Select Sires Inc. awarded Brian Kelroy and Susie Martin as Select Mating Service® (SMS®) Genetic Consultants of the Year at the federation’s recent Trusted Advisor Conference in Green Bay, Wisconsin. Both Kelroy and Martin are vital members of the CentralStar Cooperative team serving Select Sires’ customers in Wisconsin, Michigan and most of Indiana.
Kelroy was named the 2021 Genetic Consultant of the Year. As a 10-year employee of CentralStar Cooperative, his role has evolved to meet the needs of customers and keep the pace of the dairy industry. Kelroy is known for his superb data analysis skills, and he has been instrumental in assisting the Select Sires federation to promote programs and services like NxGEN®, ProfitSOURCE® and CowManager®. He plays a key role during each sire summary by leading virtual sire updates and assisting herds with their genetic and reproductive strategies. In cooperation with World Wide Sires, Kelroy serves the global market by organizing tours for international guests throughout Wisconsin. He also contributes to his local, state and national dairy community by helping facilitate Dairy Challenge, participating on various dairy committees, and serving as a UW-Madison collegiate judging coach.
Martin was honored as the Genetic Consultant of the Year for 2022. Since joining the team in 2018, she has gone above and beyond to serve her customers and excel their herds to greater success. Martin is known to question the status quo by encouraging herds to consider alternative indexes and genetic selection strategies or approach reproductive performance with different protocols. She is a champion for the NxGEN program and sharing the genetic value of the sire lineup with her customers. Martin was also an early pioneer for Select Sires’ ProfitSOURCE program and continues to work closely with herds utilizing TD Beef and HerdFlex® marketing programs. Her colleagues describe her as an excellent team player, an intelligent source for new information and an advocate for her customers.