Greg Nielsen scoops filling from an ice cream sandwich while judging the category of healthy frozen desserts during the 2022 World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest at Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin. The contest yielded several winners from Wisconsin.
Bob Bradley, left, and Katherine Grosz judge the salted-caramel category of ice cream during the final day of judging at the 2022 World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest at Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin. More than 1,550 dairy products were entered in the contest.
Bundled up in a minus-20-degree freezer, an employee at Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream in Madison, Wisconsin, carries a container of ice cream. The company recently completed a $5 million expansio. It took home three first-place awards for its ice cream at the World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Products Contest.
Workers with Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese package fresh balls of Mozzarella. Crave Brothers near Waterloo, Wisconsin, is celebrating its 20th year. It earned the best plain cheese curd and also was best in the Mozzarella category with its fresh marinated Mozzarella in the 2022 World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest.
MADISON, Wis. – Wisconsin dairy producers certainly are consistent.
They dominate the World and U.S. Championship Cheese contests that are held on alternating years each March, presented by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association.
And it's also the case with another growing competition, the Madison-based World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest.
Wisconsin companies took top honors in 28 of the 94 product categories, swept the top-three spots in six categories and churned out one of the three best-of-show winners, according to results from this past month’s three-day event at Madison Area Technical College.
Lake Country Dairy, a subsidiary of Schuman Cheese based near Turtle Lake in northwestern Wisconsin, swept the Mascarpone category with its Cello Mascarpone selected as the cheese and butter Grand Champion. The cheese, made from fresh milk and sweet cream, is ideal for filling cannoli or being used in a tiramisu recipe, according to the company’s website. Lake Country also had first-place finishes in the categories of hard Italian cheese and flavored natural cheese.
Products in the contest included cheese, butter, fluid milk, yogurt, cottage cheese, ice cream, sour cream, sherbet, cultured milk, sour-cream dips, whipping cream, whey, and creative and innovative products from dairy processors throughout North America.
“This year’s contest was a record-breaker, reflecting how much dairy processors have come to embrace this unique and special event,” said Brad Legreid, executive director of the Wisconsin Dairy Products Association, which conducts the annual contest. “As the only all-dairy-product contest of its kind in the world, the dairy industry has quickly learned the myriad benefits accrued from participating in the contest. Winning companies parlay their success into unprecedented marketing and retail-sales opportunities, while other companies receive valuable insights from the 50 highly trained sensory experts whom judge their products.”
The first-place winners will be auctioned off Oct. 4 at the World Dairy Expo in Madison, with a portion of the proceeds used to fund scholarships awarded annually to students pursuing careers in the dairy industry. The contest was founded in 2003 when there were just 100 entries but has seen continued growth. This year there were 1,560 entries from throughout North America.
Rachel Evans washes Ayrshire cows from Sunny Acres Farm in Georgetown, N.Y. World Dairy Expo draws about 2,000 cows from North America that take part in shows throughout the week.
Mike Maier, right, of Lazy M Farm in Stitzer, with his sister, Laura, at left, and Mike Fiedler, work together to unload hay from a trailer during setup Friday for World Dairy Expo.
The cows have returned to World Dairy Expo after the week-long event was canceled in 2020 due to COVID-19. The Expo begins in full on Tuesday, but on Friday animals began to arrive at the Alliant Energy Center. From left, Dr. Shelby Molina and Dr. Ellen Hooker, both with the state Department of Trade and Consumer Protection's Animal Health, check in a Jersey cow for Allen Berry of Sherwood, Ore.
Dalton Anderson, of Seward, Neb., with the help of Joe Odden, at left, of Sioux Falls, S.D., hangs signs for the Jersey cows from Misty Meadow Dairy in Tillamook, Ore.
Jon Schmidt, of Bloomer, unloads fans for cattle ahead of this year's Expo. Warm temperatures are expected in the days ahead.
Workers set up the World Dairy Expo gift shop inside Exhibition Hall at Alliant Energy Center. The show begins Tuesday and runs through Saturday.
Pins for sale at the World Dairy Expo gift shop inside the exhibition hall at Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis., Friday, Sept. 24, 2021. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
Noah Mensch, of Grand Rapids, Michigan, positions a bedding machine by Mensch Manufacturing for display in the parking lot of the exhibition hall during setup for the World Dairy Expo at Alliant Energy Center in Madison, Wis., Friday, Sept. 24, 2021. AMBER ARNOLD, STATE JOURNAL
The first-place winners will be auctioned off on Oct. 4 at the World Dairy Expo in Madison.
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Greg Nielsen scoops filling from an ice cream sandwich while judging the category of healthy frozen desserts during the 2022 World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest at Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin. The contest yielded several winners from Wisconsin.
Bob Bradley, left, and Katherine Grosz judge the salted-caramel category of ice cream during the final day of judging at the 2022 World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest at Madison Area Technical College in Madison, Wisconsin. More than 1,550 dairy products were entered in the contest.
Bundled up in a minus-20-degree freezer, an employee at Chocolate Shoppe Ice Cream in Madison, Wisconsin, carries a container of ice cream. The company recently completed a $5 million expansio. It took home three first-place awards for its ice cream at the World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Products Contest.
Workers with Crave Brothers Farmstead Cheese package fresh balls of Mozzarella. Crave Brothers near Waterloo, Wisconsin, is celebrating its 20th year. It earned the best plain cheese curd and also was best in the Mozzarella category with its fresh marinated Mozzarella in the 2022 World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest.
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