Lowell Lindsay was honored at last week’s World Dairy Expo as International Person of the Year. Lowell worked in the AI business for 53 years and calls Canada home. He started out as an AI technician and then became a sire analyst when joining the Semex family. He traveled extensively purchasing dairy bulls for Semex Alliance and now has retired from the company.
Lowell attended his first World Dairy Expo 46 years ago with a friend and has been working with breeders during the event ever since. For 18 years, Ontario was awarded the state herd award with Lowell’s leadership. He is also a world-renown dairy cattle judge, placing classes in 13 different countries. He recalls the times he judged World Dairy Expo as a career high.
“I always encourage people to come to World Dairy Expo. It’s not only a cattle show. The commercial exhibits are tremendous. I remember when I first started coming they were only in the upper level of the coliseum. In later years, they expanded to this building, there is tent outside full and most recently the new buildings to house the cattle. Every place I go people want to know more about Expo.” Listen to my complete interview with Lowell here: Interview with Lowell Lindsay, International Person of the Year
Another honoree was Dr. Curt Van Tassell. He was awarded the World Dairy Expo Industry Person of the Year. Curt grew up on a dairy farm in upstate New York, where his brothers still farm. Planning to become a vet, he left the farm but soon found his passion for animal research. His development of genomic tools in dairy cattle are used very broadly through the industry.
“I developed the software to pick the markers to go on the DNA chip. That’s been my expertise. The initial effort was to integrate genomics into animal selection and increase genomic gain and we have done that in spades.” Curt currently works for the USDA Agricultural Research Service at the Bovine Functional Genomics Lab in Beltsville, MD. He said this award was the pinnacle of his career and his humbled to be recognized by the industry he has served for so many years. Listen to my complete interview with Lowell here: Interview with Dr. Curt Van Tassell, Industry Person of the Year
Find all photos from the event here: 2014 World Dairy Expo Photo Album.
