Newsletter
Fall 2007 Newletter
Field Day Saturday, September 22: The 2007 Field Day event proved to be another great opportunity for club members to demonstrate the draft horses at workin the fields. The weather was great -- a beautiful sunny, cool morning, turning to the upper 70s by the afternoon. Plus, the rain that fell throughout the week prior to the event helped to soften the fields making it easy to work the ground (and no dust!).
This years field day was hosted by Harold and Alana Pramaan and family on their farm just a few miles north of Fairhaven. Activities included cutting, raking and gathering hay, plowing and discing, cultivating, corn binding, and potato digging. A popular activity for many attendees was to pick potatoes -- $1 a bag. A threshing machine run by gas power (John Deere tractor) was used to thresh the oats that was cut in August. About a dozen wagons were available for rides to and from the various areas for those who came to watch the event. The clubs office trailer and some straw bales for seating were located at the top of the slightly rolling hills, creating a panoramic view of the fields.
Field Days 2007 Report of Activity
Number of Horses / Mules: 110 drafts and 9 saddle
Number of Teamsters: 39
Number Attending: 927
Vendors: 8
Total Raffle Tickets Sold: 2671
New Members Signed Up: 24
Raffle Ticket Drawing Winners: Foal L. Klingsleim, Sandstone, MN
$25.00 Ann Mondrey, Kandiyohi, MN
$15.00 Cheryl Johnson, Mound, MN
$10.00 Paul Sandell, South Haven, MN
Thank You to Harold and Alana and their children, Judi, Philip, Dale and Kirk, and their friend Jeremy Reitmeier, for all the extra help they provided -- as well as for hosting the event. Thank you to Roger Jurgens for the potato digger and triple box; to Kent Lindblad for the hay tedder and other equipment; to Greg Szczech of Golden Shoes Stables for use of his trolley; to all the riders who helped with car parking; and a big THANK YOU to all of those unnamed who made this years event successful. This includes the volunteers assisting at the gate and with parking, those who hauled our club foal to events where tickets were sold, to the teamsters, to our club queen Amanda Schaefer, and to all who contributed and participated in ways that we could not possibly keep track of. A successful Field Day does not happen without volunteers. If you have not yet helped in the past, please consider it for next year. We are always looking for people to help.
General
We will have 3 director positions open at our annual meeting in February. Please consider sharing your time and talent to help our organization succeed in helping the draft horse industry grow. Let someone know that you are interested and they will nominate you. To learn more about what the duties of the directors are, contact one of the directors listed at the top of the newsletter.
We will be selecting a new Draft Horse Queen for the 2008-2009 year. If your parents are active members of the club and own draft horses or mules, you are eligible to become a queen. Good public speaking skills are a real plus. You are also required to be present at our 2008 Field Day.
Our next Field Day will be a one-day event to be held Saturday, September 27, 2008 and will be hosted by Hilary Bruner in Belgrade, MN. We will continue with the plan that if we are rained out on Saturday, we will use Sunday as a backup day.
Raffle tickets not sold must still be returned to Joann Holthaus. The State of Minnesota requires that we account for every ticket. If you have not yet returned your tickets, please do so as soon as possible. If you no longer want tickets mailed to you, let us know and we will mark it down for next year.
Upcoming Events
The eighth annual 4R Ranch Pumpkin Days.Weekends of October 6-7, 13-14, 20-21. Admission is $3 for corn maze, hay bale maze, games, farm animals, hay rides, pony ride. Held at Leroy & Eileen Ritters farm located 3.5 miles south of Avon on County Road 9.
The NMDHA Annual Banquet Meeting is planned for Sunday, February 24, 2008, at The Landing in St Anna, MN. Doors opens @ 10:45 AM, and the meal will be served at 12:00 noon. We hope to see you all there! (If the weather is bad that day, check the website for cancellations.)
The NMDHA Summer Picnic & Meeting will be held on Sunday, June 22, 2008 with a location to be determined.
Advertisement
Wanted: Copy of the 1998 Field Days video. Contact Sherwin Costello at 612-390-0575.
Wanted: Two wheel, one-bottom sulky plow. Contact Ron Stang at 320-764-2739.
Condolences: Club member, Pauline Veerkamp of Comfrey passed away on September 1st. Our sympathies to Tom and the Veerkampfamily.