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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Pat Hoffmann, Swine Technical Consultant at Elanco Animal Health tells us about the impact of New World Screwworm. The emergence of New World screwworm in the U.S. creates a threat for veterinarians, livestock producers and pet owners that has not been seen north of the Florida Keys since the fly was eradicated from the United States more than 50 years ago. New World screwworm (Cochliomyia hominivorax) larvae feed on living tissue and can affect a wide range of warm-blooded animals, including livestock, companion animals, wildlife, and even humans.
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