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Dairy Expo exhibits show a dazzling array of products
A walk through the commercial exhibit aisles at the World Dairy Expo is an experience in distraction, wonder and enlightenment.
The 700 organizations and companies with their 1,600 exhibit spaces neatly arranged in lines circling the insides of the Exhibition Hall, Arena and two floors of the Coliseum -- and not so neatly arranged in the parking lot and in front of the dairy barns -- are mind-boggling in scale and diversity.
"Where do we begin?" was the question asked by a dairy farm couple from Iowa.
Anywhere you want, was the answer. You'll not have enough time to see everything anyway.
And that's as it should be. People don't go to trade shows to see the same old things they already know about and understand. It's all about new, better, easier, faster and maybe more profitable.
The most noticeable and maybe the most discussed change in the displays filling the 100,000-square-foot Exhibition Hall fits none of the previously listed categories except for "new": half a dozen GEA signs hanging over what has long been the WestfaliaSurge dairy equipment display.
The farming community is often considered a bit slow to accept change, and the worldwide adoption of the GEA moniker to the WestfaliaSurge brand is causing much discussion. The fact is, GEA, headquartered in Bochum, Germany, owns the Naperville, Ill., milking equipment operation (old-timers knew it as Surge) along with some 250 companies in 50 countries in an effort to meet the demands of world competition.
Another change, although not emphasized by any signs or promotion -- at least through the first day of Dairy Expo -- is the Monsanto exhibit. Beginning Wednesday, it was the Elanco booth -- that's the day when the sale of the often controversial but effective milk producing product known as Posilac becomes official.
What does it mean to the half dozen longtime Monsanto sales representatives in the exhibit? New T-shirts, one says. A new logo, another added. It's too early to tell, a third remarked.
A first-time exhibit at the main entrance to the Coliseum was drawing lots of attention. AFACT, (American Farmers For The Advancement Of Technology) is a new organization devoted to educating retailers, processors and consumers (whenever possible) on how agricultural practices make food production safe, nutritious, affordable and more sustainable for the planet.
Simply put, many farmers and agribusinesses are tired of hearing criticism of modern farming practices by organized groups seemingly aiming at taking food production back to horse and buggy days and eliminating much of modern food production technology.
The AFACT booth at Dairy Expo is a sort of coming out event as the group has been in the process of organizing and establishing itself and is now taking memberships and getting up to speed. Liz Doornink, a Baldwin dairy producer, and Carroll Campbell, a dairyman from Kansas, are the co-leaders.
The slim cowboy with a 10-gallon hat and boots looked a bit out of place at World Dairy Expo, but it turns out he works for a Sugarland, Texas, company exhibiting at the dairy event for the first time.
The company, Envirocleanse, makes and sells a water treatment system based on what it calls electro-activated water that is produced on-site and is 100 percent effective on bacteria, viruses and fungi, reducing the amount of medication and the use of chemicals.
The process has no side effects, said Phil Bellan, M.D., one of the owners. "It's water disinfection and more," he says. "And it's a nontoxic green product that eliminates bio film from milk lines and is an excellent teat dip and foot bath."
The technology is a bit complicated, but the company is (logically) introducing the equipment and system to dairy producers at World Dairy Expo.
Geneseek, a biotechnology company headquartered at Lincoln, Neb., is at World Dairy Expo seeking biotech company clients. The company has been around for 10 years and is part of the complicated technology available to dairy agriculture.
If you thought milking cows was all about getting up early and putting on the milkers and sending the milk off to a cheese factory, think again. Often the technology used in dairy cows is far ahead of that used in humans; artificial insemination, frozen semen and embryo transfer are examples.
Something that is fairly simple and easily understood is the DeLaval calf feeder. Lonnie Holthaus, Fennimore, is the national calf nutrition and calf feeding specialist for the company. This system that can feed dozens of calves in a lot with one nipple and a temperature-controlled, ration-regulated, computer-controlled system has been used in Europe for 15 years and was introduced in the U.S. three years ago. It is a long way from the farm wife filling individual calf buckets!
The commercial exhibit areas at World Dairy Expo are a sea of competing signs, colorful booths, free pens and cheese samples competing for the attention of dairy folks who might ultimately be a customer.
Most actual dairy people probably don't come to the big show to buy a particular item or service. Rather they come to see the new, compare the similar, talk to the company they already buy from, meet friends and talk about politics, government, the Brewers, Packers and Badgers. Or maybe brag about the Sooners, Dodgers or Jayhawks.
Ask any dairy producer wandering the exhibits at Dairy Expo if they are looking for a specific item. The answer will probably be "No, I'm just looking, and getting ideas."
They will also probably admit that they are not easily influenced by what a sales representative tells them about a new feed additive, milking accessory or feed cart, but they do leave their name so that they can be contacted later.
World Dairy Expo is considered a fun experience, vacation, reunion, getaway, and plain good time by most attendees. And it is. But don't for a minute think these exhibitors, big and small, from near and far, new in the market or long-standing sellers, come to Madison to look at the lakes or enjoy State Street.
They are here to do business, and if they aren't successful at that, they won't be around very long!
John Oncken is owner of Oncken Communications, a Madison-based agricultural information and consulting company. He can be reached at 608-222-0624 or e-mail jfodairy@chorus.net.
John Oncken
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The Loos Tales Foodlink Chuckwagon was at World Dairy Expo, providing a contrast with the Dairy Expo sign on Exhibition Hall. Trent Loos of Loup City, Neb., a nationally known agriculture proponent, had a campfire going cooking coffee and talked farming with visitors.
