News

Cattle showing season underway

It’s only April, but the cattle showing season has already begun.

Show Chairman Kevin Jorgensen says the Wisconsin Dairy Showcase is a collective effort between the Red and White, Jersey, and the Wisconsin Holstein Associations.  He says the three cattle groups decided they were better off collectively putting on one show than three separate shows.  “This is the first year of a collaborative effort where we’re doing everything together.  We do all of our fundraising, all of the ribbons and awards, in an effort to be as exhibitor-friendly  as we can to the people who love to show cows.”

Jorgensen tells Brownfield their top goal is to be exhibitor-friendly.  “The great people that put all of the time and effort in to have their show animals ready, rather than going to three separate shows throughout the spring, a lot of our exhibitors have multiple breeds so this is a very logical fit from those respects logistically.   And, the other side is that from a sponsorship respect, we feel it draws a larger crowd which is a better audience for them.”

Scott and Jess Stempfle are a brother and sister growing up on a 500 cow dairy near Maynard, Iowa.  Scott Stempfle tells Brownfield he likes this show.  “(There’s) real good competition and quality.  You’ve got a lot of friends here.  It’s just really personal and real fun.”  Jess Stempfle says they will attend seven or eight dairy cattle shows this summer.  “We’ll go down to the Iowa State Fair in Des Moines.  We’ll go up to West Union in Iowa for our county fair, district shows, and come back up here for World Dairy Expo in October.”

Jorgensen says the Wisconsin Dairy Showcase is pretty much the first Midwest show of the season, with more than 400 animals from several states.  It was held at the Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wisconsin, which is also the site for World Dairy Expo.