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Farm News: Pork Producers Get Pat On The Back ToocommentsPosted: 02.09.2011
Each year, the Wisconsin Pork Association presents a Distinguished Service Award to a fellow pork producer whose contributions to the Wisconsin swine industry merit special recognition. There is no greater honor than being singled out by your peers for serving your organization and industry.
The 2010 WPA Producer Distinguished Service award was presented to Keith and Marie Rithamel of Sharon. They started their farming operation by renting an 80-acre farm and began a farrow-to-finish business with about 60 sows. In the early 80’s they purchased a farm, and remodeled the dairy barn for farrowing and nursery and the machine shed for breeding and gestation. They also built a Cargill unit for finishing. During this time they established a relationship with Ralph and Scott Wilson, and became a secondary SPF gilt multiplier for them producing F1 Landrace/Duroc gilts.
By the time the 80’s arrived their daughter and son had started to show pigs at the local fair. Being a gilt multiplier didn’t really supply the best barrows, so they purchased purebred semen and the successes with artificial insemination were almost instant. By the early 90’s they were breeding everything A.I.
In the early ‘90’s, Rithamel’s sold their farm and headed to Boston, Georgia, to join Stephenson Partner Genetics and establish a boar stud. It was there they realized “there is no place like home” and that was how and when they began Mar-Ke Semen Service. In 1995 they moved back to Wisconsin, purchased Marie’s parents farm, and remodeled the barn to hold boars and processed semen in the kitchen until they built the first 40-boar barn and lab.
Today they manage three locations, six barns, and 400+ boars, and supply enough fresh semen to breed 3000-3500 sows per week. They have 4 delivery routes supplying semen to customers in Wisconsin, Illinois, Minnesota, and Iowa.
Industry Honoree Award
The pork industry is fortunate in having many industry representatives who are dedicated to promoting and serving the industry. The Wisconsin Pork Association honors these individuals and companies by presenting them with the Distinguished Service Industry Honoree Award. The recipient of the award for 2010 is Norval Dvorak.
Norval has been a mover and shaker in Wisconsin's meat and agriculture industries. He was born to Joseph and Caroline Dvorak on a farm near Whitelaw, Wisconsin, one that has been in the Dvorak family since 1864. He graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Madison with a degree in agricultural economics in 1943.
Norval married Jean Hird and they are the parents of four sons, David, Stephen, Richard and Robert. Between 1943 and 1957 Norval farmed with Jean and their sons, and helped to organize the Lakeland Egg Marketing Coop, Lake-to-Lake Dairy Coop, F.S. Feed - Supply Cooperative, Badger Breeders Artificial Insemination Coop, and Lakeshore Farm Management Association.
The Dvorak's were named Wisconsin Outstanding Young Farmers in 1957. From 1956 to 1967, he managed the Wisconsin/Minnesota Feeder Pig Marketing Cooperative, where he was responsible for much of the organization's growth and success. From 1967 to 1972, he managed and expanded the Midwest Livestock Producers Cooperative. Norval was named to the Wisconsin Livestock and Meat Industry Hall of Fame in 1999.
Norval had a long career at Packerland, and following his retirement in 1989, he became a U.S. International Development Representative in Eastern Europe. He has been in many countries, including Poland, Czechoslovakia, Romania, Bulgaria, and the Ukraine. In this role, he has assisted in privatizing state farms and converting them to cooperatives and privately held operations, and he has guided meat companies in orienting their marketing plans and strategies to a competitive marketplace rather than a planned economy.
Today, you can find Norval bringing agro tourism to Manitowoc County and helping expand his son Bob’s bioenergy company.
WPA Agri-Communicator Award
Each year, WPA presents an Agri-Communicator Award, which acknowledges the efforts of individuals in the ag industry to communicate with others. This year, Greg Sambs was presented this award.
Greg currently serves as an Ingredient Specialist with LaBudde Group in Grafton, Wisc. Greg is a graduate of the University of Wisconsin - Madison with a degree in Meat and Animal Science. He has been an instrumental part of a youth swine breeding program in the Jefferson County area. Greg first became involved while his daughter Kelsey was a student in the Fort Atkinson School District, which lead led him to offering technical swine breeding and production support to Fort Atkinson FFA members. Greg’s goal was to help youth raise swine for either show projects or FFA related Supervised Agricultural Experience programs. Greg remains involved in providing this support, which has been opened up to include youth from other area schools and 4-H clubs.
In addition, Greg is an Operation Main Street speaker in Wisconsin. Greg participated in the Operation Main Street Training program in April, 2009. Since that time, he has given more than a dozen presentations to civic organizations in Southeast and South Central Wisconsin. The award was sponsored by the Pork Checkoff.
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