Good look finding a room in the Madison area this week. The ultimate dairy cattle show, World Dairy Expo, will bring more than 2500 dairy cows to Madison’s Alliant Energy Center. “The people who show at this show are looking to sell breeding stock,” said Bob Meyer, Wisconsin Farm Director for Brownfield Ag News. “They’re looking to sell their animal genetics around the world, and that’s what a lot of people from around the world come for. They want to see the cows, they want to see the show.” Meyer said financially speaking, having the top cow at World Dairy Expo is akin to being a number one NFL draft pick. “You have a cow that’s probably a well-known cow and a good cow, but if she tops World Dairy Expo, she just became a number one draft pick.”
The Expo also includes a huge international dairy trade show. “The companies that want to international business, rather than traveling around the world, can come to World Dairy Expo, and here they have the visitors from eighty countries,” said Meyer. The five-day event brings some 65,000 people to the Madison, where the expo has been held annually since 1967.