Merced County Fair's Milk Rocks (2008 contest results)
By Diane Booth Conway,
Merced County Fair Communications & Marketing Director

It was 1958 and Dwight Eisenhower was in the White House, the coolest new toy sweeping the country was the Hula Hoop, the U.S. launched its first satellite, you could buy a house for $30,000, a gallon of gas cost 24 cents and a gallon of milk sold for just $1.01.

A lot has changed in 50 years and thanks to the Merced County Fair’s Milk Producer’s Quality Control Contest for Grade “A” Dairies, the milk and other dairy products we enjoy today taste much better than they did in 1958.

Dr. John Bruhn, a retired professor of Dairy Food and Science at the University of California, Davis, has served as a contest judge since 1970 and judged at this year’s Milk Producer’s Contest. “This contest has been really instrumental in improving the flavor and quality of the milk we produce in this state,” Bruhn said. “If it doesn’t taste good, people aren’t going to drink it.” He tried about 100 of the samples at this year’s milk tasting event and all of them were good, he said, adding, “There wasn’t a bad one in it. Fifty years ago it was the other way around.”

The contest, which is the largest of its kind west of the Mississippi River, turned 50 this year. The results of the 50th anniversary event were recently released. The milk judging event was held in May at the Merced County Fairgrounds,

About 30 judges tasted approximately 700 samples of raw milk, then fair staff tabulated the judges’ flavor and bacteria scores for the samples. Seven entries from the Central Valley rose to the top to receive the Creamery Award. The judging results, the highest scoring milk producers and the creameries they sell milk to were announced before the fair started and the awards were presented to the winners at the awards banquet held during the fair, July 15-20.

The contest is limited to Merced, Madera, Stanislaus, San Joaquin and Sacramento Counties. About 40 percent of California’s milk comes from the counties that participate in the fair’s contest, said Joe Petersen, a field representative for California Dairies, Inc., one of the judge’s for the competition.

The annual event is held for educational purposes and as an incentive for milk producers who don’t distribute their own products, but sell them in bulk to companies for processing and distribution. The competition is designed to give producers an opportunity to demonstrate their skills in producing high-grade milk and to recognize their abilities. Judging and collection of samples are done under the jurisdiction of the State Bureau of Dairy Service and Health Department Milk Sanitarians. Entries are scored for bacteria and flavor.

The contest was established to improve the quality of dairy products in those counties that participate and it all started at the Foremost plant in Newman. The competition moved a few years later to the Merced County Fairgrounds, where judging was done under the Grandstand. The judging is now held in the fairgrounds’ Pavilion.

The contest has been known as the Haydn J. “Mickey” Sartori Grade A Milk Producers’ Contest since 1998. Sartori, who died in 1997, worked as a state dairy inspector and started the fair’s milk judging contest.

His daughter, Carol Sartori-Silva, who was reappointed to the fair’s board in 2005, asked directors to name the contest in her father’s honor before she was first named to the board. She’s proud of her father’s role in starting the contest and helping improve milk quality, but she stressed that the competition continues to be a group effort. “A lot of people have worked hard, volunteering their time to make sure we have the best product possible,” she said. “That’s what it’s all about, making a better, safer product for the consumer.”

There were 642 entries in this year’s competition according to Robin Hauck, the fair's CEO. Seven plaques were awarded to the following high scoring producers from these creameries:

• Berkeley Farms, Rodoni Dairy, Los Banos
• California Dairies, Inc., Serpa Dairy Farms, Hilmar
• Cal-West Dairymen, James J. Stevinson, Newman
• Dairy Farmers of America, Van Steyn Dairy #2, Galt
• Hilmar Cheese Company, Manuel Teixeira, Merced
• Nestle Food Company, Joe Coelho, Turlock
• Independent Shippers, Joseph Gallo Willow Dairy, Atwater

For information, call the fair office at 722-1507 or fax at 722-3773 or email to Info@MercedCountyFair.com or go to the 2008 Merced County Fair’s award-winning website, www.MercedCountyFair.com

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