The Callicrate Smart Bander was the first sponsor of World Dairy Diary and that makes them the first sponsor of a farm show blog! In the picture is Rachel Dodd, Tom King and Mike Callicrate.
You can find them in the lower level of the Coliseum. Please let them know you appreciate their support of World Dairy Diary. We sure do!
You can listen to my interview with Mike by using the link in the right sidebar.
One of the features of World Dairy Expo is the virtual farm tours. These are scheduled periodically throughout the show. Participants go to one of the meeting rooms where they’re scheduled and they can then see and hear the tour. Some are done with video and other’s with computer slides.
I got to visit with Terri and Ron Abing, Majestic View Dairies, who presented one of the tours today, along with their partner, John Haskins. They are from Lancaster, Wisconsin.
You can listen to my interview with the Abings here: 
(2MB MP3 File)
I stopped in the media room earlier to see what’s going on. Not much, although there’s a lot more media folks here today.
The person who puts this whole operation together, including the daily newspaper we have on-site, is Lisa Behnke. You can listen to my interview with her prior to Expo by using the link in the right sidebar.
Lisa looked very relaxed today. Of course she always seems that way.
Everybody loves pictures of kids. As I told you earlier, there’s a lot of youth tours happening today.
These kids were shopping at the Purple Cow gift shop which has a lot of stuff that’ll catch a kid’s eye.
Sometimes a booth just catches my eye for one reason or another. I saw the Comfy Cow when I was thinking it was a good time for a nap. This (not real) cow has it’s very own custom designed mattress to doze off on!
How can I get one in my office?
Another food vendor that I’m going to have to go back and see is the Wisconsin Cattlemen’s Association. Besides their food booth they brought in the Beefmobile. I couldn’t find the Beefmobile wrangler but I’m sure she’s wandering around here somewhere.
I’m glad to see the beef people here. Beef, it’s what goes with cheese! As in cheeseburgers, etc.
It’s lunch time here on day number two. In the outside exhibit area just outside the Exhibition Hall, there’s a whole row of food vendors.
I am trying to get these pictures posted quickly so I can go do some sampling. I’m not sure what hot cheese is all about but I’ll report back when I find out.
Today and tomorrow are going to be very busy for the youth tour folks here at Expo. These volunteers are ready for them though.
They said that there are about 445 tours scheduled today and 1,300 tomorrow! That’s a lot of kids and a lot of tour organizing. According to the information I got these tours come from as far away as north central Illinois to central Wisconsin.
Some of the tours were already here and what do kids like to do? Eat. I hope this was just a snack break. Maybe they decided to snack then tour. I don’t know.
In the Coliseum just like you’d find at any modern-day sports facility you’ve got the “suites.” These are those little rooms up top that look out over the field or in this case, the ring.
A number of companies like Charleston Orwig reserve these suites to hold meetings with their clients like this one going on here this morning. I think they were just showing off for the photographer though. They can’t always have that much fun.
On opening day I interviewed the Holstein Association’s Member of the Day who happened to be Andy Buttles.
Andy talks about his farm, being member of the day and what holsteins mean to his bottom line.
You can listen to my interview with Andy here: (2MB MP3 File)
