Special Iowa Dairy Princess Edition
DAIRY ST R
July 31, 2021
Hettinga embraces every opportunity Iowa Dairy Princess reects on reign By Sherry Newell Contributing Writer
A year as the Iowa Dairy Princess, especially one that began under the shadow of a global pandemic, helped Meghan Hettinga develop a new mantra – one she plans to take with her into the future. “Just take every opportunity you are given. You never know what connection you might make,” said the 21-year-old college senior from Orange
City in Iowa’s northwest corner. In her case, one of those connections was made with Joan Maxwell of Cinnamon Ridge Dairy on the opposite side of the state. It happened early in her reign and helped lead to the internship she is now completing at the Maxwells’ farm. She is the American Jersey Cattle Association’s Fred Stout Intern, dipping her toe
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Meghan Heƫnga is compleƟng her year of service as the 202021 Iowa Dairy Princess. Heƫnga comes from a dairy farm where her parents, Jason and Mary, milk 150 Jerseys in Sioux County near Orange City, Iowa.
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Iowa Dairy Princess Alternate Amber Engelken (leŌ) and Iowa Dairy Princess Meghan Heƫnga parƟcipate in the Iowa Dairy Youth CommunicaƟons Training June 7 at Hansen’s Dairy near Hudson, Iowa. The training helps potenƟal state dairy princess candidates and others develop skills to communicate more successfully.
into managing the robots, planning dairy day camps and helping with animal care. “COVID-19 taught me to enjoy every experience,” Hettinga said. “It gave me so much perspective. You never know what the next day or week is going to look like,
so enjoy the moment you’re in.” Hettinga’s roots are planted in the 150-cow Jersey dairy operated by her parents, Jason and Mary Hettinga, where her two younger sisters and a younger brother are also involved. But her year serving Iowa’s dairy
farmers took her far from home and her college, South Dakota State University in Brookings. “My eyes were opened to a wide variety of dairy farms across Iowa,” Hettinga said. “I was used to northwest Iowa, and eastern Iowa is quite different. Both are just so important to the industry as a whole, but they operate differently. There are just so many different ways to dairy.”Still, one of her favorite events was close to the Hettinga farm, an open house at Perry Creek Dairy near Le Mars. “It was one of the bigger events I attended. It showed how the dairy industry in northwest Iowa is really thriving, and it showed new technologies,” Hettinga said. “It was good to see so many people interested in dairy farms.”While the dairy princess program’s main goal is to connect with the public, Hettinga enjoyed her interaction with dairy producers as well. She said it helped her collect stories to share and helped shape her career goals to match her college major in dairy production and minor in communication. “I loved talking to the public, and I loved being that liaison between dairy farmers and consumers. But I discovered over the summer that I also love Turn to HETTINGA | Page 3
Recent Iowa Dairy Princesses 2019 Princess
2019 Alternate
2020 Princess
Jessica Schmitt
Grace Howe
Julie Hammerand
Winneshiek County
Iowa Jersey Cattle Club
Dubuque County Dairy Association
2020 Alternate
Faith Palmer
Allamakee County
2021 Princess
2021 Alternate
Meghan Hettinga
Amber Engelken
Iowa Jersey Cattle Club
Iowa Holstein Association