It’s the first day of World Dairy Expo 2013—an exciting time for any of us involved in the dairy industry.
I’ve been coming to World Dairy Expo for something like three decades now, and still it is always fresh. Old friends to greet, new friends to meet, new products to evaluate, and cows—lots and lots of cows—to admire. For a dairy kid well into his 50s, it doesn’t get any better than that.
This year’s event proves to be another exciting show. There are 70 or so new commercial exhibitors—pushing the total beyond 800, eight virtual farm tours, eight dairy seminars and seven forage seminars. And then there are the cows—some 2,500 of them being shown in 10 breed shows and offered at auction in five breed sales.
That’s an awful lot of stuff to pack into five days. Our beefed-up editorial team is here to cover it all.
I drove down from Minneapolis on Sunday. Our Western Dairy Editor Catherine Merlo flew in from Bakersfield, Calif. as well. Dairy Today freelance writer Rick Mooney drove down from northern Wisconsin over the weekend. And to beef up our coverage this year, Wyatt Bechtel, our new associate editor, flew in from Kansas City late Sunday evening.
Cathy, Rick and I are old hands at World Dairy Expo. Collectively, we have more than 70 years of Expo experience among us. Cathy and I will be providing our usual Expo coverage, blogging each morning through this daily e-update on the new things we discover. Rick will be again taking his award-winning photos that we’ll share through our slide shows. Plus, he’s already gathering stories this week for next year’s Official World Dairy Expo Program, which Dairy Today publishes.
Wyatt is the new kid at the Coliseum—his first Expo ever. He graduated with honors from Kansas State in agricultural journalism, having interned at Certified Angus Beef, LLC in Manhattan, Kan. His most recent employment was with Vance Publishing, where he covered dairy and livestock at pubs such as Dairy Herd Management. He was raised on a ranch in the Flint Hills of Kansas, and as the son of a veterinarian, he managed the family’s cow herd and assisted in pharmaceutical research.
We’re excited to have Wyatt help us beef up our digital coverage here at World Dairy Expo. Look for his tweets on Twitter: @dairytoday. He’ll also be providing dairy and forage seminar and virtual farm tour coverage.
We certainly hope you’ll be able to spend a day or two or three with us here at World Dairy Expo. If you can, stop by the Dairy Today booth in the lobby hallway of the Exhibit Hall and say hello. If you can’t make Expo this year, check your e-mail inbox each morning. We’ll be there, bringing you the latest news and highlights from the world’s greatest dairy show—World Dairy Expo.
Source: AgWeb
