MADISON, WIS. -- I just got back from the World Dairy Expo Championship Dairy Product Contest auction. It was a first for me on two counts: first time attending the Expo (it's largely a producer affair, and we're a manufacturing magazine), and first time attending an auction of any kind, at least one with a real auctioneer, like the kind you see in the movies.

The first-place winners in 28 different dairy product categories were auctioned off to the highest bidders, along with the two Grand Champions -- one each for Grade A & Ice Cream (an award now sponsored by Dairy Field) and Cheese & Butter (sponsored by Cheese Market News).

It was great fun watching the crowd -- fueled by the open bar and copious hors d'oeuvres -- get into the spirit and drive up the prices on things like a 200-pound block of Swiss cheese or 12 pounds of FOB yogurt. The winner of DF's award -- Kraft Foods' Beaver Dam, Wis., plant for its Philly cream cheese -- saw its winning entry go for $34 a pound to Cargill.

But the real excitement was saved for last, when three heavy hitters duked it out for a 10-pound wheel of aged gouda from Indiana's Fair Oaks Farms, the grand cheese winner. When the dust settled, Davisco Foods owned the lot for a cool $500 a pound.

Proceeds from the auction go toward initiatives to better the industry, including a new one to promote dairy education and to keep college-level dairy programs alive. I'd say that's a great cause, having heard more than a few processors express their worries about there being enough new talent to take the reins and keep the industry going well into the future.

The dairy products contest itself -- sponsored by the Wisconsin Dairy Products Association -- is a real winner. As I said in my remarks upon presenting DF's award, the whole industry is the real winner of the contest, because competition fuels excellence among all companies to make the best products they can. The contest has been going on for five years now, attracting some 350 entries from all over the United States. For example, the top prize for chocolate ice cream went to Gifford's Ice Cream in Skowhegan, Maine, while California's Hilmar took two top whey awards and Sorrento's plant in Nampa, Idaho, scored a first with its fresh mozzarella (that lot went home with Susan Quarne of Cheese Market News).

As for me, I abstained from bidding this time. Not sure how I'd put that in my T&E's ...

- J.D.