Summer is always an exciting time in All West Territory as we welcome our intern, and this year, we have two! John Alamo and Billy Marchy joined the All West Family on June 20, 2022 for the first day of their eight-week experience with us. Learn more about our 2022 All West Summer Interns here and read on to learn what they have experienced so far!
2022 All West Summer Intern, John Alamo:
After finishing my second year at Cal Poly, San Luis Obispo, I returned home to Turlock, California where I began my first day at the Turlock office. In the office, I did all the necessary paperwork needed to work as an employee of All West. I then went on a sales route with All West Sales Representative Jake Van Vliet. During this route, I was able to learn the different organizational techniques he uses to keep track of his different accounts, making sure all of his customers have nitrogen and semen in their tanks. I then made a trip to Hanford to drop off semen and supplies for staff located in the area. I was able to see the semen allocation process to get products from Turlock to all of All West Territory. To finish out our first week, Billy and I went to several dairies in the Turlock area scouting out Select Sires progeny for professional picturing later this summer.
During our second week, we traveled to Tulare to work with several different people in the area. On the first day, we were with Dairy Program Specialist Carson Hillberg. He showed us the Optimal Genetic Pathways (OGP) program and explained to us how to use it and all the different uses and features it has to help strategize the amounts and types of semen each dairy should use. Additionally, Carson showed us the Select Sires mating program and explained how it is extremely beneficial in picking the best bull to use for each individual cow in a herd. The next day, I rode along with Sales Representative, Denis Curtin. We went on a sales route throughout the Merced area and stopped at multiple dairies to fill up their tanks and drop off semen. Along the way, we discussed the history of genetics and dairies and how they have changed over the years.
I have not even finished my second week yet and I already feel like I have learned so much from this internship! I am very thankful to have this opportunity to learn from all the different members of the All West Family and am excited to see what the rest of the internship has in store for me.
2022 All West Summer Intern, Billy Marchy:
On the very first day, I was greeted by All West General Manger Rory White who welcomed us into the building and the All West Family as the summer interns. During my first day, I was able to meet the entire Turlock office building staff and get to see a little bit about what they do. Each position in the office had something unique and different to offer to make everyone’s job run that much smoother. On the first day we of course had some paperwork to fill out and videos to watch to pave the way for a successful summer. We were able to get an inside look at the facilities including the liquid nitrogen tanks, dairy supplies, and all of the semen tanks.
After the first day, John and I were quick off to get our second day started with Jake Van Vliet, a sales representative in the local area. We were able to transfer our first units of semen and get a first-hand look at the interactions between dairy producers and the All West team. In the outskirts of Hughson, we stopped at Countyline Dairy, the largest robotic dairy in California, owned and operated by Vance Alhem with 32 Lely robots. Throughout the day, Jake shared more knowledge about how he mates his herds and how to pick the best semen for what his customers want to achieve.
On Wednesday, John and I went down for the long haul to the All West Training Center in Hanford, CA to drop off semen, supplies, and pick up any necessary tanks that were empty. During this trip, we hit an unusual thunderstorm in which it was raining in the middle of June, not to mention it was 80 degrees outside with thunder and lightning. The fourth day was a trip with one of All West’s best, Tony De Mello who shared a lot of knowledge about the dairy industry, cattle show world, and the All West cooperative with John and I as we got to ride along with him. Our last day of the week started with an early morning with good views as we were up before the sunrise looking for progeny to picture in July. Traveling to three dairies in the near area, we were able to look at daughters of 250HO14579 HANCOCK, 7HO14477 WARRIOR-RED, 7HO14838 HANFORD, and several other sires in each herd.
During the second week, John and I traveled South to the Hanford-Tulare area to meet Carson Hillberg to learn about the different programs All West uses to enhance their client’s herd. First, we sat down with Carson to learn about the Optimal Genetic Pathways program and the course of action each dairy should use, based on a number of factors their herd exhibits. During the second day down South, I was able to ride with Sales Representative Greg Silva to see what a day on his route looks like. On our first stop, we were able to talk to David of Solo Dairy and heard about how he selects sires for his herd.
This has been an exciting week and a half and I look forward to the coming weeks in California and Washington.
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