At the 2014 Select Reproductive Solutions™ (SRS™) Conference held June 2-5, 2014 in St. Louis, Mo., Ted Patterson of Milledgeville, Ill., was named 2014 SRS Specialist of the Year while Phil Dieter, Middleton, Wis., was named the Activity System Specialist of the Year for their outstanding work in the reproductive field.
Phil Dieter (right) receives the Activity Specialist of the Year Award from Dr. Ray Nebel, vice president of technical service programs at Select Sires Inc., at the recent Select Reproduction Solutions (SRS) Conference.
Patterson, a SRS reproductive specialist with Prairie State/Select Sires, grew up in Illinois on a 60-cow dairy farm. After graduating from the University of Illinois in 1985 with a bachelor’s degree in dairy science, he returned home to the family farm. Almost ten years later he joined Prairie State as a part-time technician. In 2005, he started working with the SRS program while continuing to breed cows full-time. Four years ago, he became a SRS and activity systems specialist and now works primarily with activity systems, A.I. training and reproductive consulting. Patterson and his wife Elizabeth have three daughters, Megan, Haley and Kylie Jo and one grandson, Hayden.
“Ted has been a leader in helping carry the SRS program forward at Prairie State,” explains Devin Albrecht, manager Prairie State/Select Sires. “His background as a technician has served him well as he relates to the key decision makers and support staff on all types of operations. Ted assists Prairie State customer-owners with finding solutions to the reproductive problems in their individual operations.”
Dieter was raised on a dairy and beef farm in southwest Wisconsin and always had a passion for showing cattle. He started with Select Sires as a technician in 2001 and landed his current role as a SRS specialist seven years later. Dieter oversees many programs at East Central/Select Sires including reproductive services, beef programs, Program for Fertility Advancement™ (PFA™) and activity systems. Dieter is incredibly knowledgeable about activity systems and the reproductive and health improvements they can make in a customer-owner’s herd. He customizes reports and individualizes support to fit the needs of each herd.
“His combination of reproductive, technological and customer service skills make Phil a very valuable part of our organization,” says Al Deming, East Central/Select Sires. “Phil has been the individual who has driven the sales and, most importantly, the service and maintenance of the over 90 systems in our area. We are all very proud of Phil’s accomplishments with activity systems and the reproductive improvements they have made in our customer-owner’s herds. He is a key contributor to the success of our organization and a mentor to several other SRS specialists in the Select Sires federation.”
Based in Plain City, Ohio, Select Sires Inc., is North America’s largest A.I. organization and is comprised of nine farmer-owned and -controlled cooperatives. As the industry leader, it provides highly fertile semen as well as excellence in service and programs to achieve its basic objective of supplying dairy and beef producers with North America’s best genetics at a reasonable price.
