At month’s end, Madison will welcome more than 50,000 guests from nearly 90 countries to the 59th annual World Dairy Expo, a signature event that brought $31.8 million in local economic benefits last year.
The expo runs from Sept. 29 to Oct. 2 at the Alliant Energy Center, with preshow events from Sept. 25 through Sept. 28 as cattle exhibitors move in. Last year’s event housed over 2,600 of the best dairy cattle in North America.
It is a showcase for dairy producers to experience the world’s largest dairy-focused trade show, a world-class dairy cattle show and virtual farm tours. Seminars, meetings and discussions will highlight the industry’s latest technological advancements and potential solutions to global price pressures caused by trade wars — and geopolitical wars.
“Wisconsin is known internationally as America’s Dairyland, and World Dairy Expo is one of the premier dairy industry events in the world,” said Randy Romanski, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection (DATCP). “It gives Wisconsin a unique opportunity to showcase our dairy industry to a global audience right here at home.”
Laura Herschleb, general manager of the World Dairy Expo, often refers to the expo as a one-stop shop for dairy operators.
“We’re looking forward to another great event and we invite everyone to come on out,” Herschleb said. “Even if it doesn’t feel like you’re directly connected to the dairy industry, it’s special to see a significant dairy-focused trade show and then a significant dairy cattle show, the largest in North America, all happening at the same place.”
Photo: Barry Sherbeck
Community partnerships
The expo will call the Dane County-owned Alliant Energy Center home through 2028, after a five-year contract was signed in 2023, but it’s hard to imagine another community offering the event everything that Madison does.
The expo relies on partnerships with the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Dane County and the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection.
Each contributes something unique.
UW-Madison, with its Department of Animal & Dairy Sciences, has been a longtime partner. As World Dairy Expo was taking shape, many of its department chairs were involved in leading the cattle show and they continue to serve as various breed superintendents and volunteers.
Animal health and biosecurity are an important aspect of what the expo staff does. Event organizers work with the university’s veterinary school staff to ensure all the animals’ health-related documents are up to date before any of them are unloaded off of the trailer.
“We also work closely with the Badger Dairy Club students,” Herschleb said. “They provide a lot of assistance and work for our event throughout.”
Paul Fricke, a professor of dairy science at UW-Madison, is a specialist in dairy cattle reproduction. He has been a longtime expo volunteer, serves as vice chair of its Education Committee, and he helps ensure the Badger Dairy Club members, all undergraduate students, play a big role at the show.
“They have a structure where they have people in charge of different things,” Fricke said. “One of the big things they do is they run the Badger cheese stand out there. That’s why they’re big fundraisers and they’re heavily involved in getting the show set up.”
Fricke said the students’ classes often will be canceled the week of World Dairy Expo because they have so many responsibilities during the event.
“We always give them assignments where they go around to the vendors and find a new technology related to some discipline in dairy science, and they come back in and present to the class about the technology they found and what it’s all about,” he said.
Youth are also served on the opening Tuesday, when the World Dairy Expo welcomes upwards of 300 National FFA Organization students from throughout the Midwest, not only to participate in various competitions and contests, but to experience the expo firsthand.
“I’m always so impressed by our parking lot when there’s over 100 school buses parked out there,” Herschleb said. “I just think that’s such a neat way to connect with the dairy industry, even if you’ve never had exposure to it. That’s what these agriculture education programs are all about.”
Alliant Energy Center has hosted the event in each of its 59 years, and it is not unusual for county officials, especially the county executive, to make the rounds.
“We’re so grateful that we have that strong partnership with Dane County because Dane County is so unique,” Herschleb said. “It’s rooted in agriculture, but obviously very urban in nature, so it’s really special that way.”
DATCP, whose lead veterinarians also contribute to animal health, is involved as well.
“They set a lot of our animal health regulations, so we’re working with them throughout the year,” Herschleb said. “Additionally, we work with other members of the DATCP team to welcome international guests and other tour groups that are attending World Dairy Expo each year.
“Lots of really invaluable partnerships shape what World Dairy Expo is today.”
Romanski said animal health is of paramount importance and DATCP’s veterinary team works very closely with the expo to make sure that all proper biosecurity measures are implemented.
“I serve in an ex-officio capacity on the World Dairy Expo board, which creates a really fluid relationship between the expo, the industry and DATCP, which is both regulatory and a supportive agency,” Romanski said. “DATCP looks at the World Dairy Expo as a very important international trade opportunity.
“We’re bringing global buyers and industry leaders together with Wisconsin companies to build relationships that we believe are good in the short term, but they also lead into the future with exports and productive relationships.”
At the expo, the agency organizes educational sessions and presentations with Wisconsin industry experts. Its educational sessions focus on dairy nutrition, feed, genetics, herd management and animal welfare and care, and other areas where Wisconsin has significant expertise.
“We also coordinate visits throughout the week to dairy farms, ethanol plants, feed mills, genetics companies and research institutions,” Romanski said. “This gives participants who sign up a real firsthand look at dairy production systems and the whole agriculture innovation chain here in Wisconsin.”
