Jordan Ebert Showing Siemers Goldwyn Goldie-ET, Picture by: Semex
The entire arena at the 2012 World Dairy Expo was pitch black, except for three spotlights circling the seven contestants. The suspense was building for Jordan Ebert as he held his cow, Siemers Goldwyn Goldie-ET, on the orange-colored shavings. Finally, the Reserve Supreme Champion of the Junior Show was selected, the spotlight turned to the Red and White Holstein. Ebert blew a sigh of relief that his cow wasn’t chosen. The spotlights circled again and the crowd cheered with anticipation. Finally, the announcer recognized the Supreme Champion of the Junior Show…
Jordan Ebert had been working his entire life for this moment; he started showing cattle at an early age. “Our county fair had a ‘Kiddie Showmanship’ class, I can’t give you the exact age, but I want to say five to six years old,” said Ebert. “We started showing at a county fair level bringing our unregistered Holstein cows and heifers. Our first purchases of show cattle were Jerseys because my sister and I were pretty small people, so we started with smaller animals.”
Ebert, a freshman Dairy Science major, has grown a lot since his first time in the show ring, particularly during his first few weeks on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. He has become involved with Badger Dairy Club and works as a Student Manager for the UW Men’s Basketball Team.
“It has been an awesome experience so far,” explained Ebert. “We do some of the behind-the-scenes work, preparing for practice, miscellaneous things during practice, tearing down afterwards and some office time.”
Ebert hopes to bring his experiences at UW-Madison back to his family’s 3,000 cow Holstein farm in Algoma, Wis. “My plan is to go back to my farm and work my way up through the ranks into a management position where I am making some decisions, learning what it takes to run the farm through my dad and eventually take it over,” said Ebert.
When asked what the showing has done for his professional development, Ebert mentioned the value of networking and the interactions with professionals in industry. “My success in the showring has gotten my name out there a little bit. I have met people along the way and am a familiar face. I feel comfortable talking with them and introducing myself.”
The 2012 World Dairy Expo was an experience Ebert will remember forever. He didn’t even expect to be in the showring for the selection of the Supreme Champion of the Junior Show and actually had other plans on Saturday. “Saturday of Expo I had quite an interesting day. I had to work at the UW-Madison football game until kickoff at about 3:00 p.m. because the UW Men’s Basketball program uses the games for recruitment. Afterwards my dad picked me up and brought me over to World Dairy Expo, I put on some whites and had just a little time to breathe before we went in.”
The spotlights were circling and Ebert hoped his cow would be chosen for Supreme Champion of the Junior Show. Once the Red and White Holstein was selected for Reserve Supreme Champion, Ebert thought “ok, maybe we have a shot at this!” The announcer resumed and began to announce the Supreme Champion, “The 2012 World Dairy Expo Supreme Champion of the Junior Show… is Siemers Goldwyn Goldie, the Holstein exhibited by Jordan and Whitney Ebert from Algoma, Wisconsin!”
“They called her [Siemers Goldwyn Goldie-ET] name and the place lit up a bit. I got the goosebumps and stuff like that, but it was pretty cool,” said Ebert explaining how he felt in that moment. “Once you got out there, it was like nothing else. All of the lights were off except for the spotlight and they were announcing everything. That was the coolest experience I have had for showing and just the way they made it a ‘show.’ It was an adrenaline rush.”
Video of Jordan Ebert, freshman at UW-Madison, winning the Supreme Champion of the Junior Show at World Dairy Expo.
