“Come heck or high water, I will go to World Dairy Expo this year!” That’s what I said when Progressive Dairyman asked me to write this article. I’ll write it from the perspective of a newbie attending for the first time. My husband, Farmer John, and I have never attended, but this was to be our year.
I remember sitting under a shade tree last June at our annual church picnic, talking to Paul, a regular expo attendee and past dairy judge. He gave me his list of must-dos and must-sees at the big dairy extravaganza. I wanted to run home that afternoon, pack my suitcase and head off to Madison.
As October drew closer, I got more and more excited. I read magazine stories about expo events. I scoured advertisements, dreaming of which booths I for sure needed to stop at. I received emails saying, “Visit us at booth ...” “See you there!” I wanted to yell at my computer screen.
Farmer John and I had our adventure all planned. We were attending World Dairy Expo on Thursday and Friday. Perhaps you have heard this line: “The best laid plans of mice and men often go awry.” Well, apparently it doesn’t just pertain to mice and men, but dairy farmers as well.
Being a smaller family farm, each of us has our appointed daily duties. When one of us has a conflict, another one of us steps in. That was the plan, making it possible for John and I to head south to Wisconsin. Our children, Sara and Michael, were each taking vacation days from their off-the-farm jobs to “hold down the fort” while we were gone learning about the latest and greatest the dairy community has to offer. Well ...
Our daughter, Sara, is an amazing language arts teacher at our local middle school. She was invited to be a guest speaker at her alma mater. When? You guessed it. She was invited back to the University of Minnesota – Morris on the Friday of Expo week. There was no way we were going to let her turn down that opportunity and honor. Our family supports each other’s achievements, so Farmer John and I changed our plans and opted to attend our get-away earlier in the week. Until ...
As farmers, we all know how important rain is to our livelihood, but there are also times when moisture is very overrated. The hay was cut and lying in the field, and the rain came, and came and came. Corn silage making should have been well underway, but the fields were so muddy that our chopper sat patiently in its shed waiting, and waiting and waiting for the ground to dry. If there is such a thing as a schedule on a farm, we were definitely behind on ours. OK, we are behind on our field work, but I still have faith that everything will fall into place. Haymaking and silage chopping will get done, and we’ll still be heading to the dairy event of the year! And then ...
My mom passed away last month. She and my dad (who passed three years previous) were thrifty farmers who invested their profits wisely. After three years of some of their real estate being on the market, a buyer was found! And yep, the buyer wanted to have the closing on Tuesday of expo week.
Alright, I get it. I surrender. Farmer John and I will not go to World Dairy Expo this year. After all, we’re farmers. We are adaptable. We are used to hiccups in our plans. We will enjoy expo through the stories and photos of our dairy friends who got the chance to sneak away for a day or two. But next year, come heck or high water … 
Janet Bremer has a blog and is also on Facebook and Twitter.
-
Janet Bremer
- Dairy Producer
- Hastings, Minnesota
