The weather for this dairy expo was again warm but somewhat rainy.  Even so, attendance seemed to be strong.  The technical/supplier segment of the dairy industry is changing.  According to industry reporting, the World Dairy Expo trade floor has lost 50% of its exhibitors in the last eight years.  Based on what we saw, the nutrition sector has probably contracted much more than this.  The reasons are many but market consolidation in the dairy industry has probably had the greatest impact.  There are just fewer dairies and decision-makers.  Also, global economic and supply chain pressures have led some companies to scale back or even exit trade shows.  That said, dairy technology continues to move ahead rapidly.  Here is a recap of the coolest things that we either saw or heard discussed this year:

• A Korean company (MorningBio) debuted an encapsulated version of the amino acid histidine.If this technology turns out to be technically and economically viable, this will achieve one of the “Holy Grails” of finding a good, concentrated option for a third limiting amino acid for dairy cows.

• Precision feeding and cloud-based technology continue to evolve integrating real‑time NIR analysis with advanced weighing and management software. Ration accuracy is theoretically improved using on‑mixer NIR sensors with programmable weight indicators to continuously monitor forage and ration composition during loading and mixing.This is supported by dynamic ration management through the cloud for precise ration formulation.Meaningful advances from this technology are probably still years away but elements of this approach, such as sensor-based NIR are very close to street-ready.
• Bigger and smarter forage equipment for doing things at scale was clearly a key theme.Saving labor seemed to be a bigger driver than necessarily improving forage quality, as has been in the past with better kernel processors, etc.A FODD (play on fodder) silage separator was one of the more spectacular displays.The idea here is that the FODD system separates the coarse low-starch forage from the finer, higher starch grainy material.In theory, this allows one silage crop to be dedicated to more applications, such replacing straw or dry cow forage.The scale of a dairy needed to really make this payoff is not that clear.
• Rumen bolus and RFID rumination collars continue to provide more robust data that may help improve the cow’s actual intake and efficiency.Somehow, this kind of technology will still need to be more seamlessly incorporated into dairy data dashboards in order help better manage the data generated from these kinds of devices.
• In the heard management space, one of the more interesting innovations was Cattleytics’ Meta smart‑glasses which lets farmers view cattle ID, health records, and history hands‑free. By scanning a cow’s ear tag, the system projects her individual data into the glasses with gestures used to control data manipulation.We expect this space of integration of cameras, RFID, and other sensors to continue to evolve rapidly.Another cool innovation was the Skelex Happy milker stainless steel exoskeleton for milkers.The concept is an exoskeleton that supports the back, shoulders, and arms to reduce fatigue and the negative effects of repetitive milking motions.