Participants in the Global Dairy 500 Conference were treated to a horse show and dinner at the Kentucky Horse Park. Our visit included seeing multiple horse breeds and riders dressed in traditional costume. I spoke with one of the riders mounted on an Arabian horse named D’artagnan. He’s 11 years old and on loan to the Park by his owner. You can listen to my interview below.
I also shot a video clip which includes an interview with the other horses and riders.
Besides hanging around with us and getting in lots of photos we also had a ring show that included a set of miniature horses pulling a wagon. I thought you’d enjoy seeing them.
2009 Global Dairy 500 Conference Photo Album
AgWired coverage of the Global Dairy 500 Conference is sponsored by 
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USGC is encouraging all farmers to carry a camera in the combine this year to snap some photos of the harvesting of food, feed and fuel for the United States and abroad. Each photo will be entered for a free Council meeting registration for our 7th International Marketing Conference and 50th Annual Membership Meeting in Puerto Vallarta, Mexico, Feb. 13-17, 2010. Enter more than one photo to increase your chances of winning!
At an international conference like the Global Dairy 500 Conference translators are absolutely necessary. We have many of them here. During a break this morning I spoke with Irina Zablith (right) who is not only a translator but a veterinarian from Brazil. She’s translating into Portugese.
You need go no further than any dairy farmer here at the Global Dairy 500 Conference to know that the big issue is money. Take Daniel Williams, seated to the left in the photo. Daniel has an 800 cow dairy in Madison, GA.
This is what the moon looked like tonight after a full day of the Global Dairy 500 Conference. This is a hand held shot on the way back from the Alltech Lexington Brewery.
More than 3,000 international scientists, professionals, educators, and students will present new technologies and discuss emerging trends in agriculture, energy, climate change, carbon trading, science education, and related issues at the event November 1-5 at the David L. Lawrence Convention Center. Other informative sessions will focus on nutrition, wines, food security, invasive species, organic agriculture, hazardous waste, plant breeding, and turfgrass science.
The Global Dairy 500 Conference is a truly international one. There are farmers here from all over the world which requires a lot of translators who are working very hard in their booths at the back of the conference presentation rooms.
In the middle of this happy group is Henry. He spoke very good English so he got volunteered to speak with me. He has about 450 dairy cows and also row crops on his farm. He says he’s always on the search for new technology because it will make him more efficient. Henry echoes a comment I’ve heard a number of times today and that is that dairy farmers globally are suffering with the same problems, namely the price of milk. 
Providing the first remarks on the program for the Global Dairy 500 Conference was Dr. Pearse Lyons, founder and President, Alltech. The theme of his opening remarks was to answer the question, “Is there a future for dairy in these turbulent times?”
Looking to the future the key is efficiency and that will come about from the use of new technology. Besides efficiency he urged attendees to focus on more lactations per cow; quality in Production systems; more education; looking for Branding; traceability and to be conscious of the environment. I love his description of the dairy cow as a “walking fermenter.”
Principal Research Scientist for Insect Resistance Dirk Benson talked about Syngenta’s global research capabilities during a symposium for agricultural reporters during the grand opening event. “In Europe, we have insecticide development, we have herbicide technology development, in the US we have formulation development on the crop protection side,” Dirk said. “On the seeds and traits side, we have capabilities for biotechnology in Research Triangle Park, North Carolina, we just opened a new site in Beijing, China to augment that. We do other seed research in Australia, we do some in Toulouse, France for our vegetable businesses, we do sugar beet work in Scandinavian countries.”