Who said World Dairy Expo only starts on Tuesday? We know the official dates are October 2-6th, but cows, crews and supplies have already begun the journey to Dane County and HolsteinWorld is along for the ride!

Bonnie Bargstedt is reporting in from Copake, New York today as the Elite Dairy group was loading and heading out. Coming off Grand Champion & Res. Grand Champion wins at both the New York State Fair and Pennsylvania All-American, the herd owned by Ken Main & Peter Vail is enjoying a very exciting season!

We’ll be following along as the truck & trailer leave eastern New York today. Stay tuned for updates!

Barrie Potter (in foreground) and Steve Vail in the back make sure cows are milked out before getting on the trailer.

“Hitchin’ a ride” are a few tie-ins from nearby!

The trailers have arrived and the caravan begins to take shape.

Of course, it takes a management TEAM to get things loaded properly!

Does he have all his papers Ken?

And…..they’re off!

The end of Day 1
The crew left eastern New York at 12:30 today and after a brief stop for chores at 6pm tonight, making sure both the cattle and crew were fed and watered, they will drive into Ohio late tonight where everyone will get a rest. They’ll be up and on the road early Friday morning with an ETA of 5pm in Madison.

One of the biggest gambles traveling from the south or east is how to get through Chicago without too much of a delay, and some opt to drive all the way around it to avoid the hassle. Peter says they’ll be driving right through and expect to hit the windy city during the middle of the day.

Tim Coon, otherwise known as Cooner, will head up the fitting and chore crew. He’s joined by his daughter Carly, Colleen Hackett, Mike & Kyle Barton, and Quebec fitter Mathieu Jalbert, plus some other helpers. There are 35 head total – 24 from Elite (17 cows and 7 heifers), plus tie-ins from Clark Woodmansee, Ken Beneke, Morey Miller, Kyle Thygesen, David King, Nancy Vail and Cedar Lane. Elite Dairy’s herdsman, Steve Vail, will be joining the crew on Tuesday.

Bedding will be purchased by the set-up crew who’s a few hours ahead of the trailers. Some hay was brought along, but more will need to be purchased there. Peter says the organization to get this group of cows to Expo is something…and the Royal is even worse!

“We made it to Roger Shuggs in Monroeville Ohio! We are here milking then we will let them rest and pull out of here at around 7:30 tomorrow morning,” reported Mike Barton. “Monroeville is around 7 hours from Expo and we will make one fuel stop from here to Madison. More pictures coming soon!”

We’re pleased to report that after a 1,000+ mile journey, and 30 some hours later, the Elite crew is safe, sound and very comfortable at World Dairy Expo!

Cattle trailers aren’t the only “big rigs” that were loaded to head west! The Holstein World “urban big rig” was jammed with booth supplies and a 20-foot banner…and Tim Horton’s coffee too…

…and made the “long” trip 80 miles south to meet up with one of the west-bound caravans!

We hope you stop by to see all of our special blog editors – Budjon, Morsan Farms, Arethusa and Elite Dairy, and be sure to stop by the HolsteinWorld booth this week too. Good luck to everyone and make it a great Expo!

This entry was posted on Thursday, September 27th, 2012 at 12:22 pm by kknutsen and is filed under On the Road. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.