World Dairy Expo | It’s a wrap for the 2023 World Dairy Expo. What does the future hold for this iconic show?

By now the cattle and people of World Dairy Expo are back home in their own beds and barns after nearly a week (or more) after preparing cattle for a trip to Madison or their goods and services for the Trade Show. That’s what World Dairy Expo is about: farmers looking for new technology; asking questions about older products and services; meeting old friends and making new ones.

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The same can be said about the commercial exhibitors who spend big dollars, lots of time and much energy to attend this event. “I can get an idea of the emotions of farmers, what their needs are and if can we fill them,” one vendor explained.

It’s also the beginning of a selling time as dairy producers gather information about a product, take that information back to the farm, discuss it with the family (and perhaps employees) then make a buying decision.

Visitors wait in line at an exhibitor booth to ask questions.

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A good Move

The move by World Dairy Expo officials to shorten the commercial exhibit to four days and wrapping up on Friday was a great one. Over the years I’ve listened to the complaints of commercial exhibitors of having employees working Saturday and not getting home until late Sunday or Monday, thus ruining a weekend for the employee (and perhaps extra payroll expenses for the company.)

Does anyone remember World Dairy Expo running through Sunday? I do and the complaints were even louder, especially because so few people attended. The Saturday ending came years ago and city folks didn’t attend even then. (When will we ever learn that city folks seldom attend farm-centered events?)

Members of the Marshall FFA Chapter man the GEA ice cream booth at World Dairy Expo.

I did stop for a dish of ice cream again provided by GEA and served by local FFA students and of course, it was great as always. I also remember the early days of the ice cream stand: BouMatic was the sponsor and the price was 25 cents. The price today was $3.00 a dish. Fortunately, there always seem to be free GEA tickets floating around. In any case, it is a great stop for the Expo Center walkers.

I am a bit concerned about the future of World Dairy Expo in Madison. It seems that some Dane County officials see the future as having a hotel, restaurants, apartments and other business construction on the site in order to draw more convention/business meetings. Bad idea! Parking is a problem every year for World Dairy Expo, Midwest Horse Fair and a host of other ag-related events. Cows and commercial businesses often don’t get along. Worst of all, converting the dairy atmosphere into a commercial business park during World Dairy Expo would change the entire event for the worse.

The Mexican milk equipment company, Madero, exhibited at the World Dairy Expo. They currently have one robotic milking system in Wisconsin.

I suspect the biggest of World Dairy Expo’s worries will center on the potential decline in visitor numbers as farm numbers shrink.

We hope for another 55 years of World Dairy Expo.

John Oncken is at jfodairy2@gmail.com

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