Magnificent? Dazzling? Extravagent? Awesome? Inspiring? Pick any one of those adjectives (or a similar one), and chances are pretty good it’s been used by someone attending a cattle show at World Dairy Expo (WDE) over the past 30 years to describe the mammoth display standing at the South end of the Showring floor in the Coliseum. What may surprise those who have marveled at the scale and size of the display, the intricacies of design and the high-quality of workmanship is that all of the construction is carried out by a relatively small crew of local Exxp supports and college students, not professional contractors. What’s more, the entire display is built in just a little under four days’ time.
Heading up the project for most of the last three decades has been Tom McKittrick, a former general manager of WDE (1988-2007), now living in the Cincinnati, Ohio area. He came up with the idea of having an annual theme for Expo and tying that theme to activities in the Showring. “It is certainly appropriate for the best dairy cattle in the world to be paraded in front of a backdrop that is beautiful and attractive,” says McKittrick, who returned to working on the Showring in 2014 at the request of current WDE general manager Scott Bentley “Also, it simply adds to the stature of the show. You can see things at World Dairy Expo that you can’t see anywhere else in the world. The Showring is part of that uniqueness and quality.”
Transforming Ideas
The very first display (in 1988) was built around a Scottish theme. “We were hosting the National Ayrshire Conference that year and decided to pay tribute to the breed with a Showring honoring its’ Scottish origin,” recalls McKittick. “Over the next couple of years, we continued featuring different breeds and their countries of origin, then we started branching out into other areas.”
In the early years, McKittrick worked closely with the late Roger Palmer, a University of Wisconsin dairy scientist and a” great personal friend’, in designing the display. “Roger was a very talented man, and a huge fan of both the dairy industry in general and World Dairy Expo specifically,” Mckittrick says. “I would describe to him the Showring ideas wandering around in my mind, and he would put pencil and paper to them making certain they were buildable.”
Palmer’s wife, Gloria, recalls that many of the designs were developed in informal settings. “Tom and Roger would go out antiquing together,” says Gloria, who has continued working on the Showring over the years as a volunteer. They’d stop for lunch and draw out their ideas on napkins.”
McKittrick starts working on each year’s display in the late winter/early spring. Working off the theme developed by Expo staff, he submits several design ideas. Once staff makes a final selection, the chore of ordering materials begins. First step in the process is selecting and ordering the colored shavings that have become a hallmark of the overall Expo Showring design. Key considerations are choosing a color that will be attractive for showing of the animals and will make sense with the display. “This is a group project,” says McKittrick. “The staff does the ordering of samples and makes the final selection.”
Materials Galore
The mums that are often included in the main display and placed at strategic locations around the Showring are also ordered early on. “The mums are a bit of a tradition,” says McKittrick. “They’re a great way to add color. We order them in the spring so we can get them started and make certain they’re blooming during Expo.”
Other materials---corrugated paper for the Showring side-rails, specialty printed items, paint and building materials for the structure---are ordered throughout the summer. Supply quantities vary from year to year. The 2019 display, which featured multiple cogs and gears and steampunk machinery to go along with the theme “Tools For Dairy’s Progress” required 1” x 6” boards (quantity 450), 1” x 4” boards (100), 4’x 8’ sheets of Styrofoam (60) and paint (22 gallons).
The actual physical work on each year’s display begins at noon on the Wednesday before Expo starts and continues through noon Sunday. On the full days (Thursday, Friday and Saturday), work typically starts at 9 a.m. and can continue as late as 11 p.m. While a small group of local volunteers and Expo staff are on hand to help, most of the labor is provided by 40-50 members of the University of Wisconsin’s Badger Dairy Club. “The students really do a great job,” says McKittrick. “They’re willing and able to do just about anything that they’re asked to do, whether it’s basic construction, painting, covering the side rails with corrugated paper or hanging gossamer. They’re amazing, year after year. It would be impossible to build the displays without them.”
“I absolutely loved being a part of making this a great event for the (cattle) exhibitors and for everyone else who wants to come and see an impressive dairy cattle show,” says University of Wisconsin-Madison student Carmen Haack, who served as a co-chair of BDC’s Showring Committee in 2018 and 2019. “My favorite part of it all is after Expo when you see all the pictures of the winners in front of the display. It’s just awesome.”
A Challenge or Two
While each year’s display poses different challenges for McKittrick and his crew, some years stand out more than others. “Last year’s Showing was right up there as a challenge because the structure was large, all made out of wood, and needed to be sturdy while not showing any signs of support. Also, the huge gears – up to 8’ in diameter – were all made out of Styrofoam. We had never used Styrofoam cutters before or painted Styrofoam. So that was all new, but went really well.”
McKittrick uses a variety of measures to evaluate his efforts on each year’s project. “First, I check with the boss (g.m. Scott Bentley) and make certain he is happy,” McKittrick quips. “Secondly, I always wait for the photos of the animals in the ring to see how the cows look. Again, the purpose is to make a backdrop for the greatest dairy cattle show in the world. When the cows look great, I know we’ve done our job.”
