02/15/08 Governor's Ag Award Winner, Stouder

Bill Stouder has a dairy and heifer ranch and milks about 18 hundred 50 cows. A long time Buhl resident Stouder got into the dairy business right after veterinary school. That was in 1977 when commercial embryo transfer was in its infancy stages and donor cows had to be shipped to central California for egg collection. STOUDER "So trial and error. We started working that and were able to then do it on the farm so their cows could be milked and didn't have to leave the premises." Stouder later moved to southern Idaho where he says there are two things that get results in dairy or beef herds. STOUDER "And the first is genetics. You've got have good genetics and I think through our artificial insemination program as many dairies have done with better genetic bulls we produce better cows. The second though is herd management, managing the herd. I've got good partners. They've done good work as far as keeping close track of the herd and its just you manage all the time." Bill Stouder Governor's Ag Award winner for lifetime achievement. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott