World Championship Cheese Contest; Wisconsin Wins 39 Classes

A Hornbacker cheese made by Michael Spycher of Mountain Dairy Fritzenhaus in Bern, Switzerland, was named the best cheese at the World Championship Cheese Contest in Madison. It was the third consecutive world contest in which Spycher came out on top. He won in 2020 and 2022 with his Gourmino Le Gruyère AOP.

"I am incredibly humbled to be amongst so many great cheeses and people and cheese minds," said Joe Salonia, Gourmino's American representative. "Many of us in this room are blessed to do the work we love. I think we are living our best lives here in cheese."

The contest, hosted by the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association since 1957, had 3,302 cheese, yogurt, butter and dry dairy products in 142 classes. Judges and entrees from 25 countries converged at Monona Terrace Community & Convention Center for three days of everything cheese.

The ‘5 W's’ of Responsible Antibiotic Use in Cattle

Antibiotic stewardship is important not just for human healthcare providers, but also for those raising animals for our food supply. Consider antibiotic stewardship through the lens of the “five W's.”

The term “antibiotic stewardship” might sound high level, but it’s something cattle producers and veterinarians practice every day. In human health care, antibiotic stewardship means ensuring that antibiotics are used only when necessary and appropriate. It’s an important undertaking: the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) estimates that antibiotic-resistant germs cause infections in nearly 3 million people every year, almost 36,000 of whom die as a result. Preserving the usefulness of antibiotics for treating human infections is a life-or-death matter.

Those of us using antibiotics in animals also want to preserve their usefulness in combating important problems such as pneumonia or pinkeye in cattle. But, we have the added responsibility to ensure our antibiotic use doesn’t result in residues in our food products or antibiotic-resistant bacteria that could find their way into people.

Weights and Measures Week: DATCP Ensures Accurate Prices and Measurements

What do scales, pumps and scanners have in common? They're the tools of trade that weigh animals destined for market, scan our groceries at the local market and make sure we're getting the correct amount of fuel we're pumping into our cars.

Every year, Weights and Measures Week is observed nationwide on March 1–7 to mark the signing of the first U.S. weights and measures law by President John Adams on March 2, 1799.

Last year the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection's (DATCP) staff from the Bureau of Weights and Measures traversed the state conducting 226,832 inspections at 5,595 business locations to monitor the accuracy of motor vehicle fuel pumps, commercial scales, price scanners, milk tanks, package weights and other measuring instruments.

Equity Cooperative Livestock Sales Association

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