With World Dairy Expo (WDE) 2025 in the rearview mirror and our team settled back into our Chippewa Falls HQ – and across the country – a reflection seemed in order.

If you’ve ever been to WDE, you know that it doesn’t disappoint. The food, alone, is worth the trip, and combined with education and networking, the experience is something special in the dairy industry. WDE is the annual pulse of the industry and the place where ideas meet the do-ers who turn conversation into innovation. With more than 75,000 in attendance, from over 100 different countries, the aisles, booths and dairy shows buzzed with laughter and many languages of conversation, and the endcap at the intersection of aisles 3800 and 3900 was no exception. In 2025, the focus at VES-Artex both internally and externally has been “getting back to our roots”. Every decision we make and every product we conceptualize centers on serving agriculture. So, it was fitting that the theme of this year’s booth was “Let’s Build Your Legacy” featuring the strong agriculture backgrounds of our employees, our company and how our products help farms make it to the next generation. Our booth’s backdrop featured childhood and multi-generational photos of our employees’ own farms, childhoods on the farm and their love of agriculture. Every picture told a story our team was happy to share.

Amongst those conversations, cow comfort was the star of the show with our VES-Artex team helping producers and industry partners leverage our extensive line of solutions to create and improve comfort for every animal in their cow herd. The buzz of the conversations also centered around the new products and solutions in the booth.

Dairy Barn Product Innovations

On display for the first time, the ACE Panel was introduced as the one-stop-shop for dairymen and women to control fans, lighting, soaking systems and more from one simple to use interface. The Mighty Moo is always a fan favorite – both human and bovine. Visitors could spin the brush to life with the lightest pressure, mimicking a cow's curious nudge in the barn. And energy-efficient fans were the backdrop and focus of conversation following record breaking heat this past summer. 

“Our team was able to increase the CFM of our 72” AFR Exhaust Fan to 59,981 CFM in 2025,” said VES-Artex Co-Founder Peter Fahrngruber. “The advancement allows us to deliver industry-leading CFM and, most importantly, industry-leading cow comfort.”

Not to be overlooked, booth visitors also sawthe SLG Standard Self-Lock System in action throughhands-on, see-for-yourself proof that simple upgrades make a big difference for cow comfort, safety and efficiency.

Presenting Proven Research

Conversation is always the highlight, but this year, our VES-Artex team took those conversations to the next level at the Knowledge Nook on Friday morning. Dr. Mario Mondaca, Senior Technical Applications and Research Engineer, shared his work, insights and the importance of “Navigating Sensor-Based Soaking”. Mondaca unpacked the science, technology and practicality behind sensor-driven cooling systems and how they are a must-have in modern dairy management.

“The promise of sensors is precision,” Dr. Mondaca explained. “But only if calibration, maintenance, and context align with real barn conditions.” He went on to share that soaking cows remains one of the most effective and affordable ways to combat heat stress, noting that traditional timer-based systems can be wasteful, spraying water when cows aren’t even in the lane.

“A typical soaking system might run 24/7, regardless of where the cows are;cows are only at the feed lane about 18 percent of the time,” he said“That’s where sensor-based soaking makes a difference. The idea is to let the sensor, not the clock, decide.By limiting spray time to when cows are actually benefiting, farms can save up to 50 percent of their water use on average, and in some cases as much as 70 percent. That’s a huge resource savings without taking away from cow comfort.”

The VES-Artex Intelligent Soaker only allocates water if an animal is present and was developed to both mitigate heat stress and save water for a dairy. Mondaca shared that sensor-based soaking is a step in the right direction, worldwide, in helping dairies steward resources both economically and responsibly.

And with his background in ag and bio-systems engineering, hydrology, and heat-stress management, Mondaca knows; he blends science with on-farm reality everyday to help our customers reach their stewardship, cow comfort and resource savings goals.

Before joining VES-Artex, Mondaca completed his Ph.D. in dairy heat-stress management and a postdoctoral fellowship at the Dairyland Initiative, where he learned the realities of dairy farming – the realities textbooks can’t teach!

His mix of academia and hands-on, real-world practicality make Mondaca a go-to source for dairy producers hoping to improve efficiency, cow comfort and profitability.

In VES-Artex field trials, farms using intelligent, sensor-based soaking systems saw average water savings around 50 percent, with some reaching as high as 70 percent depending on climate and cow behavior.

“Even in Madison, Wisconsin, a soaking system for 100 cows can use around 300,000 gallons of water a year,” Mondaca said. “If you’re in Tucson, that number can triple. So, saving even half of that isn’t just sustainable—it’s significant.”

Efficiency isn’t just about saving water; it’s about preserving comfort while reducing costs. And as producers move toward lower temperature thresholds for heat-stress prevention, precision systems will only become more valuable.

Standing nearby after the session,  Fahrngruber reflected on why WDE continues to matter so much.

“We don’t come to sell—we come to listen,” he said with a smile. “Your struggles are our roadmap. If what you tell us doesn’t change what we build, we’re not doing our job.”

That attitude was easy to see throughout the week. Every conversation—whether about ventilation, energy costs, or new ways to automate barn processes—came back to the same goal: helping cows live more comfortably, helping dairies operate more efficiently and our VES-Artex commitment to both.

“One of our biggest goals as a company this year is to communicate our commitment to the agriculture industry and the farmers we serve,” said Fahrngruber. “We’re now 100% ag-focused and have never been positioned better to help make a difference in the dairy industry.

Every conversation, every handshake, and every shared challenge fuels the next round of innovation for our VES-Artex team. The event drew to a close as a springboard for the ideas and improvements that will take shape in 2026!