World Dairy Expo
Last week tens of thousands of people streamed into the Alliant Center grounds in Madison for the World Dairy Expo. Interspersed among the farmers from throughout the Midwest were delegates from several foreign countries, eager to get a glimpse of the latest and greatest advances in farm technology.
Also on the grounds were several breeds of the finest dairy animals from herds throughout the country all competing for the Supreme Championship – the holy grail of all bovine honors.
While this year’s winner, a Jersey cow owned by Arethusa Farm of Litchfield, Conn., held court in the show ring, the spotlight was on another cow inside the Exhibition Hall that drew even bigger crowds.
While perusing material at the Land O’ Lakes booth, my head jerked up as the pumping beats of C&C Music Factory’s “Gonna Make You Sweat, Everybody Dance Now” began echoing through the cavernous hall.
Just one aisle over at the De Laval display. a dancing 8-foot tall bovine was shaking her groove thing to the delight of onlookers. Powered by high-tech robotics, the cow danced, made faces at the crowd and was the subject of many pictures taken by Japanese visitors.
The amusing antics of this cow attracted such a large crowd that it was hard to get an up-close look. I haven’t attended a World Dairy Expo in some time, but the vendors have upped the ante in attracting potential customers to their booths. With hundreds of vendors vying for your business, some like De Laval (a worldwide manufacturer and supplier of milking systems and computerized dairy management systems) pulled out all the stops.
In fact, I saw one semen dealer with poker tables set up at its display with dealers (dressed in pit boss garb) doling out semen straws to tally the winnings of curious players.
And I remember feeling like I scored big time when I walked away with a free yardstick or pen!