwest. At the time he launched Hoard's, Wisconsin had achieved statehood 37 years earlier.

If you wanted to order a copy 125 years ago, Hoard's Dairyman would set you back $1 for the year. For that price, you received 52 copies of the weekly publication. If you wanted both the Jefferson County Union and Hoard's Dairyman, the package deal was $1.75, paid strictly in advance, noted Editor Hoard.

As the year unfolds, we have more celebrations planned commemorating our 125th Anniversary. We look forward to sharing this special occasion with you throughout 2010.

The dairy industry's busiest week?

We suspect the week of World Dairy Expo is the busiest week of the year for many people in the U.S. dairy industry. Just based on our little corner of the world, preparations for and presence at Expo is one of the most demanding, yet fun and productive times of the year.
Our planning for each Expo actually starts a full year ahead of time. At the show, we begin to gather information and photos for our guide to World Dairy Expo which is part of our September 10 issue. There are meetings here during the summer about what themes and materials we will feature in our two booths at the show (Booths 213 and 217 in the lower level of the Coliseum building and 4323 in the Exhibition Hall). Our marketing people meet ahead of time to map out the advertising and promotion programs that they can offer potential advertisers and their agencies during the year ahead.
Expo week itself really gets going for us on the Sunday before the Tuesday-through-Saturday show when we provide practice classes for all of the judging teams at the Hoard’s Dairyman Farm. On Monday of Expo week, we and others in the Fort Atkinson area host the National 4-H Dairy Conference.
After the show closes on the first day (Tuesday) it is all hands on deck as Hoard’s Dairyman and World Dairy Expo co-host a party for all commercial exhibitors at the show. Throughout the week, the editors have a full schedule of meetings and events to cover. These include meeting with companies about new products and services, attending seminars, getting together with writers for the magazine, and just visiting with dairy industry friends and acquaintances from across the country and around the world.
In addition, the editors fulfill a number of industry volunteer roles such as the National 4-H Conference, judging contests, National Dairy Shrine, the Klussendorf Association, and several others.
At the Hoard’s Dairyman Farm, there is a steady flow of scheduled and drop-in visitors before, during, and after Expo.
Even before the show is over, the magazine is hard at work putting together Expo reports, results and photos for our October 25 issue . . . and planning for how we can do things better during next year’s show.
If you can't attend Expo this year, you still can stay connected with what's happening there. Our Hoard's @ Expo blog will feature several posts each day about what is happening, photos, videos, all the big winners, and much more. Plus, you'll find coverage on our Facebook fan page. Just go to Facebook, search Hoard's Dairyman, and become a fan!

Hoard's Dairyman, a purse, and me

We recently received this letter from one of our readers. Apparently, it is more than our just-under-125-year history that makes us a long-lasting magazine. Photos are shown below.

I got in a car wreck on Saturday, June 20, at 9:45 p.m., and my car went up in flames (I only got a few bruises). I swerved to miss a man walking on my side of the road in the middle of my lane, and I collided with an F250. Once all was said and done, we found a past issue of your magazine in the car. This Hoard's Dairyman, my purse, and me were the only things to survive. We just found it too funny not to share this photo with you and the others at the magazine. This is one well-made paper. - T.L.

Jersey Cow D Supreme Champion

For the first time since 2003, we received a perfect score in the Hoard's Dairyman Cow Judging Contest. This perfect score marks only the 78th time since the contest began in 1931. That is an amazing fact since we have received 5.5 million entries during the past 79 years.

Our perfect entry came from a 15-year-old boy attending high school in Ohio. He placed all five classes correctly which included choosing:
• B as the winner of the Brown Swiss class
• C as the winner of the Holstein class
• D as the winner of the Red and White Class
• A as the winner of the Ayrshire Class
• D as the winner of the Jersey Class

The Jersey was selected as the Supreme Champion by our panel of official judges with the Red and White taking Reserve Supreme Champion honors. The entire scoring key and official reasons can be found on pages 286 and 287 of the April 25 issue.

Entries for the 79th Annual Hoard's Dairyman Cow Judging Contest are coming in strong. Even though the contest closed on March 26, a few entries with good postmarks are still trickling into the office. To date, 25,260 entries have come from all 50 states and the District of Columbia. That's up some 1,500 from last year.