What better way to get in the mood for World Dairy Expo than a trip to Switzerland? That’s just what I did, attending the International Federation of Agricultural Journalist’s Congress 2005 in Thun. While there we got to eat a lot of cheese. Here’s a picture of how they set up their displays for the little trade show during lunch.
Each year World Dairy Expo honors four top leaders whose work is an example of the best in the industry. “These leaders aren’t in it for recognition, they are top in the field because they desire to be the best,” said WDE General Manager Tom McKittrick. “They are well known and respected in the industry. It is only fitting that the world’s most respected dairy show honor the individuals that keep our business growing.”
Honored this year are:
Marvin L. Nunes, Windsor, California, Dairyman of the Year
Donna L. Sharp, Bath, South Dakota, Dairy Woman of the Year
Maurice Mix, Brattleboro, Vermont, Industry Person of the Year
Shinichiro Nosawa, Tokyo, Japan, International Person of the Year
The winners will be celebrated at a gala awards banquet during the 2005 World Dairy Expo, October 4 – 8 at the Alliant Energy Center, Madison, Wisconsin.
You can read a full biography on each honoree by visiting here.
Have you ever met one of the official judges of the World Dairy Expo? Well at least you can find out who they are online. The following slate of judges has been selected by the dairy cattle exhibitors and/or their respective breed associations and has been approved by Expo’s Board of Directors. These gentlemen will crown the champions at World Dairy Expo 2005.
Ayrshire, Lynn Lee, Smyrna, Tennesee
Brown Swiss, Steve White, New Castle, Indiana
Associate Judge – Dean Dohle, Halfway, Missouri
Guernsey, David Trotter, Enon Valley, Pennsylvania
Holstein, Perry Phend, Osseo, Wisconsin
Associate Judge – Gary Culbertson, Richfield Springs, New York
Junior Holstein, Roger Turner, Guelph, Ontario
Jersey, Norm Nabholz, West Union, Iowa
Associate Judge – Jeff Sayles, Paris, Ontario
Milking Shorthorn, Doug Savage, Merrickville, Ontario
Red & White, Brian Behnke, Brooklyn, Wisconsin
We officially kicked off the public information campaign to create awareness of World Dairy Diary with a news release that was distributed internationally. If you’d like to have a copy of the release please feel free to download the Word document here: World Dairy Diary Release
You have our permission to use the release to help us get the word out about the official weblog of the World Dairy Expo!
Thank you.
The current Alice in Dairyland is Gena Cooper. Alice started back in 1948 and is a program of the Wisconsin Dept. of Agriculture. The first Alice was Margaret McGuire.
This year Gena/Alice is a travelling ambassador for Wisconsin agriculture. I got to interview her recently at a trade show.
You can listen to my interview with Gena or Alice or whatever her name is here 
(1.2MB MP3)
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Maybe you’ve heard it but just in case, the Cow Parade is coming to Wisconsin and World Dairy Expo! This is being made possible by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, which has announced the first Wisconsin Cows – “Say Cheese, Wisconsin” by Bruce Bodden and “Where the Cows Are” by Steven Kozar. They will have photos soon.
I saw this story on Wisconsin Radio Network. You can use this link to hear their report.
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If you’re not a friend of Google or Yahoo you really are missing out on a wealth of information. Have you ever just typed your name or company’s name into Google to see what comes up? You might be surprised! I just did that for World Dairy Expo. Here’s a sample of websites from just the first few results:
Illini DairyNet
MooMilk
Wisconsin Ag Connection
Dairy Checkoff
Dairy Strategies
Engormix
By the way, as of this morning that search netted 146,000 results!
A special crystal award will be presented to each of the seven Junior Show Grand Champion exhibitors at World Dairy Expo 2005. These unique awards will be presented annually in memory of Keith King.
King, an accomplished Milking Shorthorn breeder from Oneida, Illinois, was a lifetime supporter of World Dairy Expo and an industry leader. A former American Milking Shorthorn Society President, Dairy Shrine Guest of Honor, World Dairy Expo Dairyman of the Year and Klussendorf Award winner, he judged every major Milking Shorthorn show in the U.S. and Canada and was the first American to judge Illawara Shorthorns in Australia.
