The author is a dairy and agricultural writer based in Columbus, Ohio.
For the past 57 years, World Dairy Expo has been the place to showcase elite dairy cattle — not just in the showring, but in the sale ring, too. The two have gone hand in hand. In fact, a pair of dairy breeder sales generated seed money for the first shows and helped launch the event we know today.
The first all-breed sale, held April 15, 1967, at the Dane County Fairgrounds, auctioned off 78 donated calves and heifers for $21,156. The funds set up the inaugural “World Food Exposition” in September. Though the event aimed to promote everything in agriculture, the dairy cattle show emerged as a shining star, and it was subsequently rebranded as World Dairy Expo.
The second sale, held in April 1969, sold 57 donated heifers. The arrival of the eventual high seller, Arbor Rose Chat Expo, a Brown Swiss from Portland, Ore., in Madison via Northwest Orient Airlines was part of a media event to promote the fundraiser sale and show. The “Expo” heifer was purchased by a bank in Madison and then showcased at dairy events across the Midwest to promote the event once again.
The fanfare and excitement of the early sales laid the groundwork for future sales. Over five-plus decades, crème de la crème genetics from all dairy breeds have been sold. Consignments have run the gamut from descendants of Expo Supreme Champions to bull mothers that have impacted the industry through their sons and grandsons. Buyers have even included the likes of the Princess of Bahrain.
“The World Premier Brown Swiss Sale has always been among the breed’s highest-averaging sales,” remarked Norm Magnussen of Lake Mills, Wis., who purchased a 4-H project from the 1967 donation sale and now heads up Brown Swiss Enterprises Inc., which manages the sale. Magnussen’s father was instrumental in the founding of Expo, and his family cared for the “Expo” heifer at their Norvic Farm after her purchase. “We look for unique cattle that are the best of the best because our buyers expect nothing less from the World Premier Brown Swiss Sale,” he continued.
The other breed sales now conducted during Expo — the World Ayrshire Event Sale, the Top of the World Jersey Sale, and the World Classic — are equally well-respected among dairy cattle breeders.
A shifting industry
The early sales were held in a time fondly called the Golden Age of the purebred dairy cattle business. In the five decades since, the industry has changed and so have the sales at Madison. While commercial cattle continue to trade hands by traditional methods in auctions across the country, registered cattle have been sold in various innovative formats over the years. Expo — billed as the venue for the latest and greatest technology — has been a leader in this arena.
“Early on, sales offered just live animals, but as the industry evolved, we had to evolve as well to keep pace,” noted Tom Morris of Amery, Wis., who has been managing the World Classic with his wife, Sandy, since 1989.
In the two years before they managed their first World Classic, the pair tried something new at Expo: a sale with no live animals. Instead, there were embryos and contract flushes, in which the buyer chose the service sire and was guaranteed a certain number of embryos, to be bid on. For an event rooted in live cattle shows, it was a risk. But the idea succeeded, and the concept has come full circle.
“Now, half of the cattle cataloged sell absentee,” Morris said.
The World Classic also made the world’s first cloned dairy animal available at public auction in 2000. The copy of Lauduc Broker Mandy sold for $82,000 and even made headlines on ABC World News Tonight with Peter Jennings.
The sales at Expo were among the first to offer “choices,” in which the buyer purchases the first choice from a group of calves, and IVF sessions, in which the buyer chooses the service sire and is guaranteed a minimum number of embryos.
International demand for U.S. genetics sold at Expo has also changed over time.
“Over the years, about 25% of our buyers have been international breeders,” Morris reported. “But that has dropped significantly as health regulations become more stringent. We still get some demand from international buyers, but they typically buy an animal, house it in the U.S., and ship genetics home.”
Such is the case with the highest-selling animal in Expo history, Mr Frazzled Aristocrat-ET, a young bull purchased by Diamond Genetics of the Netherlands for $620,000 at the World Classic in 2017. The genomic standout was sampled through STgenetics in Navasota, Texas.
The internet has also changed the way cattle are bought and sold.
“Online bidding has become a major way of conducting business over the past 10 to 15 years, and many of our elite sales, including the Top of the World Sale, are now all-virtual events,” said Greg Lavan, who has managed Jersey Marketing Service since 2016.
“This is a way to manage labor and hauling costs. We no longer pay a crew to fit and care for 30 to 40 head of tied-up animals and a trucker to bring them to and from Madison,” Lavan described. “We spend more time editing videos and photos of consignments and working with buyers and sellers to get animals moved after the sale. Our advertising campaign has changed, too, with social media playing a key role in promoting the sale and its consignments.”
A breed that has been able to buck some of those trends is Brown Swiss. “We continue to consign mostly live animals,” noted Magnussen. “There are trucks from 48 states and Canada coming and going to Madison all the time, so with a little work, we can get cattle to Expo and their new owners. This is a great place to promote registered cattle, so I feel it is worth the effort.”
Expo has evolved, too
Expo itself has changed, mandating changes in the way sales are conducted. The number of animals housed on the grounds has mushroomed from 1,978 in 1999 to 2,571 in 2023. The New Holland Pavilions were constructed in 2015 to replace the aging cattle housing tents, and The Tanbark, a restaurant and meeting place, was moved to its current location in 2021.
More entries in the breed shows also complicated sale management as many had been held in the Coliseum following the shows. Last year, the Holstein and Jersey sales were conducted in The Tanbark and the Ayrshire and Brown Swiss sales were held in the Sale Pavilion.
“Moving the sale location has been a tremendous improvement,” remarked Morris. “The Tanbark is a great venue because it is a nice, comfortable area for buyers, can be set up in advance, and is tech-friendly for computers, video, and screens. We can keep the sale running on time because we are no longer at the mercy of the cattle show.”
Some things never change
“One thing that has not changed is the quality of the consignments,” noted Morris. “This has enabled us to maintain momentum for the World Classic. We offer very high quality and have turned down lots of animals because they are not quite the elite of the elite.”
Magnussen agreed. While sales may look different today, the basic concept is the same as it was five decades ago. “We still need to find something buyers will like and find someone willing to pay for it,” he said. “It takes a cooperative effort between the sale managers and Expo staff to make these elite sales successful.”
