SPRINGFIELD, Ill. — The Illinois Department of Agriculture is hosting 32 international dairy producers and veterinarians from seven countries in an effort to increase export sales for the Illinois dairy industry. Individuals from Guatemala, Mexico, Myanmar, Peru, South Korea, Thailand, and the Dominican Republic will visit various farms and agribusinesses throughout Illinois over their three-day tour.
Since its inception in 1993, the Illinois Dairy Tour has continued every other year, garnering over $12 million in total sales. The most common items purchased from the tour are dairy cattle genetics, feed ingredients, and equipment.
“Illinois is not often the first state that comes to mind when thinking of the dairy industry, but with 650 dairies throughout the state, we are a competitor,” says Agriculture Director, Raymond Poe. “We also play an integral role in providing the grain to feed livestock, including dairy cattle, around the country and world”.
The tour agenda is as follows:
Monday, October 2
- 9:30 am – GeneSource (Dairy Farm), Quincy, IL
- GenoSource strives to produce the best genetics possible for the dairy industry. Formed in 2014, GenoSource has something for everyone whether it’s genomics, type, net merit, or proven cow families. Their embryo transfer program allows them to expand their reach and provide high quality genetics to all dairymen on a variety of budgets. GenoSource has a 2800- cow dairy in Blairstown, IA on 129 acres. The dairy in Quincy is a 600-cow dairy spread over 54 acres.
- 11:30 am – ADM Animal Nutrition, Quincy, IL
- ADM Animal Nutrition is a manufacturing, nutrition, and marking business that excels in meeting nutritional needs to maintain healthy animals, in addition to advancing the production of meat, milk, and eggs. Known for the products in the nutrition market, ADM Animal Nutrition provides a wide range of products including amino acids, feed products, supplements, premixes, custom ingredient blends, and specialty feed ingredients. ADM Animal Nutrition is also sponsoring lunch for the participants.
- 3:00 pm – Skylar Nutrition, Rushville, IL
- Based in Rushville, IL, Skylar Nutrition has been dedication to animal nutrition for over 40 years. Their main focus is to provide natural health and nutritional supplements to the livestock and equine sectors to ensure that they maintain a healthy intake of feed and water. They also offer non-GMO certified versions of nutritional supplements, feed additives, electrolytes, probiotics, and growth promoters.
Tuesday, October 3
- 8:30 am – University of Illinois Dairy Farm, Champaign-Urbana, IL
- The University of Illinois Dairy Research Unit is houses and milks 400 multi-breed dairy cows and is where Phil Cardoso, DVM, MS, PhD, does nutritional and reproductive research. Two examples of the newest research in progress here is Amino acids in peripartum dairy cows & Evaluation of the efficacy of supplementing chlorine or Methionine of fertility of dairy cows.
- 11:00 am – Stone Ridge Dairy, Mansfield, IL
- George Kasbergen and his family keep busy at Stone Ridge Dairy which prides itself as being the largest dairy farm in Illinois. In 2008, the Kasbergen’s moved from California to start this dairy and it has continued to grow. Today is has 3,200 Holstein females and produces over 45 liters of milk/cow/day. Participants will be able to see firsthand the phenomenal nutritional, genetic, and management programs at Stone Ridge Dairy.
- 2:30 pm – GEA, Naperville, IL
- GEA offers a complete range of products for dairy farms of all sizes, ensuring that all are manufactured to the latest guidelines and certified quality standards. Their products include milk collection and storage, automatic feeding systems, manure management, barn equipment, young-stock solutions, and more.
Wednesday, October 4
- 8:00 am – Chicago Board of Trade, Chicago, IL
- While at the Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT), tour participants will be able to experience the opening of the CBOT and see the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (CME) viewing area.
Other sponsors of the tour include Illinois Livestock Exporters, Jacob Cluver of Ag-World International Corp., Eff Embree of AM-CAN, Inc., Stan Heitz of Advance Genetic Exports, and Illinois Milk.
After the tour is complete on Wednesday, participants will depart for the World Dairy Expo in Madison, WI.
All participants of the Illinois Dairy Tour are required to pay their own airfare and a participation fee prior to joining the tour.
Please note that any media outlet interested in covering the Illinois Dairy Tour must first receive permission from the company/farm. Interviews can then be arranged and coordinated through representatives of the Illinois Department of Agriculture.
— Illinois Department of Agriculture
For more news from Illinois, click here.