Farmer Spotlight: Rudy DeWinkle
Taryn Packer, Melba FFA
One farmer that I personally believe deserves so much recognition is Rudy DeWinkle. Mr. DeWinkle owns a dairy in Melba called the Moo-riah Dairy. He and his wife Anne have six kids who all love to work on the dairy with their dad. He includes more than just dairy cows in his kids’ lives; they also show pigs through 4-H, along with one rabbit.
The DeWinkle family also supports Melba FFA through the many fundraisers that we do. Through this dairy, he has helped and coached the Melba FFA dairy evaluation team practice. Whenever we have a question, we know that Mr. DeWinkle will be there to answer it for us. He graciously allows us to travel to his dairy after school and judge different classes of cows along with helping us with our reasons and dairy herd records. Rudy is also a national winning dairy evaluator, and he attended Cornell University on a dairy evaluation scholarship. He has encouraged our team to try as hard as we can, no matter the circumstances and to study and practice at home so that we are the best team we can be.
We are continuously bringing new members to the dairy and Mr. DeWinkle is always there to help them. Mr. Dewinkle has really helped Melba improve from where we started. When I started on the dairy evaluation team, I was a mess of an evaluator; it was the first time I had competed in this event. A few weeks before I was about to leave for Moscow CDEs, I didn’t know how to give reasons or really know how to judge a dairy cow, but with his help I was able to place at the top of my team. With Mr. DeWinkle coaching us over the past few years, Melba was able to place first in our district and get our first plaque since the early 2000’s. He allows to go to his dairy and takes time out of his busy schedule to spend time coaching us. He is an all-around amazing person who I’m so glad that I’ve been able to be coached by.
I would love to thank Mr. DeWinkle for everything that he has done to help me succeed and for everything he has done to help the Melba FFA chapter.