Illinois family savors World Dairy Expo

MADISON, Wis. — There were no championships or blue ribbons for the Scott Jr. and Amanda Harbaugh family during the 2025 World Dairy Expo in Madison. However, the family of 10 plans to return to Expo again after their week-long adventure.

The Chana, Illinois, couple and their eight children made their debut at Expo with two Jersey heifers and one Holstein heifer. They spent the week with five of their children camped out in a tent in the barn. Their three other children joined them for the final couple nights.

The family keeps a few milk cows and heifers at home. They have shown at county fairs, their district show and an Iowa youth show. Their farm prefix is Round Oak, a name recognized for breeding one of the Holstein breed’s most impactful sires, Round Oak Rag Apple Elevation. The Harbaughs pursued the name because Scott’s father was once a herdsman for the famous farm.

Scott said he became interested in dairy cattle after helping people show during high school. The family raised beef, then switched back to dairy.

The family had visited Expo before becoming exhibitors.

“After coming here for so many years and seeing how much fun it looked like, we thought we’d toss our hat in the bucket and see how we could do,” Scott said.

It was also the urging of their oldest daughter, Shelby, that tipped the scales in favor of bringing heifers to WDE.

“It was her dream,” Amanda said. “We thought we’d wait until she was older, but she had a nice Holstein, so we let her go ahead and try it.”

Scott agreed.

“If it furthers her and is what she wants to do, that’s all that matters,” he said.

Shelby said for her, it is about her passion for the cows.

“It’s something I just love doing,” she said. “I love the bond with the animals and everything like that. It’s really fun even though I’ve been placed at the bottom many different times. But that’s OK — I enjoyed going in the ring.”

Shelby said she is fine with her own cattle even as she observed the winning WDE animals.

“My Jersey, she doesn’t have a fancy name or anything,” she said. “She won junior champion at a county fair. She’s done really well for me.”

Shelby and Amanda led three animals on Expo’s famous colored shavings. Shelby also competed in the youth showmanship contest.

Amanda said wrangling eight children at Expo had its own learning curve.

“Just keeping everybody contained, trying to just keep it organized and clean as best we can, as well as with the cows (is tough),” Amanda said. “Just going back and forth, making sure they get their meals and everything.”

She said the experience was difficult, but fun.

“The first couple of days were rough; it’s trying to get a routine,” she said. “Everybody’s so excited as you build up to your shows, and then it’s kind of a letdown. We can relax a bit.”

The whole family agreed that barn noise, especially music that seemed to play all night long, was their only real negative experience during their week in a tent next to their cattle.

Their cattle placings were described by Amanda as decent.

“We would have liked to be more in the middle, but we were more towards the end,” she said.

Scott agreed.

“We definitely know what we’re lacking, and it’s a new experience being on this side of things versus just as a visitor,” Scott said. “But on the whole, we’ve been very happy.”