Each year World Dairy Expo names a Dairy Woman of the Year. This year it is Daphne Holterman of Watertown, Wisconsin. She and her husband, Lloyd, run Rosy Lane Holsteins, an 800-cow purebred Holstein herd. The farm is very busy this week as a number of foreign visitors to World Dairy Expo are taking a side-trip to visit the Holterman farm.

Besides running one of the best dairy herds in the state, Daphne is extremely active in her community and beyond. She has been involved with the local chamber of commerce and the local hospital board. Both Daphne and Lloyd are members of the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin, they are past national winners of the Jaycees Outstanding Young Farmer award and do their best to represent what today’s dairy farm family is all about.

AUDIO: Daphne Holterman talks about her involvement

The 2009 World Dairy Expo Dairyman of the Year is David Hileman of Pennsylvania. He started farming with his parents right out of high school and then purchased the operation in 1974. “At the time we were milking about a hundred cows and farming 162 acres, over the years I grew it to 420 cows and 700 acres.” He says the success of Hilecrest Dairy Farms has been due to maximizing the use of his facilities, keeping good records and the adoption of technology. “Those that receive the greatest benefit of new technology are those that are first to use it.”

He has served as director and president of GENEX-CRI Cooperative, was president of the Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania, has been on the small business and ag advisory committee for the Federal Reserve Bank of Philadelphia and a number of community boards as well.

He sold the operation to a neighbor a couple of years ago and “In my current life” he is working with Penn State University and the Dairy Alliance, organizing and facilitating dairy discussion groups. They get five-or-so dairy producers in an area together over lunch to discuss what is going on in their operations, “To get that network in a community that we used to have years ago.” He says many of the participants are younger producers who have never been through times like these so it is really working well.

AUDIO: David Hileman talks about his farm and his work

If you are launching a new name in the diary industry, what better place to do it than at World Dairy Expo? Keith Klanderman is with Nutri-Ad. The company provides nutritional additives for all animals including some old, familiar names. He says the new name reflects the company’s new focus on innovation and the future, enhancing the health of the animal while utilizing homegrown feedstuffs.

AUDIO: Keith Klanderman talks about innovation

Most of the exhibitors at World Dairy Expo say the attitude of the producers attending the show has been good. Randy Greenfield with Vita Plus says they know what their customers are going through and they are doing their best to help them. “Producers have limited resources to spend on feed additives,” says Greenfield, “it’s determining which are the ones that are making them the most money.” He notes that it comes down to the best return on investment. Like many, he cautions against discontinuing any management practices which may influence reproductive health because that will come back to haunt a producer for years to come.

AUDIO: Randy Greenfield talks about the decision-making process