About Lake Oconee news. (Greensboro, GA) 199?-current | View Entire Issue (Aug. 25, 2017)
Friday, August 25, 2017 Lake Oconee News Page All MORGAN COUNTY Williams named 2017 Georgia Farmer of the Year At WDairy near Madison, Everett Williams milks 1,700 to 1,800 highly productive cows three times daily. This herd of crossbred cows has an impres sive rolling herd average for milk production at more than 28,000 pounds of milk per year. Williams farms 3,657 acres. Half of this land is rented and half is owned. As a result of his success as a dairy farmer, Williams has been selected as the state winner of the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo Southeastern Farmer of the Year award. He joins nine other indi viduals as finalists for the overall award that will be announced on Tuesday, Oct. 17, at the Sunbelt Expo farm show in Moultrie. WDairy shipped almost 52 million pounds of fluid milk last year. Williams sells milk through the 18-member Cobblestone Milk Cooperative to markets from Orlando, Fla., to Virginia. Beef from dairy cattle is a second commodity from the farm and accounts for 10 percent of his income. Cull cows are sold through local livestock auction barns and surplus cows and re placement heifers are sold to other dairies. This helps reduce crowding in his barns and main tains the current herd size. Everett’s father, John Williams, started the dairy in 1958 as an al ternative to cotton. While growing up, Everett worked on the dairy. He milked cows during weekends while majoring in dairy science at the University of Georgia. Following graduation, he managed a South Georgia dairy before returning home to the family dairy in 1978. At that time, the rolling herd average was 10,000-12,000 pounds. During the early 1980s, as individual cows started to produce 100 pounds of milk per day, the farm switched to milking three times daily. When his Holsteins became too big for his confinement facilities, he established a crossbreeding program. The Holstein, Jersey and Swedish Red breeds now make up the three-breed rotational cross cows he milks. ‘We doubled our herd size in four years,and increased our milk production, milk fat content and overall herd health,” says Williams. The current rolling herd average is 28,363 pounds with a 3.8 percent butterfat content. WDairy uses the latest technol ogy to monitor and manage the herd. In 2012, a 72-cow carousel or rotating parlor was built along with a third freestall barn. Cows are milked in one rotation of 10 minutes, and the milk is direct loaded onto milk tankers. He uses electronic monitors to track the movements of the cows. In formation from these monitors tells Williams if a cow needs to be bred or if she is getting sick. In dividual milk meters record how much milk each cow gives during a 24-hour period. Automatic sorting gates also save time. Last year, he planted alfalfa on 100 irrigated acres. “This low-lig- nin alfalfa is a potential new forage for the Southeast,” says Williams. He works hard to retain long time employees. He builds rela tionships with his neighbors. And he helps out other dairy farmers in need. His plans call for building another freestall barn, adding more irrigation and increasing his herd size. He also takes great pride in building up WDairy for the next generation, all while pro tecting the natural environment. Community service is also im portant to Williams. His farm hosts numerous tours for neigh bors, national and international visitors. He was a volunteer fire fighter and a member of Morgan County Farm Bureau for a number of years. He currently serves on the Pennington Cemetery Board. He is a local and state 4-H and FFA volunteer, and a member of the Morgan County Dairy Associa tion. On the state level, he is pres ident of the Georgia Milk Pro ducers and serves on the Univer sity of Georgia Veterinary School advisory board. He serves on the boards of Central Georgia Electric Membership Cooperative and Georgia Transmission Coopera tive. Nationally, Williams is on the board of Cobblestone Milk Coop erative and served on the boards of Carolina-Virginia Milk Produc ers and Southeast Milk. His farm has also won awards for produc tion and quality from the Dairy Herd Improvement Association and milk cooperatives. Everett and his wife Carol are active in Pennington United Methodist Church. Carol is involved in almost every part of the farm. She manages the calves, handles human resources and other office duties. She is presi dent of the Georgia Dairy Youth Foundation, chairs the Morgan County Agriculture Center Au thority, serves on the Georgia Junior Livestock Foundation board and is vice president of the Georgia Cattlewomen’s Associa tion. They have four children and three grandchildren. Their sons Justin and Daniel are University of Georgia graduates who are back working and managing on the farm. Their daughter Katie has an agribusiness degree from the Uni versity of Georgia and helps the farm with promotion and tours as her health allows. Their daughter Michelle is disabled and has a business degree from Georgia College and State University. Mark McCann with the Uni versity of Georgia Cooperative Extension Service coordinates the Farmer of the Year award in the state. Lucy Ray, Extension agent in Morgan County, Ga., nomi nated Williams for the award. “Everett is a good example of a modern dairy farmer,” says Ray. “He’s very involved in his commu nity and in the dairy industry, and he’s a great example of how suc cessful a family can be.” As the Georgia state winner of the Swisher Sweets/Sunbelt Expo award, Williams will now receive a $2,500 cash award and a paid trip to the Sunbelt Expo from Swisher International of Jackson ville, Fla., a $500 gift certificate from the Southern States coop erative and a Columbia vest from Ivey’s Outdoor and Farm Supply. He is now eligible for the $15,000 cash prize that will go to the overall winner. Other prizes for the overall winner include the use of a Massey Ferguson tractor for a year from Massey Ferguson North America, another $500 gift certificate from Southern States, a Columbia jacket from Ivey’s Outdoor and Farm Supply, a smoker-grill from Hays LTI and a Henry Golden Boy “American Farmer Tribute Edition” rifle from Reinke Irrigation. Swisher International, through its Swisher Sweets cigar brand, and the Sunbelt Expo are spon soring the Southeastern Farmer of the Year awards for the 28th consecutive year. Swisher has contributed some $1,080,000 in cash awards and other honors to southeastern farmers since the award was initiated in 1990. Stealing Continued from A1 Aug. 10. According to the account given by Horton, around 11 p.m., Social Circle police officer Sam Tread well found Anderson in the parking lot of Willow Springs Church holding three deposit bags filled with money from the store. Despite the late hour, Anderson told Treadwell that he was en route to the bank with the bags. In Horton’s account, Tread well then contacted DG’s main office and followed Anderson to the bank, even tually citing him for criminal trespass. Horton began to inves tigate the incident the next morning after being contact ed by Social Circle police. When he looked at the store’s deposits, he found they were $7,290.93 short. Anderson was then asked to report to the store on Saturday, Aug. 12, for an interview. During their talk, Anderson admitted to Horton that he had taken the money, saying that the area where he lived had a “gang problem” and that he had purloined the cash to keep the gang away from his family. In Ander son’s account, he was only “floating the money” until he could deposit some of his upcoming revenue in the bank to give the appearance of a shortfall in the store’s revenue. 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