News Release

Saturday, October 8, 2016

CONTACT: Lisa Behnke, Communications Manager, lbehnke@wdexpo.com
                   Jenna Langrehr, Communications Specialist, jlangrehr@wdexpo.com
PHONE:      608-224-6455

Boop Wins 2016 Merle Howard Award

MADISON, WIS. – Doug R. Boop of Millmont, Pennsylvania, was named the 13th Merle Howard Award winner at World Dairy Expo® on Saturday, October 8. Boop grew up participating in many 4-H and Junior Holstein Association activities with great success and continues to be involved as an officer in the Pennsylvania Junior Holstein Association.

This year’s Merle Howard winner is a cowman cut out of the same mold as Merle Howard himself. Windy Knoll View’s Justin Burdette described the winner as, “A quiet behind the scenes kid. He is always in the barn, and he is always working with his cows and heifers.”

This Penn State Junior, majoring in Animal Science, has an accomplished record in the Showring, having garnered numerous Junior All-American nominations and All-Pennsylvania honors. Boop’s parents, Doug and Jen Boop, and his brother Matthew, own and operate Heart and Soul Farm, Millmont, Pennsylvania. On Tuesday, October 4 at the 50th World Dairy Expo, Boop exhibited four homebred cows and heifers that earned top three finishes in the International Junior Holstein Show.

  • Heart & Souk JK Dempsey Glitz stood third in the Spring Heifer Class
  • Heart & Soul JK Brady Georgia stood second in the Fall Heifer Class
  • Bearing his grandfather’s prefix, J & K Vue Windbrook Gigi-ET was the second place Junior Three-Year-Old.
  • And anchoring Boop’s string was J & K Vue Goldwyn Glamour-ET, the winning 150,000 Lifetime Production Cow. Glamour is scored Excellent 96 and earned Supreme Champion honors at the 2014 All American Dairy Show in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

As a rising star in the dairy industry, Boop competed nationally in both Dairy Jeopardy and Dairy Bowl finishing as high as third at the national finals. At the 2016 National Holstein Convention, he earned second place honors in the Dairy Knowledge Competition, a written test that serves to seed teams for Dairy Bowl. He also was named a Young Distinguished Junior Holstein Member.

Ken Rainey, Executive Director of the Pennsylvania Holstein Association describes our winner as “A quiet-, effective-, and lead-by-example leader . . .  when he does speak, it is definitely worth listening.”

Previous award winners of the Merle Howard Award include: 2004, Robert Teixeira, Turlock, Calif.; 2005, Matthew Mitchell, Lafollette, Tenn.; 2006, Greta Koebel, Three Oaks, Mich.; 2007, Brandon Ferry, Hilbert, Wis.; 2008, Kelly Lee Reynolds, Corfu, N.Y.; 2009, Kyle Natzke, Fond du Lac, Wis.; 2010, Stephanie Aves, Popular Grove, Ill.; 2011, Karen Anderson, Lester Prairie, Minn.; 2012 Cy Conard, Sharon Springs, N.Y.; 2013, Cassy Krull, Lake Mills, Wis.; 2014, Jade Jensen, New Richmond, Wis.; and 2015, Jared Dueppengiesser, Perry, New York

Merle Howard was a respected dairy industry pioneer. Winner of the 1954 Klussendorf Award, Howard was a herd manager, Holstein classifier and later a sales and export businessman. Serving on the first National Dairy Shrine Board, he became one of only nine people to receive the 4-E Award for outstanding service.

Recognized as the meeting place for the global dairy industry, World Dairy Expo attracts more than 70,000 attendees from over 90 countries to Madison, Wisconsin, each year. The annual event will take place Oct. 4-8, 2016, with the theme of “Celebrate 50!” to commemorate its golden anniversary. Visit worlddairyexpo.com or follow us on Facebook and Twitter (@WDExpo or #Celebrate50) for more information.

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