World Dairy Expo All About The Show

Chuck ZimmermanOctober 1, 2008World Dairy Expo

One of my favorite scenes wandering around World Dairy Expo is young people and their cows. I went on a photo walk earlier today which is where a lot of the photos in my online album came from. This girl even stopped to pose.

The barns have been very active today and I don’t think anyone is complaining about the cool temperatures. They’ve been hard at work scrubbing and trimming these animals to get them in perfect show condition.

World Dairy Expo 2008 Photo Album

Sponsors of World Dairy Diary coverage of this year’s World Dairy Expo include GEA Farm Technologies and BASF Plant Science.

Badger Dairy Club Grilled Cheese Sandwiches

Chuck ZimmermanOctober 1, 2008Education, University, Video, World Dairy Expo

The University of Wisconsin Madison Badger Club is a grilled cheese sandwich making machine at World Dairy Expo. I would like to try one again this year but the line is too long and never seems to go down.

With 139 members, Badger Dairy Club (BDC) creates opportunities for the membership to engage in activities and experiences within the college, community and the ever progressing dairy industry.

Purpose of the Badger Dairy Club

1. To provide opportunities for fellowship, friendship, service and to grow socially
2. To provide an opportunity to enhance the educational experience
3. To promote dairy cattle, products and the dairy industry
4. To learn of occupation opportunities
5. To make available the opportunity to make professional connections

World Dairy Expo 2008 Photo Album

Sponsors of World Dairy Diary coverage of this year’s World Dairy Expo include GEA Farm Technologies and BASF Plant Science.

World Dairy Expo Show Ring

Chuck ZimmermanOctober 1, 2008Video, World Dairy Expo

For all the activity that you’ll find at World Dairy Expo, the Coliseum is a very peaceful place. It’s a great place to find a spot to sit and watch the almost continuous shows that take place each day.

You can find show results on the World Dairy Expo website:

A visit to World Dairy Expo is an opportunity to see almost 2,500 head of cattle from across the U.S. compete for top honors in seven breed shows. Whether you’re in the registered business or a commercial producer looking to see a bull’s best daughters, ringside in the Coliseum is for you.

To get a flavor of it I shot a short video which also lets you hear the nice relaxing musics as well.

World Dairy Expo 2008 Photo Album

Sponsors of World Dairy Diary coverage of this year’s World Dairy Expo include GEA Farm Technologies and BASF Plant Science.

World Dairy Expo Show Live Webcast

Chuck ZimmermanOctober 1, 2008World Dairy Expo

For the first time this year you can see live streaming video and audio from World Dairy Expo with their webcam.

The live feed is of the shows in the Coliseum. So they’re going on most of the day. You can find the live feed with this link.

2008 marks the first year we are webcasting portions of the Dairy Cattle Show live on the internet in streaming video. Please email us your feedback.

World Dairy Expo 2008 Photo Album

Sponsors of World Dairy Diary coverage of this year’s World Dairy Expo include GEA Farm Technologies and BASF Plant Science.

World Dairy Expo Bigger Than Ever

Chuck ZimmermanOctober 1, 2008Audio, The Milking Parlor, World Dairy Expo

The first two people I got to know at World Dairy Expo were John Rozum and Lisa Behnke. In fact, World Dairy Diary grew out of an idea that John had several years ago now.

I spoke to them this morning and the main message is “larger,” meaning more people and more exhibitors. Some of the numbers they mention include 717 exhibitors this year and 216 media representatives. Wow. Opening day attendance was up according to Lisa.

You can listen to my interview with John and Lisa as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast: [audio:http://zimmcomm.biz/wdd/milking-parlor-31.mp3]

To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.

World Dairy Expo 2008 Photo Album

Sponsors of World Dairy Diary coverage of this year’s World Dairy Expo include GEA Farm Technologies and BASF Plant Science.

WestfaliaSurge Now Part of GEA Farm Technologies

Chuck ZimmermanOctober 1, 2008Agribusiness, Audio, Equipment, GEA Farm Technologies, The Milking Parlor

The first news I found here at Expo came from our sponsor, GEA Farm Technologies. I know we’ve been promoting WestfaliaSurge but the company is re-launching their brand and this post and interviews will help explain it. Basically, WestfaliaSurge is now a part of the new GEA Farm Technologies.

The CEO and President of GEA Farm Technologies is Vern Foster. He gave us a comprehensive presentation this morning (media and dealers) to explain the reasons behind the change and what that means for the company and its customers.

He says, “It’s to pull all of the organizations that are part of GEA Farm Technologies, Houle, Norbco, WestfaliaSurge, pull it under a common brand so it makes sense for the marketplace, makes sense for our investors, makes sense for our customers and our dealer distribution.” The GEA stands for Global Engineering Alliance, a 5.3 billion Euro company that operates in 50 countries. Vern says, “It helps us really re-focus under one umbrella as we continue to grow and create additional organizations and innovate into the field of agriculture.”

Since Houle, Norbco and WestfaliaSurge have separate sales forces he says they’ve been in discussion together to “offer a more total solutions package to a producer.”

He says you’ll start seeing the new GEA Farm Technologies brand at trade show and in their advertising. In fact, his business cards already show the new logo!

You can listen to Vern’s full presentation here: [audio:http://zimmcomm.biz/wdexpo/wdx-08-foster-presentation.mp3]

You can also download the full presentation using this link (mp3 file).

You can also listen to an interview I did with Vern afterward as part of our Milking Parlor Podcast: [audio:http://zimmcomm.biz/wdd/milking-parlor-30.mp3]

To subscribe to the Milking Parlor podcast, here are some instructions.

