A few hundred entries were analyzed this year as farmers across the world vied for a spot in the 2024 World Forage Superbowl. Samples were sent to Dairyland Labs in De Pere, Wis.
Many filed into this year’s Forage Superbowl Luncheon anxiously awaiting the results. The top five of the eight forage categories received a ribbon, while the first-place winners received a check from one of the event’s sponsors. This year’s World Forage Grand Champion was awarded to Meadow Brook Dairy Farms of Manitowoc Wis., with their brown midrib (BMR) corn silage. Mulhern Dairy of Fountain, Minn., captured the First Time Entrant Grand Champion title from the standard corn silage category.
On the quality count award side of things, Fisher Dairy of Marshall, Ind., won with their submission of standard corn silage at 2.9%. Andy Schmitt of Fort Atkinson, Iowa, won the quality count award in the hay/haylage category with a 2.2% quality count score. Other first place category winners are as follows:
Grand Champion Commercial Hay: Hardrock Farms, Wheatland, Wyo.
Grand Champion Dairy Hay: Holst Farms, Lake City, Minn.
Grand Champion Grass Hay: Ciolkosz Dairy, Thorp, Wis.
Grand Champion Alfalfa Haylage: Andy Schmitt, Fort Atkinson, Iowa
Grand Champion, Mixed/Grass Haylage: Sand Creek Dairy, Hastings, Minn.
Grand Champion Baleage: Nuttleman Farms, Bangor, Wis.
Jenna Byrne is an associate editor for Hoard’s Dairyman. She graduated from the University of Wisconsin-Platteville in 2022, majoring in agricultural business with an emphasis in communications and marketing. She grew up on her family’s dairy farm near Neillsville, Wis.