Visit here for more on the award.
Do you miss going to classes? Want to learn something that you can use in your operation? Good. Because at World Dairy Expo there’s a series of seminars on transition cows, calf and heifer management, organic dairy production, nutrient and reproductive management, genetic adaptability, holistic herd health and employee management.
There will be two seminars each day, Tuesday through Saturday. Seminars are structured with a half-hour presentation and time for discussion. Cargill Animal Nutrition, Merial, West Central Soy, Monsanto Dairy Business and Organic Valley are sponsors of this year’s seminars.
The full schedule is available here.
If you love the “Art of Dairy” then pay attention! Especially you admirers of fine art! The Holstein Foundation is pleased to announce its first annual Art Sale Catalog is now online. Visit www.holsteinfoundation.org to vote for your favorite piece, and to decide which art pieces you’ll bid on this fall! High-quality paintings, ceramics, and sculptures, all relating to dairy cattle have been donated to the Holstein Foundation Art Sale to benefit Foundation programs.
From September 1 – October 1, 2005, all visitors to the Holstein Foundation website will have the opportunity to vote for their favorite art submissions. Online voting will determine the top three People’s Choice winners in two divisions.
Don’t miss your chance to own one of these special art pieces! From October 1 – December 1, 2005 an online auction will take place on the Holstein Foundation’s website.
Donated art is still being accepted by the Holstein Foundation in two divisions: Originals – submitted by the original artist and Finders – submitted by the admirer of artwork. The fair market value (final sale price) of your donated item is a fully tax-deductible donation to the Holstein Foundation. For any questions relating to the Art Sale or donations, please contact Jodi Luttropp at 800-952-5200, ext. 4261 or jluttropp@holstein.com.
The CME keeps adding products and now they have one of interest to the dairy and food industry.
The Chicago Mercantile Exchange has announced that it will launch futures for a new dairy contract, CME Cash-Settled Butter™. The new contracts are scheduled to begin trading on Monday, September 19, 2005, and will be the exchange’s first dairy futures contract to trade exclusively on the CME® Globex® electronic trading platform.
CME Cash-Settled Butter futures are designed to meet the needs of the food industry, which have exposure to butterfat risk, but do not want to risk physical delivery. The contract will also differ in that the trade unit will be 20,000 pounds of Grade AA butter versus 40,000 pounds for the existing CME Butter futures contract. The contract will be cash settled based upon the USDA monthly weighted average price in the U.S. for butter.
For more information visit www.cme.com/butter.
If you’re a dairy producer who was affected by last year’s hurricanes, the sign-up is underway and will continue until September 9 for the 2004 Dairy Disaster Assistance Payment (DDAP) Program, which provides up to $10 million to assist dairy producers who experienced losses due to the 2004 hurricanes.
U. S. Secretary of Agriculture Mike Johanns says that “last year, Hurricanes Charley, Frances, Ivan and Jeanne severely impacted dairy producers in the southeastern United States. This program will provide much-needed financial relief to producers who suffered dairy production and milk spoilage losses.”
The 2004 Dairy Disaster Assistance Payment Program is authorized by the Military Construction Appropriations and Emergency Hurricane Supplemental Appropriations Act of 2005.
Many dairy producers incurred devastating decreases in production due to cattle losses, stress on producing cows, and milk that had to be dumped due to lack of electricity, closed milk plants and damaged containment equipment. DDAP will help address dairy producers’ 2004 calendar-year losses by providing payments to offset part of the commercially marketed milk losses incurred to in the United States.
To be eligible, the loss must have occurred in a county declared a disaster by the President in 2004 due to hurricanes. Dairy producers in counties contiguous to an approved county are not eligible. Eligible dairy producers must apply for program assistance by Sept. 9, 2005, at local USDA Farm Service Agency (FSA) offices.
