It was a beautiful morning in Fort Atkinson. Over 150 students and coaches arrived at the Hoard's Dairyman Farm in preparation for the dairy judging contests that will be held tomorrow at World Dairy Expo.

Three classes of Guernsey cows were lead and posed for the teams to evaluate. Managing Editor Steve Larson addressed the group and provided history of the farm as well as current statistics.

Hoard's Dairyman staff was on hand to prepare the cows this morning, lead animals and answer questions at the conclusion of judging. Guests could tour the free stall barns, milk facilities and dairy educational center after the judging workout.

The editorial internship was promoted to college students and three past interns were on site to answer questions. (See our intern video from last week's HD Notebook blog.)

Students have local tour stops at Nasco and the National Dairy Shrine Museum, followed by a lunch buffet cosponsored by Nasco and Hoard's Dairyman. Teams then traveled south to Whitewater to judge at Sunshine Genetics.

Stops earlier this weekend to judge were to Cozy Nook in Waukesha for Brown Swiss, Milking Shorthorns at Mapleton Valley in Oconomowoc, Jerseys at Scholten Dairy in Lake Mills and Ocean-View Genetics for Holstein classes.

We wish all the teams the best of luck!