Special Report

“If you’re not moving forward…you’re moving backwards”

By Saturday evening, some 72,000 people from around 95 countries will have gone through the gates at World Dairy Expo. Mike Holschbach is president of the Board of Directors for this show; he has been attending the show for all 47 years and has seen a lot of changes. It started out as a dairy and food show and after a couple of years the food part of it went away and became focused on the dairy side. A few years later the commercial exhibits were added and he says the expansion of Exposition Hall “really put us on the map.”

Plans are to have two new pavilions to replace the dairy barns by next year’s show, a joint effort of World Dairy Expo, Dane County and the State of Wisconsin. Holschbach says it has been a great relationship among the three as they work to improve the show. “If you’re not moving forward…you’re moving backward.”

He says the show really has become geared toward the large dairy operator as exemplified by the large equipment on display around the grounds. International visitors have increased over the years but Holschbach says that is very dependent upon economies and other factors beyond their control. Many of those that do come, often spend the week before Expo and the week after Expo to travel around the state and the country to visit other dairy entities including Holschbach’ s Heatherstone Enterprises at Baraboo, Wisconsin.

AUDIO:Holschbach talks about the show 6:08 mp3