Renaissance Nutrition, Inc. held its annual company educational conference in late July, with a lineup of 10 nationally recognized speakers from the dairy industry. A total of nearly 150 people from both the U.S. and Canada, including company nutritionists, university dairy extension faculty, veterinarians and allied industry personnel, attended the three-day meeting to learn about the newest information and research on cow management, cow comfort, nutrition and economics. The following summary shares some of the take-home messages provided by the 17 presentations offered at the conference.

“Cows” is the common language spoken every year at World Dairy Expo, says the show’s marketing manager, Liz Matzke. Whether in the show ring, on the commercial exhibit floor or online at the expo’s website or Facebook page, “cow” is the talk. The more than 10,300 World Dairy Expo Facebook fans, nearly 300 Pinterest enthusiasts and 1,700 followers on Twitter can attest to the language of Expo because they all speak it, now even more so with the annual show approaching in a few short weeks.

Check out a sampling of some of the unique booth promotions and educational offerings at this year’s show. Free copies of business book ‘Great by Choice’ Stewart-Peterson Inc. (EH 1605, 1606) is offering copies of Jim Collins’ recent best-seller, “Great by Choice,” to dairy producers who want to broaden their thinking about doing business in uncertain times. The book tells the stories of companies who succeeded – or failed – in chaotic, uncertain environments. At the booth, the financial company will provide a summary of the book and draw parallels to how dairy producers can make good milk and feed pricing decisions despite uncertainty.

A new clay target championship event will be held prior to World Dairy Expo with the goal of raising funds to help support the numerous youth programs. Designed to offer a recreational opportunity for the thousands of visiting attendees, industry employees, cattle exhibitors and general public, this new event will take place on Monday, Oct. 1, starting at 9 a.m. at the Waunakee Gun Club.

On Sept. 11-13, the 19th edition of Canada’s Outdoor Farm Show (COFS) will be held at Canada’s Outdoor Park in Woodstock, Ontario. The COFS team and its exhibitors have worked tirelessly planning demonstrations and events for the 40,000+ attendees – including two major field demonstrations. "Our field demonstrations provide a unique opportunity for our exhibitors to showcase their products in a field of competitors," says Paul Roper, COFS exhibitor sales and demonstrations coordinator. "This year, we are excited to run two major field demonstrations for moldboard ploughs and solid manure spreaders."