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Wisconsin State Fair names ‘hall of famers’


Carolyn and Niles Wendorf, seated, are inducted into the Wisconsin State Fair’s Dairy Hall of Fame with their family. They own and operate Crescentmead farm of Ixonia, Wisconsin.

The Wisconsin State Fair inducted four individuals into its Dairy Hall of Fame in 2017 – the inaugural year for the honor. The 2018 class recently was inducted into the Hall of Fame — Randy Thompson, John Dalton, and the Wendorf family of Crescentmead.

Dairy Hall of Fame inductees have supported and contributed to the success of the dairy program at the Wisconsin State Fair, said Brian Bolan, senior agriculture director for the fair. Inductees receive a commemorative award inscribed with their name. Each inductee’s photograph is displayed at a permanent exhibit for fair-goers and fellow exhibitors to see.

Randy Thompson raised with dairy

Randy Thompson of Janesville, Wisconsin, has been involved with the Wisconsin State Fair for more than 35 years. He was raised on a farm near Sheboygan Falls, Wisconsin, raising registered Holsteins. He began showing cattle as a Sheboygan County Junior Dairy exhibitor in the 1970s. Shortly after his junior-show career was completed he returned in 1985 to the State Fair to serve as an assistant junior-dairy superintendent. He continued to serve in that post until 2006 when he became junior-dairy superintendent. He held that position from 2006 to 2009.

“It was a real honor and surprise to be selected for the Hall of Fame,” Thompson said. “I really feel blessed to have had an opportunity to work at the State Fair in various capacities. And it’s great to be recognized along with the likes of George Barlass, Ray Kuehl and the others who have been inducted into the Hall of Fame.”

Barlass, Kuehl, and Tom and Joan Oberhaus were inducted into the Hall of Fame in 2017. Thompson said when he began showing cattle at the State Fair, Barlass and Kuehl were among the show judges evaluating his cattle.

The Wisconsin State Fair annually hosts one of the largest, if not the largest, junior-dairy shows in the United States. Between 600 and 700 junior-dairy enthusiasts participate each year, Thompson said. Moreover the 10-day event annually attracts more than 1 million visitors.

“The quality of the cattle as well as the exhibitors is unmatched in terms of junior-dairy shows,” he said. “Junior-dairy exhibitors and the cattle they show do Wisconsin proud in terms of showcasing part of the state’s dairy heritage.”

Thompson retired in 2012 from a 34-year career in University of Wisconsin-Extension. He began as a 4-H agent in Trempealeau County before becoming the dairy and livestock agent for Sheboygan County. Then he moved to Rock County where he served as dairy and livestock agent for 22 years. He continues to be involved with the Rock County 4-H Fair Board, currently serving as its president. He also volunteers as pavilion and grounds superintendent at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin.

Dalton shares credit with family

John Dalton, of Hartford, Wisconsin, also was inducted into the Hall of Fame. He has owned and showed Ayrshire cows for more than 45 years. He has exhibited dairy cattle at the Wisconsin State Fair for 64 years; he began showing cattle in the junior-dairy show. He continued exhibiting cattle in open-dairy shows for another 40 years. He has showed numerous grand-champion bulls and females, and won the overall showman class in 1962.

“It means the world to me,” Dalton said of being selected for the honor. “It was great to receive the acknowledgement but a lot of the credit goes to my father and brother who worked with me for years to keep improving our herd.”

Dalton farmed with Mervin Dalton, his father, and Tom Dalton, his brother. Both men have since passed away.

The family’s “Daltondale” cattle have won numerous national-production awards, including numerous All-American honors. John Dalton earned the Ayrshire Breeders’ Association Master Breeder Award in 2012.

Wendorfs have showed cattle since 1960s

Also inducted into the Hall of Fame is the Wendorf family of Crescentmead farm near Ixonia, Wisconsin. The dairy farm was established by brothers Elmo and Niles Wendorf. The Crescentmead farm is carried on by the next generation of brothers Troy and Todd Wendorf.

The Wendorfs have been exhibiting Holsteins with the Crescentmead prefix at the Wisconsin State Fair since 1960. In his youth Niles Wendorf had helped Allen Hetts at Crescent Beauty Farm of Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin — hence the “Crescent” prefix.

The Wendorfs earned their first junior-show grand champion in 1966. They have since exhibited two supreme champions, six open-show grand champions, five junior-show grand champions and two reserve-grand-champion females. Their “Crescentmead Dunkn Donut-Red” was the supreme bred- and owned-heifer at the 2017 Wisconsin State Fair.

The Wendorf family has earned six Wisconsin Holstein Association Futurity championships. Their “MilkSource Dty Tammy-Red-Et” was the first Red and White Holstein to win the futurity.

“I saw who already has been inducted into the Hall of Fame, and it was quite an honor to be put on the same level as George Barlass, Ray Kuehl and the Oberhauses,” Niles Wendorf said.

Grady Wendorf, his grandson, earned a grand-champion ribbon for the cow he exhibited in the 2018 junior show.

“That also made me proud,” Niles Wendorf said.


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