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WAUKON, Iowa - The family members at Regancrest Dairy constantly keep their farm visitor ready, which is a good thing since between 3,000 and 5,000 visitors are expected for a two day event this June.
The Regans, who usually host about 1,000 visitors a year ranging from other Iowa farmers to international visitors, are hosting the 27th Annual Hay Expo June 19 and 20.
The purpose of the event is for hay producers to see the latest in products and services in the forage industry. Hay Expo Marketing Specialist, Dena Morgan said, "Our show is unique because of the working demonstrations. It gives farmers a chance to see several different brands working in the field at the same time under the same conditions. If they are considering making a purchase it's a great time to compare what's on the market."
A 10-acre exhibit site will display balers, choppers, mower-conditioners, tedders, baggers, rakes, telehandlers, bale stackers, bale wrappers and more. In addition to the outdoor lots, the Haying Industries Tent will feature other products and services. Product specialists will be on hand to discuss forage seed, hay marketing, crop protection and production, conservation and crop insurance. Exhibitors plan to showcase a host of new products aimed at boosting the efficiency and profitability of hay and forage production.
The 27th annual Hay Expo returns to northeast Iowa after several shows were held in Minnesota and central Iowa. The Hay Expo has a history of choosing a new location almost every year. Morgan said they try to pick a location for the show at least a year in advance. She said, "We want this to be very little work for our host farmer. Planting a field may be needed to have enough acres in one area for demonstrations or adding a driveway for an entrance but we don't want this to be an inconvenience for the host."
Bill Regan said their preparations at the farm for Hay Expo will really be minimal; they will have about 100 acres ready for the event, tent and parking. They altered their crop rotation a little to make sure the area size is sufficient. Usually they cut hay about every 28 days, so they will try to have their first cutting timed so that the second cutting will be during the Hay Expo.
Bill and Angella Regan started Regancrest Farm with Registered Holsteins in 1951. During the 1980s, Bill and Angella's sons Frank, Bill, Charlie and Ron worked into a partnership. They were milking about 150 cows and had a double eight parlor.
In February of 1999, work was completed on a new dairy facility, which could handle up to 600 cows. The freestall barns were complemented with a double 16 parlor.
In Fall 2012, members of the next generation, Sean, Sheri, Brian and Mitch, joined the partnership. They are currently looking at increasing their herd size to about 750, which would put their facilities at capacity, and they have recently started 3x milking.
In all, 12 of the 16 full-time employees on the farm are members of the Regan family. There are also various part-time milkers.
Frank manages the genetics, daily animal health and helps with vet work. Sheri also work with genetics and manages the office.
Bill is the business manager, and handles crops and machinery along with Brian, Sean and Mitch.
Ron handles the feeding and buying of commodities for the more than 1,000 head on the farm, along with Charlie, brother-in-law Darrell Henning and  Ron's son, Drew.
Bill's wife Karen is parlor manager and is in charge of milkings.
Frank's wife, Mary, is in charge of taking care of the calves.
A great many people know the Regancrest Prefix through their bulls - the most famous of which is Regancrest Elton Durham-ET.
The Regans purchased Snow-N Denises Dellia in 1991 from Bob Snow of Sparta, Wis. They knew the then four-year-old was a good cow, but didn't know how important she would become to the Holstein breed.
Dellia produced one of the world's greatest Holstein sires - Regancrest Elton Durham-ET. As of January 2013, Durham became the leading sire of Excellent Cows in the U.S. Durham also was Premier Sire of World Dairy Expo for five consecutive years- 2003-2007
It's hard to say exactly how many offspring Dellia has, since her embryos went worldwide.  She has many proven sons and grandsons. In addition to Durham, others include Regancrest RBK Die-Hard, Dundee, Dawston and Devon. The total number of descendants is uncountable; Durham has daughters around the world, including Japan (Durham was the number one sire for imported semen there), Germany, Spain, and South Africa. Durham has 4,400 Excellent daughters in the United States.
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