Generally a county picks only one person to represent that county as Dairy Princess, but this year Pipestone County chose two young ladies to fill the title.
Briana Zeinstra, Holland, and Shelby Lingen of Edgerton were chosen to help promote the dairy industry in Pipestone County and the surrounding area. They received their crowns during the Pipestone County Dairy Herd Improvement Association annual banquet and awards in April.
The role of a dairy princess is to help promote the dairy industry by making appearances in parades and at other events during the year. Many of these appearances take place during June Dairy Month and both have been busy handing out ice cream at various locals and will soon start the parade appearances.
Lingen is the daughter of Pat and Trudy Lingen of Edgerton and a 2009 graduate of Edgerton High School. She has been accepted at the University of Minnesota-Twin Cities in the animal science/pre-vet program and plans to pursue a career as a large animal veterinarian.
She lives on a 160-cow family dairy farm near Hatfield and is the middle child with two older brothers and two younger sisters.
“I have been helping on the farm since I was seven years old,” Lingen said. “I help with just about everything on the farm, mainly milking and calf chores.”
As to why she chose to run for dairy princess, she said it looked like a really fun thing to do and also that she enjoys talking and learning about the dairy industry.
Zeinstra is the daughter of Mike and Lisa Zeinstra of Holland and a 2009 graduate of Southwest Christian High School in Edgerton. She will be attending the University of Sioux Falls this fall majoring in education and social work.
She stayed busy during high school participating in volleyball, cheerleading, track, choir, plays and student council. Also, she and her three sisters have been active in 4-H and dairy judging.
Just like Lingen, Zeinstra helps out on the family farm.
“I help feed calves and with field work.”
Zeinstra said her reason for choosing to run for dairy princess was because she realized this would be a way for her to make consumers aware of the many aspects of a dairy farm.
Usually a dairy princess has some area or aspect of the dairy industry they like to promote during their reign and such is the case with both princesses.
“My number one goal would be to promote the many dairy products and their nutritional value,” Lingen said. “I also want to share just how hard and how much dedication it takes to be a dairy farmer.”
Zeinstra said her number one goal is to promote our farms and dairy products in our schools, stores and businesses and to help consumers understand the dairy industry.
