DAIRY ST R
World Dairy Expo Special Edition
September S b 99, 2023
INSIDE
4 Success spanning 5 decades, 4 breeds
6 Great, golden Guernseys 10 From the inside looking out
16 Feltz Family Farms to host virtual tour
22 Endless opportunities 26 Excited to see what
comes through the door
34 WDE sales spur yearly excitement
SECOND SECTION
1 Morris named Industry Person of the Year
4 A family tradition of 4-H 9 13
dairy judging champions Reducing risk to capitalize on production A show cow’s crowning glory
and more
Show ring displays showcase the cows McKittrick shares creative process behind the designs By Danielle Nauman danielle.n@dairystar.com
World Dairy Expo enthusiasts await with anticipation each year to the see the color of the shavings spread across the coliseum oor and the intricate display that adorns the show ring, but those traditions were not part of the original show. “The purpose for the displays is to provide a backdrop, a showcase, for the cows, and I always tried to keep that in mind as I planned the displays,” said Tom McKittrick, who heads the show ring displays and is a former general manager of WDE. “You want- Tom McKittrick ed them to photograph well with the cows in front of them.” The rst show ring display similar to what Expo-goers have become accustomed to was in 1988. That display was put together during a short time frame from July to October. “The World Ayrshire Conference was part of Expo, and that is when we decided to do the Scottish theme and do the Scottish castle, which was more than they had ever done in the past,” McKittrick said. “That was the rst time we put the rock wall along the hockey boards and extended the decorations throughout the entire ring. That was a big change, bigger than I probably anticipated at the time, setting precedent for where we would head down the road.” The themes became a signature of McKittrick’s.
PHOTO COURTESY OF WORLD DAIRY EXPO
Holstein cows parade around the ring in 2006 at World Dairy Expo in Madison, Wisconsin. That year’s theme featured an old-fashioned train staƟon and locomoƟve. He enjoyed creating the themes so much that after being away from Expo for a few years, he came back and helped create a few more show rings. In those earliest years of show ring displays, the theme was limited to the coliseum oor, but eventually
it was incorporated throughout the grounds and used in the promotional advertising for the event, McKittrick said. Turn to MCKITTRICK | Page 2