World Dairy Expo recap

World Dairy Expo isn’t over yet, or at least not as I sit down to write this, but it is for my daughter Hannah and me. We just got back from a fun-filled 5-day trip to Madison, Wisconsin, last night around midnight. We saw some beautiful cows and enjoyed spending time with friends in the barns, at the coliseum and around the trade show. What more could a 14-year-old girl want for a birthday trip? A trip to Expo may not be a common wish of teenage girls, but I’m happy it was hers.

Friday morning, Hannah skipped school, and we packed a couple of bags of clothes and some snacks and headed to Wisconsin. Surprisingly, a trip to a livestock exhibition was considered an excused absence by the school, and she had talked with her teachers to get any assignments that needed to be done while she was gone either postponed until she was back or done early.

The drive there was uneventful, which is exactly how I prefer them. While breaking down or getting lost makes for good stories later, they aren’t much fun at that moment. It would be pretty hard to get lost on the way to Madison, anyway; I think it takes a total of four roads to get there. It is often harder to find the elevator in a hotel than to find our way to Expo. We didn’t have trouble finding the elevator this time, but finding our show string was a bit difficult.

If you haven’t been to Expo, there are two large barns and a couple of tents for the cattle, with anywhere from a single farm to four or five farms in an aisle of each barn. Each farm may have just their animals or be a combination of animals owned by many people mixed in with their cattle. It took a bit of walking around to find the Pit Crew Genetics show string that we were going to be helping for a few days and where Hannah’s adopted calf was stalled with. After finding the correct aisle and introducing ourselves to the families who had their animals stalled with Pit Crew, we settled into the usual tasks of caring for animals at a show, catching manure right away to keep them clean and feeding them so they’ll make more manure. It is pretty much the same thing we do at home. That evening, Hannah got to work with the calf she was going to show the next day, and then we headed to the hotel for the night, as it had been a long day.

The next day, we found the animal Hannah had planned to show wasn’t going to be ready to show, so she had to borrow a different calf from the string. Ashley and David Hanson were kind enough to let Hannah show their Ayrshire spring calf named Whitney. Little Whitney and Hannah did great together in showmanship but missed advancing to the final round by one place. I felt that Hannah did great for having only led the calf once that morning before taking it in the ring with some very accomplished young showmen and women.

The next day at the Ayrshire heifer show, Whitney ended up being deemed the best Ayrshire in the show string, winning third place out of over 40 heifers in that class. Hannah was very proud of her and probably would have tried to purchase the calf had she fit in our Ford Explorer for the trip home.

Our son, Jonnie, is still at Expo on the 4-H dairy conference trip. It is a great opportunity for upper high school age kids in the 4-H dairy project to take a trip with other dairy-interested kids from around the state to Expo. They go on tours of places like ABS Gobal, Hoards Dairyman and Crave Brothers Dairy. On the last day of the trip, they get to wander Expo. Jonnie plans to get as many cool hats as vendors will give him.

Until next time, keep living the dream and supporting young folks who are interested in the dairy industry. So many people have stayed in the dairy industry or joined it because of experiences they had as youth showing animals. Cultivating a love for dairy cattle in youth is a great way to ensure our country continues to have a vibrant dairy industry.

Tim Zweber farms with his wife, Emily, their three children and his parents, Jon and Lisa, near Elko, Minnesota.