California dairymen and women are hard to come by in Wisconsin. But this past week at World Dairy Expo, more than 2,300 animals and their owners represented all areas of the U.S. in addition to two countries.
Pat Maddox operates California-based RuAnn Genetics. He’s been coming to World Dairy Expo for more than 40 years. He says the three-day trip to Madison for the international show is not too difficult. Their cattle trailers are equipped for milking, feeding and watering their show cows.
Maddox also talks about what it takes to prepare cattle for the show, which is similar to preparing hair and makeup for a pageant contestant.
Also in the interview, he gives Mid-West Farm Report a glimpse of what dairying is like right now in California, where farmers are battling drought and wildfires. Natural disasters and extreme weather are impacting cattle and crops alike. RuAnn Genetics has diversified income between milk, genetics, vineyards and almonds to combat those issues.
