Thousands of cattle converge in Madison for 57th World Dairy Expo

Oct 04, 2024

By Tim Peterson

For Emily Yeiser Stepp, the week of the World Dairy Expo in Madison ranks right up there with Christmas as one of her favorite times of the year.

Stepp has been coming to Wisconsin for the expo — the biggest trade show dedicated to dairy in the world — since 2005 as a cattle exhibitor and a judge.

This week, her family’s pair of Brown Swiss calves made the trip with them to compete at the expo. “PSwift” and “Patagonia” each earned top-10 finishes among the roughly 3,000 head of cattle from the United States and Canada assembled on the Alliant Center grounds.

Stepp also serves on the board of the expo and is a leader with the National Milk Producers Federation. The week is an opportunity to represent her organization and meet with stakeholders up and down the dairy supply chain.

She talked with WPR’s “Wisconsin Today” about the event and some challenges facing the dairy industry, including threats like bird flu being found in cattle and the Farm Bill potentially expiring next week.

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Video: Methionine Requirements for Lactating Sows - Cierra Kozole

In this episode of The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, Cierra Kozole, PhD candidate in Swine Nutrition at the University of Guelph, explains how methionine supports lactating sows beyond milk protein synthesis. She discusses updated requirement estimates, source comparisons, methylation demand, and why modern sow genetics may require more precise amino acid strategies. Listen now on all major platforms!

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Meet the guest: Cierra Kozole / cierra-kozole-772b64253 is a PhD candidate in Swine Nutrition at the University of Guelph in Canada. Her doctoral research focuses on refining estimates of methionine requirements for primiparous lactating sows, including evaluating methionine sources, nutrient partitioning, methylation reactions, and the links among amino acid supply, milk production, and sow protein retention. Learn more from Cierra Kozole on The Swine Nutrition Blackbelt Podcast, available on all major platforms.