Brad Laack receives Wisconsin FFA’s highest award
Plymouth FFA member Brad Laack received the Wisconsin FFA’s highest award, the State Star Award, on June 16 during the State FFA Convention in Madison.
Wisconsin FFA names four outstanding members each year in the areas of agriscience, agribusiness, entrepreneurship and agricultural placement. Brad was recognized for agricultural placement, which is work on a farm owned by someone else.
To receive the Star award a member must have an outstanding Supervised Agricultural Experience program and demonstrate outstanding leadership in the FFA and in the community, plus have a record of outstanding scholastic achievement.
Brad’s SAE is diversified ag placement. He works for:
Hillside Dairy Heifers, a custom dairy heifer-raising facility, where he is assistant herdsman, breeding up to 60 heifers a month, isolating and treating sick animals, changing feed rations based on group size and age, and keeping breeding and growth records, along with the day-to-day chores.
Hanke Farms, a 700-cow dairy, where he does everything from milking, mixing feed and taking care of special-needs animals to artificial insemination work. He also helps with planting, tillage and harvesting.
Nohl Farms, a traditional 40-cow herd, where he milks cows on
weekends.
By working in three different kinds of dairy operations, Brad has had the opportunity to develop many more skills than if he were working at one, according to Don Mier, advisor of the Plymouth FFA Chapter.
“He has done such a good job that the owners of each farm continue to ask him to take on more responsibility, which is a lot for an 18-year old,” Mier said. “He has become the first employee called when problems arise at each farm when the owners can’t be reached.”
Brad manages more than 100 acres of tillable land on his parents’ farm (which helps pay for some of his own beef herd expenses), which includes all of the tillage, planting, spraying and harvesting. He also manages the 32-acre Plymouth FFA Farm, where he selects the crops to be planted, uses soil-testing results to
determine fertility needs, and markets the results of his work. At the end of the season he gathers samples from the FFA plots, evaluates them and puts together a comparative pamphlet. This year’s summary was obtained by more than 300 Sheboygan County farmers at the Plymouth FFA’s Annual Plot Day, which Brad chaired.
Three years ago the Plymouth Agriculture Department offered artificial insemination training through Accelerated Genetics. Brad took the class and received his AI certification. He is now breeding cattle for several dairy and beef producers in the county, as well as the farmers he works for. He has a 91 percent conception rate on first service on the more than 300 heifers he has bred at Hillside Dairy Heifers.
Brad, who graduated June 6, plans to attend Fox Valley Technical College to get a three-year degree in farm operations.
The last member of the Plymouth FFA chapter to win a Star award was Rodney Bohnhoff, named State FFA Star Farmer in 1972.