There are hundreds of commercial exhibitors at World Dairy Expo, not counting numerous sponsors and supporting organizations. The man who coordinates it all is sales manager John Rozum. In fact, it was John who called on ZimmComm, Marketing & Communications, to work in cooperation with Expo on this weblog!
Now you can “meet” John (l) and listen to my interview with him recently at the World Dairy Expo headquarters.
You can listen to the interview here 5.5MB
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New members were appointed to the National Dairy Board today by U. S. Secretary of Ag, Mike Johanns, along with some reappointments.
Newly appointed were: Ronald L. Koetsier, Visalia, Calif., (region 2); William R. D. Anglin, Bentonville, Ark., (region 4); Donna L. Sharp, Bath, S.D., (region 5); Carl F. VanDen Avond, Green Bay, Wis., (region 6); Bradford A. McCauley, Viola, Wis., (region 6); Douglas D. Nuttelman, Stromsburg, Neb., (region 7); Carl A. Schmitz, Wadesville, Ind., (region 9); Joyce A. Bupp, Seven Valleys, Penn., (region 11); and Ronald R. McCormick, Java Center, N.Y., (region 12). Debora A. Erb, Landaff, N. H., (region 13)
Reappointed to serve second terms were: Lester E. Hardesty, Windsor, Colo., (region 3) and Michael M. Ferguson, Senatobia, Miss., (region 8).
The 2005 World’s Forage Analysis Superbowl continues to expand. This year, the 22nd World’s Forage Analysis Superbowl offers growers from across the United States and Canada one more contest category for their high quality forages. New this year is the split of the Dairy Division Corn Silage into two categories: Standard Dairy Corn Silage and Dairy Corn Silage (BMR).
“This new category is a logical addition. The new category showcases a wider range of options for producers to observe results to select a variety that works in their operation. With definite differences in the two types of corn silage, what fits for one dairy may not work in another,” said Steve Peterson, World Forage Analysis Superbowl Committee Chairperson.
Additional contest categories include Hay and Baleage within the Commercial Division and Hay and Haylage within the Dairy Division.
Visit here for more information, including entry form.
The Wisconsin Livestock Identification Consortium has awarded a grant to the World Dairy Expo and AgSource/CRI to advance animal identification efforts in Wisconsin. According to WLIC, ” An animal movement reporting pilot project, by AgSource/CRI and World Dairy Expo, will develop a system that will facilitate the recording and reporting of animals, from WI and other states, to World Dairy Expo and the Dane County Fair.”
All projects will provide premises and animal ID data to the WLIC system. WLIC feels strongly that initiating animal ID pilot projects will help address specific questions producers and industry have in implementing a national animal ID program. Regional and species differences require different approaches. By adhering to national standards compatibility will be maintained.
In case you’ve never met Tom McKittrick, the man who manages the World Dairy Expo, now you can hear him! Chuck interviewed Tom recently at the World Dairy Expo headquarters. Tom talks about what the mission and purpose of Expo and it’s structure.
You can hear my interview with Tom here
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I don’t know how many trips like the one being organized by Cornell University Cooperative Extension of St. Lawrence County there are but they sure sound like fun. If you are in the St. Lawrence County area you can find details on their trip here: World Dairy Expo Bus Trip (pdf file)
Anyone else organizing a trip to World Dairy Expo? If so, email us here and we’ll try to get the information posted. Email World Dairy Diary
Here’s the kind of story about the dairy industry you want to see more of. In the Herald-Mail Online, they recently ran a story about Hannah Smith, Sharpsburg, MD, who hopes to win big at World Dairy Expo someday. You can see the full story here: Heral-Mail Story
Hannah is one of the most motivated high school students I’ve read about recently. I sure wish we could see more stories like this in the media! Good luck Hannah and we hope your dream comes true.
We’d like to welcome our newest supporter to the offical weblog of the World Dairy Expo. The Holstein Association is one of growing list of companies and organizations who are helping make this online diary of information about the Expo possible.
The Holstein Association just completed it’s annual meeting in Portland, Maine. You can learn all about it on their website.
Special thanks to Lisa Perrin for her support and we look forward to working with the Holstein Association in supporting the event!