All of the cattle are back home resting as well as those dairy industry folks that participated at this year's big event. The awards and ribbons are being brought out of the show boxes, producers are dreaming of how to incorporate newly discovered management tips into their operations and commercial exhibitors are busy following up on the new contacts made while at the event. The 2011 World Dairy will go down in history as a record-setting success. The Dairy Cattle Show continues to attract elite show cattle fans from around the globe. This year a record 2,587 head of dairy cattle were exhibited by 1,130 exhibitors. They converged to the show site from 37 states and seven Canadian provinces to vie for the coveted Grand Champion and Supreme Champion titles. Eastside Lewisdale Gold Missy, Grand Champion of the International Holstein Show, was crowned Supreme Champion and was exhibited by Morsan Farms, Van Ruinen Dairy Ltd., Mark Butz and Gert Andreasen; Ponoka, Alberta. Junior Show Supreme Champion was awarded to South Mountain Voltage Spice-ET, Grand Champion of the Central National Jersey Junior Show, exhibited by Ben Sauder, Tremont, Illinois. The trade show set new participation levels with 810 exhibiting companies on-site displaying everything needed for dairy cattle management. First-time Expo companies numbered 130. Commercial exhibitors represented 28 countries this year. Total attendance for World Dairy Expo was 68,006 visitors, with 2,699 registered international guests from 90 countries. Visitors from Canada, Mexico, Ireland, China and Germany topped the list of international guests during the five-day event. Youth contests also set record levels of participation. The Youth Fitting Contest was won by Lee Morey of Rochester, Alberta. Youth Showmanship-Junior division was topped by Cole Booth of Pymouth, Wisconsin, while the Intermediate division was won by Tori Evert of Brooklyn, Wisconsin and Senior division award was captured by Janelle Remington of Juneau, Wisconsin. The National Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging was won in a very close race by the Cornell University team and Carissa Levash of the University of Wisconsin-Madison earned the Overall Top Individual title. The International Post-Secondary Contest top team was Modesto Jr. College with one of their team members, Rocco Cunningham topping the Overall Individual ranking. In the National 4-H Contest, New York team won, while Andrew Kern of Minnesota was named the Top Individual Overall. Over 3,200 FFA members attended World Dairy Expo and many participated in the Central National FFA Events. Jacob Leum of the Westby, Wisconsin FFA chapter showed his way to top the FFA Showmanship Contest. Dodgeland, Wisconsin FFA chapter topped the Central National FFA Dairy Cattle Judging Contest. The Plymouth, Wisconsin FFA chapter captured top honors in the FFA Dairy Products Contest and Hillsboro, Wisconsin FFA Chapter won the FFA World Forage Management Cup. Babcock Hall Dairy Plant of Madison, Wisconsin was named the Cheese and Butter Grand Champion at the Championship Dairy Products Contest and Gifford's Dairy of Skowhegan, Maine was named Grade A and Ice Cream Grand Champion. A record 705 entries competed this year in hopes of using the title to promote their dairy product. The World Forage Analysis Superbowl entries also set a new record with a 43% increase in entries from 23 states. World Grand Champion Forage Producer was Kelli Hinman, Wheatland, Wyoming and Champion First-Time Entrant award went to Bappe Farm, Riverton, Wyoming. Sunny skies and unusually warm weather helped to create a memorable event for all that participated in the 2011 World Dairy Expo. Plans are already well underway for next year's event that will be held Tuesday, October 2 through Saturday, October 6, 2012 at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin. 2012 World Dairy Expo theme will be "Market Fresh". Visit www.worlddairyexpo.com for details. 10.18.2011