Sunny Glade Farms in Blumenort was chosen to present a virtual farm tour at the 2015 World Dairy Expo in Wisconsin.

Jeremy Plett is the Herd Manager at Sunny Glade Farms. He says the reason Sunny Glade was chosen is because they have a brand new barn that is using some of the most advanced technologies in the Canadian dairy industry.

“It is fully brand new, and because we had a barn fire we pretty much rebuilt everything. Most people when they have a new part of a barn it is usually just a section of the barn. We have a completely brand new barn.”

Plett notes in early summer a film crew came to their farm and took video around the barn in preparation for the virtual farm tour. He says they were given an hour slot to display their farm which inlcuded a short video, a presentation, and a question period.

“There was about 200 people there and it was kind of in a large conference room. We talked about our farm, what kind of equipment we used in our barn, how we decided to build our barn, and then we talked a little bit about our daily routines. There was a question period where people could just ask questions. There was a lot of questions.”

Plett says the World Dairy Expo is the largest dairy convention in North America with just over 70,000 peope in attendants from September 29th to October 3rd 2015. He says there were people from all over the world in attendance.

“It has a giant trade show where you can see all of the latest in dairy innovation, and then there is also a very large cattle show as well. It spans across all dairy, so it is Jersey, and Holstein, Brown Swiss, and Short Horn, so you see all types of dairy there, not just the Holsteins that you see a lot of in Canada.”

Plett says he learned a lot at the expo and was able to learn how farmers in other countries do things differently.

“It was a really cool experience. It is fun to get away and see how other people do dairy farming, and you get to see how the American dairy industry is compared to the Canadian dairy industry, and talk with people that are from the American dairy industry.”

Owner of Sunny Glade Farms Weldon Plett says his highlight was touring the grounds with his father.

“The whole family was there for the whole day. It was a fun time together with the family, touring the grounds, looking at the whole expo. There is a lot of stuff to see there, different new technology. That part was a great time, doing this trip with the family.”

Weldon Plett says after all of the hard work they put into designing the barn it is very satisfying for it to be recognized by the dairy industry and have it showcased at the biggest dairy show in North America.

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