The 2012 World Dairy Expo has come and gone, and we thought we'd take some time to share the week with you through numbers, photos and editors' experiences: 71,788: The number of total people who attended the show 600+: The number of visitors who pinned our Proud to Dairy map. The map, pictured at right, featured the U.S., a larger version of Wisconsin and a global view.

The 49th All-American Dairy Show was held September 15-20. The event features 23 shows in six days with more than 900 exhibitors from across the U.S. and Canada. The show also has a strong focus on youth with the Premier National Junior Events, the nation’s only four-day event for youth at a dairy show. Activities include a showmanship competition, a dairy management contest and dairy judging forum, a dairy judging contest and a junior national show. Organizers of the event are already gearing up to celebrate the show’s 50-year history next year at the Golden Anniversary Jubilee, to be held September 7-12, 2013. PD

While there is a lot that can be (and has been) said about a show about manure, to those who have a stake in the business this event is a sure delight. Held on Aug. 22, 2012, the North American Manure Expo was a place where manure haulers, researchers, consultants, engineers, dairy producers and more, could see all things related to manure handling in one location without sifting through livestock or crop exhibits.

A significant part of most dairies’ total mixed ration, corn silage is a crop that can lose its nutritional potential if not harvested and stored carefully. University of California dairy advisers and specialists, along with veterinarians and nutritionists, presented dairy producers and managers with tools to improve their silage handling at Silage Day in Modesto.

For the first time in more than a decade, COBA/Select Sires offered facility tours and a parade of bulls at an open house for customer-owners on August 10 at the Select Sires Inc. headquarters. While the A.I. company has hosted several smaller groups over the years, it has not held an event of this size, with more than 700 attendees, since the 1990s.