Photo: Barry Sherbeck
Original AI
Agricultural innovation doesn’t get the same level of attention that innovation in other industries does, but its influence is seen in precision planting and fertilizer application, autonomous tractors and drones (for an aerial view of crop conditions) and high-efficiency, solar-powered farming tools. Most are designed to help farmers grow more food while using less water and fewer chemicals.
Within the subset of dairy, much of the innovation comes in the vital area of herd management, and some of it is either explored or introduced at World Dairy Expo.
Herschleb said some companies build their marketing plans around their participation at the expo and launch new technology or research at the show. Others work with DATCP to set up a trade mission with one or more of the international attendees.
“One of the really special things about our trade show is we have nearly 500 companies that come to World Dairy Expo to showcase their latest pieces of technology, whether it be their latest equipment or some sort of research,” Herschleb said.
“We work closely with a lot of those companies to showcase and educate attendees on those and give them opportunities to talk to attendees about that technology or research.”
Bob Hagenow is a sales manager with Vita Plus Corp., a Madison company that sells livestock feed and nutritional supplements and is a longtime exhibitor whose employees volunteer at the expo.
In 2026, Hagenow will attend his 45th World Dairy Expo, where trade show vendors can gain a great deal of awareness and give back to the dairy industry.
“We’re always looking to foster and build relationships,” he said. “It’s all about finding and being in contact with current customers that are attending the show and potential customers that are at the show. And certainly, it’s just part of a marketing strategy. We have been at the expo almost since its beginning.”
In recent years, the expo has been the place to learn about herd management software and its continuous product iterations, plus improvements to automated milkers and feeders, and the introduction of animal tracking devices (collars, necklaces and ear tags) that feed information into computers.
These are among the newer approaches that have improved farm operations.
“If you think about where we have a Fitbit or something like an Apple Watch, that technology is available for dairy cattle as well,” Herschleb said. “It serves a really significant purpose for the dairy producers because it helps to tell them whether their animals are eating. Are they staying on track with their eating? Are they up and moving? How are they ruminating (referring to their digestive process)? How are they digesting their food?
“Those are all things that, along with their activity level, tell us if they’re healthy or not,” she said. “By having that data, that information even earlier thanks to that tracking device, you can get ahead of any animals that might be on the verge of not feeling good. You can be a lot more proactive with management strategies.”
Photo: Barry Sherbeck
UW-Madison’s Fricke’s area of expertise is dairy cattle reproductive management. He has been a frequent speaker on strategies for effectively getting cows pregnant, including artificial insemination — “the original AI,” as they say in the dairy industry.
“We have faculty members on campus who would be involved with dairy cattle management, dairy cattle nutrition and dairy cattle genetics,” Fricke said. “Within each of those disciplines, you’re going to have cutting-edge research talks going on at expo.”
Public policy also is addressed, whether it’s the pending federal farm bill, milk pricing and economic forecasts, the effects of tariffs on the price of agricultural inputs, and other upward price pressures due to conflicts in Ukraine and the Strait of Hormuz.
During the expo’s Knowledge Nook sessions, Vita Plus will present on the industry’s growing interest in high oleic soybeans, which yield a premium oil and high-protein meal valuable for dairy livestock feed.
Recent disruptions in foreign trade have led farmers to grow these beans on the farm rather than buy from foreign or domestic producers.
“There are tariffs and now we have an anti-dumping lawsuit, which is really going to raise the price,” Hagenow said. “So, it really creates the opportunity for folks that can raise these high oleic beans themselves or have a cash cropper raise those beans for them and bring them back locally into the marketplace.
“It also fits that good sustainability story that we’re talking about,” he said. “Anytime we keep stuff local, not have to transport everything all around the country and basically just raise them and get them processed within a 20-mile radius, that’s a nice story to tell.”
The state has taken proactive steps to mitigate the effects of recent headwinds, including a $1 million annual allocation for the Wisconsin Initiative on Ag Exports.
Romanski said the bipartisan initiative has helped produce a 54% increase in dairy and dairy product exports over the past five years.
“There’s a set amount of money per year where DATCP and the WEDC work with Wisconsin businesses and farmers to develop trade relationships around the world,” Romanski said, “and it’s working especially with dairy where exports are up exponentially over the last five years — partly because of the funding but also because we have this really diverse and strong dairy products industry in the state of Wisconsin.”
Photo: Barry Sherbeck
Volunteerism
World Dairy Expo has a team of 10 full- time employees that work year round to prepare for the event, and nearly 400 volunteers with room for more. The expo has a link on its website where people can express their interest in volunteering.
Herschleb said the existing volunteer pool is very important to the overall execution of the event. Each staff member works with a different volunteer group, whether it’s assisting with some aspect of the dairy cattle show or assisting with school tours for 4th grade students, or working in the gift shop.
“There are many different opportunities,” Herschleb said. “Just to see and experience the World Dairy Expo from an execution standpoint, that’s a great opportunity as well.”
