Frank Schroeder, left, and David Schroeder, both from Cecil, look over a planter on display during the 2013 WPS Farm Show at the EAA grounds in Oshkosh.(Photo: File/Press-Gazette Media)Buy Photo
OSHKOSH – After 55 years, the Wisconsin Public Service Farm Show has earned its place among the harbingers of spring in eastern Wisconsin.
The show gives farmers a change to chance to check out a wide spectrum of agricultural products ranging from tractors and milking systems, to insurance. It also gives vendors an opportunity to connect for farmers to develop short- and long-term sales.
The three-day show — which runs March 24-26 — draws about 20,000 visitors and 500 exhibitors. It's held on the Experimental Aircraft Association grounds in Oshkosh.
"It's a very good show for us," said Ron Zygarlicke, marketing coordinator of Marshfield-based H&S Manufacturing Co. "It's a starting point ... We're talking about the product and the knowledge. If customers are interested in doing something, we ask the questions and we'll hook them up with a dealer."
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Mark Horst, president of Marcrest Manufacturing, demonstrates the Bale Baron small-bale hay-packaging system during the 2013 WPS Farm Show at the EAA grounds in Oshkosh. (Photo: File/Press-Gazette Media)
H&S builds forage and manure handling equipment sold through more than 500 dealers and distributors around the United States.
The show's manager, Rob Juneau, said there's a backlog of vendors. Organizers are adding a tent — offering exhibition space to about 40 more businesses — to the mix of indoor and outdoor exhibition space this year.
"Every year we have more and more people that want to be in the show and we just can't get them in," he said. "We've still got another 50 people on a waiting list to get into the show ... and the existing exhibitors want bigger booth spaces."
The Apollo MilkSystem is on display at the 2013 WPS Farm Show. (Photo: File/Press-Gazette Media)
Juneau, a WPS employee who also runs a dairy operation in Brown County, said he can't pin the ongoing success of the show to anyone factor, but says the date of the show, location, and the quality of vendors may be contributing factors.
Waldo Riesterer, general manager of Chilton-based John Deere dealer Riesterer & Schnell, said the Oshkosh location is in the heart of the dealership's market which includes a dozen locations .
"It's an opportunity to touch base with a lot of our customers over a three-day period of time," he said. "
So how does an Green Bay utility get — and stay — involved in a farm show?
"When we started 55 years ago, electricity was going out to farms, so we were trying to get people to use barn cleaners, vacuum pumps and all that stuff, it was almost like an electric promotion show," he said. "Over the years ... it got to be a farm show.
"Today some of those (original vendors) are still in business, but instead of selling vacuum pumps they're selling robots," he said. "The show has evolved."
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