Reno conference attendance surprised some observers

With today's dairy economy, organizers and participants at the big bi-annual Western Dairy Management Conference weren't sure what to expect. After all, the March 11 through 13 conference came right on the heels of World Ag Expo at Tulare where there seemed to be a relatively small turnout of dairy producers.

Attendance at WDMC 2009 ended up being in the range of 1,450. This was down, perhaps, only 150 or so from the 2007 Reno conference. It was an attendance number that pleased organizers and others at the conference, considering the losses that many dairy producers are experiencing these days and the tightening operating and travel budgets of many in the agribusiness and public agency communities.

Conference co-chair John Smith with Kansas State University thought that perhaps the proportion of the WDMC audience who actually were dairy producers may have been down a bit from recent years. Nearly all sessions of the 2-1/2-day conference were well attended. Plus, there seems to be a growing number of dairy meetings held in Reno the same week since so many people attend WDMC.

Many of the presenters at this year's conference took extra pains to include a lot of information in their proceedings papers, making the proceedings a valuable reference. To order copies, go to the conference website www.wdmc.org.