Following two days of herdsman training in English, the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW) offered a similar training. This time, however, it was taught exclusively in Spanish by Oscar Duarte, DVM and Humberto Rivera, DVM. Around 40 dairy employees gathered on Sept. 16 at the University of Wisconsin Arlington Research Farm to better their herdsman skills.

More than 90 dairy producers and farm employees gathered to focus on animal care, animal handling, cow protocols and reproduction at the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW) Herdsman Training: Focusing on Cow-Side Care. The one-day training course was held in Wisconsin Rapids, Wisconsin, on Sept. 14 and in Madison, Wisconsin, on Sept. 15.

Upon arriving at World Dairy Expo in 2009, I tweeted about my interest in having a competition to see who could eat the most grilled cheese sandwiches during the week. Others chirped back that they were in. The competition got a lot of buzz throughout the week-long event, even from the Expo's daily newsletter. I'm sure small groups of teenagers and Expo-goers have had their own competitions to see who can eat the most grilled cheese sandwiches before getting sick, but smart phones and social media have enabled widespread participation in the #grilledcheese challenge at World Dairy Expo. I even tweeted a photo of myself (at right) about to partake in the third grilled cheese sandwich out of my six total for the week.

The 71st Minnesota Nutrition Conference will be held next week in Owatonna, Minnesota. Below is a sneak peek at two of the dairy nutrition sessions that will be held. "Impact of crossbreeding on profitability of dairying" Presenter: Brad Heins Q. Why is this topic important? Reproductive performance and survival rates have been overlooked by many when comparing purebreds and crossbreds.Cows that die on farm or need to be culled for various reasons affect the profitability of the dairy farm. This information can be significant to dairy producers to help maintain cow numbers in the herd.

Progressive Publishing is excited to announce it is taking its flagship publication, Progressive Dairyman, to the Great White North beginning in 2011. We felt there was no better place to make this announcement than at World Dairy Expo, where a significant Canadian contingency meets the U.S. dairy industry as the foundation of the international show. While it is hard to place a figure on the number of World Dairy Expo attendees from Canada, it is estimated they are the second-largest country represented at the show, behind the U.S.

Each year World Dairy Expo invites companies to display their best and newest products in its trade show. Many of the 750 companies exhibit year after year, while some new ones join the pack each year. This fall Paumco Products will present its wares for the first time to the show’s 65,000 anticipated attendees in the outdoor trade mall. Its products can also be seen at work by the Expo grounds crew throughout the week. The company builds skid loader attachments designed to reduce skid loader working hours by increasing productivity of the machine. The Maple Lake, Minnesota-based company was started by the Pauman family nine years ago to build specialty equipment.