World Dairy Expo 2008 Photo Album

Sponsors of World Dairy Diary coverage of this year’s World Dairy Expo include GEA Farm Technologies and BASF Plant Science.

Welcome to 2008 World Dairy Expo

Chuck ZimmermanOctober 1, 2008World Dairy Expo

Hello and welcome to the 2008 World Dairy Expo. It’s a brisk fall morning in Madison and I’m sure that’s not bothering the cows!

I’ve already attended my first press conference with the new GEA Farm Technologies and will have more on that shortly.

In the meantime, feel free to check my photo album as it grows over the next several days.

World Dairy Expo 2008 Photo Album

Sponsors of our coverage this year include WestfaliaSurge and BASF Plant Science.

Evaluating Cost Effective Feed Options

Cindy ZimmermanOctober 1, 2008Audio, Feed, Forage Forum, Pioneer Hi-Bred, Podcast

Feed prices are high and look to remain on the high end. There are some factors for producers to keep in mind for their dairy operation. According to Leo Brown, livestock information manager for Pioneer Hi-Bred, producers should evaluate cost-effective feed ingredients, look for good buys, manage the basics of feeding on the farm and keep cows in top reproductive form.

[audio:http://www.podtrac.com/pts/redirect.mp3?http://zimmcomm.biz/pioneer/pioneer-podcast-42-wdd.mp3]

Leo Brown on Evaluating Cost Effective Feed Options (5:00 min MP3)

To see all archived Pioneer Forage Forum podcasts, click here.
Previous Forage Forum podcasts are also archived at the Pioneer GrowingPoint website. To access them, go to www.pioneer.com/growingpoint and click “Livestock Nutrition” and “Forage Blog.” Those not registered for Pioneer GrowingPoint website can call 800-233-7333 Monday-Friday 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. CT for assistance.

Agri-Mark to Assist Amish Dairy Producers

News EditorSeptember 30, 2008Dairy Business, Industry News, Milk

The Heritage Cheese House, started in 1994 under Amish ownership as a place for the local community to sell its milk, closed its doors this week, causing more than 65 Amish dairy farmers to loose their market for milk. Now Agri-Mark cooperative which also owns Cabot and McCadam Cheese, is helping to build temporary storage and cooling stations, called community milk houses for these dairymen. The facilities will allow Amish milk to meet Grade A standards and open their dairy to a larger market.

“We are trying to help get a market for the Amish and make sure the state requirements are met,” said Doug J. DiMento, spokesman for Agri-Mark. To meet Grade A requirements, milk must be cooled within two hours of being harvested. The Amish are prohibited from owning the machinery to accomplish this because of religious restrictions.

The Amish producers will put the milk in stainless steel bottles and carry the containers to the milk houses. The milk house will hold bulk tanks that can cool 100 to 300 gallons of milk. The number of bulk tanks in the milk house will depend on the supply of the community.

The milk houses are being constructed by both Amish and Agri-Mark efforts. The Amish are providing the labor while Agri-Mark deals with everything that does not comply with the Amish religion, such as electricity.

The Heritage Cheese House was the only dairy plant in the area to accept Amish milk, but with these new facilities the milk could be shipped across the state. The Amish will rent the bulk tanks, which will be purchased by Agri-Mark, and some of the milk will be purchased by the co-op.

China's Milk Scandal Expands

News EditorSeptember 30, 2008Industry News, International, Milk

China’s tainted-milk scandal has led to bans or recalls in 16 countries from companies including Cadbury, Kraft and Mars. No tainted products have been sold in the United States.

Cadbury said 11 types of chocolate bars made at its factory in Beijing and sold in China, Taiwan, Hong Kong and Australia were being recalled as a precautionary measure. Tests “cast doubt on the integrity of a range of our products manufactured in China,” Cadbury said in a statement.

In Indonesia, Kraft Foods and Mars also said they would suspend sales of Chinese-made Oreo cookies, M&Ms and Snickers bars in that country. The sweets were among a dozen allegedly tainted products that tested positive for high levels of melamine last week, according to Indonesia’s Food and Drug Monitoring Agency.

All three companies said none of their products were being recalled or suspended in the United States.
Both American food companies said they were mystified by the Indonesian test results, which reportedly found high levels of melamine — the toxin that has been at the center of a widening scandal that has left four infants dead, sickened more than 54,000 babies and ensnared 22 Chinese dairy companies.

Kraft said none of its Oreo products worldwide, including those sold in Indonesia, are made with milk ingredients from China. The Oreo wafer product that tested positive in Indonesia tested negative in Malaysia, Thailand and Korea, a company spokesman said.

Mars said its two Chinese suppliers of milk power were not among the 22 tainted Chinese companies. Mars’s milk powder tested negative for melamine at a lab in Germany, and its candy tested negative in Hong Kong, Korea, Malaysia, Taiwan and Thailand, a spokesman said.

Both U.S. companies have asked for clarification and additional testing from BPOM, the food safety agency in Indonesia.

Meanwhile, police in Hebei province arrested 22 people in an underground melamine-distribution network, the state-run New China News Agency said Monday. Hundreds of police conducted raids on pastures, breeding farms and milk-purchasing stations in the provincial capital of Shijiazhuang, seizing more than 480 pounds of melamine.

Shijiazhuang is home to Sanlu Dairy Co., the 50-year-old company that health officials say covered up the problem when complaints first started coming in from parents of sick children last December. Local doctors also issued warnings that went unheeded until a journalist posted Sanlu’s name online at a Chinese social portal Sept. 11.

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