Last week at World Dairy Expo a producer-led coalition called the National Dairy Animal Well-Being Initiative was announced. The coalition represents every facet of the dairy industry and wants to protect consumer trust and confidence in the dairy industry’s commitment to animal well-being.
The coalition introduced the first draft of proposed principles and guidelines intended to provide a uniform umbrella of assurance that the industry is meeting its ethical obligation for dairy animal well-being.
The goal of the National Dairy Animal Well-Being Initiative is to provide assurance to stakeholders that the dairy industry is meeting its obligation to provide appropriate care for its animals.
Throughout the next nine months, dairy producers will have an opportunity to review the draft principles and guidelines and provide input through their co-op or industry association. The coalition will incorporate industry feedback into the final principles and guidelines. The entire process will take approximately 12 months.
The work of the National Dairy Animal Well-Being Initiative has already been endorsed by co-ops representing more than 25,236 farms and more than 104.1 billion pounds of milk marketed annually. This represents approximately 57 percent of the milk marketed in the United States annually, based on current statistics from USDA.
I’m slowly lowering my cheese intake this week after the massive amounts served to us at World Dairy Expo last week. The picture is of one of the outside vendors. I took it when I was leaving late one night.
The 2007 World Dairy Expo is over and it ended with a great Parade of Champions. You can see pictures of all the action in my photo album. There’s 242 of them in there!
I couldn’t pass up this picture.
When I saw a booth that posed the question, “How is a cow like an ethanol production plant?” I had to stop for a visit.
The 
Here’s how the National Dairy Shrine benefits the industry: “National Dairy Shrine annually provides more than $35,000 in awards and scholarships for college students, dairy producers and industry leaders. Funds for these scholarships come from membership fees, interest on a $1 million endowment fund, and voluntary contributions. National Dairy Shrine also provides financial support for World Dairy Expo and National 4-H Dairy Conference.”
When you go to Hawaii you get a nice lei of flowers when you get off the plane. When you go to Wisconsin it’s bratwurst and cheese. It’s the 
Kay Zwald is a Wisconsin dairy producer doing some promotional work here at Expo. She’s been on the 
It’s a beautiful day here at World Dairy Expo. The sun’s shining and the crowd is growing.
The grown up dairy producers aren’t the only ones who are happy here.
Dairy producers are looking at precision agriculture equipment to help them become more efficient according to