Dominique Ahrens has a passion for animals, dedicating her time to helping youth in Kewaunee County 4-H with animal projects and working on her family’s small farmstead, raising milking goats, Suffolk sheep, chickens and many other animals. Recently, she took her passion for animals, dairy goats in particular, one step further, becoming the first graduate of Southwest Wisconsin Technical College’s Dairy Goat Herd Management Certificate program. ... Read more
The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association is calling for nominations of individuals to be considered for formal recognition in 2020 for their outstanding contributions to the dairy processing industry. Association members have through Aug. 16 to make their recommendations for the following awards.
MADISON — Wisconsin Gov. Tony Evers recently signed the state’s 2019-21 biennial budget, providing $8.8 million in funding for broadly defined dairy research at UW-Madison, UW-Platteville and UW-River Falls, a move dairy supporters from across the state are applauding.
Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin is teaming up with the Milwaukee Brewers all season long to highlight the importance of Wisconsin’s signature industry for consumers and to honor Wisconsin dairy farmers with numerous activities and an Aug. 11 Farmers Appreciation Day and pre-game tailgate.
The Agriculture Department’s latest Crop Progress report shows 98% of U.S. corn has emerged, as of the week ending July 7, up from 94% the previous week and just 2% below a year ago and the five year average. 57% of the crop is rated good to excellent, down from 75% a year ago.
MENOMONIE — The patch in the corn field that doesn’t look like it’s in as good of shape as the corn surrounding it isn’t his fault, claims Dave Styer of Alfalawn Farm.
World Dairy Expo is now accepting entries for its 53rd annual Dairy Cattle Show, to be held Oct. 1-5 in Madison.
DURAND — As a beginning dairy farmer, Tom Brenner has taken a much different approach to starting a farm of his own than many of his peers.
Dairy farmers, allied members of the dairy community and guests are invited to attend annual policy picnics July 17-18, co-hosted by Dairy Business Association and Edge Dairy Farmer Cooperative and held at four locations over two days on member farms. Each free policy picnic will include a m…
The robots have upended everything, Tina Hinchley says.
A true Wisconsin original, the first ice cream sundae was invented in Two Rivers. In 1881, a customer at Edward C. Berner’s soda fountain asked for his ice cream topped with chocolate sauce. Previously, chocolate sauce was reserved only for ice cream sodas. Originally this new combination wa…
MADISON — Registration is open now for the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association Young Professionals outing to a Milwaukee Brewers game at Miller Park on Friday, Aug. 9. Seating is limited, so reserve tickets at WisCheeseMaker.org.
The Agriculture Department announced the June Federal order benchmark milk price at $16.27 per hundredweight, down 11 cents from May but $1.06 above June 2018 and is $1.84 above what California’s 4b cheese milk price was in June 2018. While down from May, it’s the highest Class III price sin…
PLAINVIEW — With alfalfa in the crop rotation and pastureland in the mix, Stacy Miller’s 350-acre dairy farm already played a role in filtering runoff flowing toward the Mississippi River. With a new lagoon and nutrient management plan, the 85-cow operation now does even more to protect grou…
Dairy manufacturers from throughout the state submitted a record number 445 entries for the 2019 Wisconsin State Fair Dairy Products Contest, which took place June 20 at Wisconsin State Fair Park. The contest featured 39 classes, including a new division for milk.
Three Wisconsin dairies and one Minnesota dairy farm will be featured at this year’s World Dairy Expo, participating in the event’s virtual farm tours, which are presented daily to showcase a variety of farm aspects including genetics, technology, community engagement, environmental stewards…
MADISON — Wisconsin Agriculture Secretary Brad Pfaff couldn’t help but smile as he addressed the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin board of directors last Wednesday, June 19. He recognized a lot of familiar faces and was reminded of the time when his own father served on the former Wisconsin Milk M…
The evening of May 11, 2019, will forever hold a special place in my heart. That night, in an auditorium filled with members of the Wisconsin agriculture community, I heard my name called to serve as our state’s 72nd Alice in Dairyland. As a farm girl since day one, agriculture has been my p…
The Agriculture Department lowered its 2019 milk production estimate for the seventh month in a row in the latest World Agricultural Supply and Demand Estimates report, blaming slower-than-anticipated growth in milk per cow and lower expected cow numbers. The 2020 forecast was also reduced a…
The Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection has certified the board of directors election results for the Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin, formerly known as the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board.
The Agriculture Department’s monthly benchmark milk price has reached the highest level in more than a year and a half. The May Federal order Class III price was announced at $16.38 per hundredweight, up 42 cents from April, $1.20 above May 2018, and the highest Class III price since November 2017.
With fewer family dairy farms scattered throughout the countryside, the job of the milk tester has utterly changed as well.
INDEPENDENCE — When George Gierok has to track down a stray member of his dairy herd, he just has get to the top of a hill and have a listen.
The Hoard Historical Museum and National Dairy Shrine in Fort Atkinson will be hosting the fifth annual Dairy Day at the MOOseum on Saturday, June 15, from 11 a.m. to 2 p.m. The event highlights the importance of dairy farming, past and present, and is free to attend.
PLATTEVILLE — Out of 51 recommendations brought forward by Dairy Task Force 2.0 earlier this year, one in particular has received a significant amount of attention from both members of the task force and allies in Wisconsin’s dairy industry.
Cash dairy prices were mixed in the shortened Memorial Day holiday week as the market was somewhat starved for information.
TAYLOR — Steve and Pat Kling were celebrating an anniversary during the May 16 Coulee Graziers Pasture Walk hosted by the couple.
The Dairy Farmers of Wisconsin marketing team took home a gold award for their Wisconsin Cheese brand activation at the 2019 Association of National Advertisers REGGIE Awards competition recently.
The May 17 announcement that the U.S. would lift steel and aluminum tariffs on Canada and Mexico drew praise from dairy producers and processors this week and raised hopes in the dairy industry. Mexico, in turn, lifted its retaliatory tariffs against U.S. cheese exports. The break in the log…
The talk of the week was China’s retaliatory tariffs against the U.S. on $60 billion of goods in response to President Donald Trump’s upping the ante by raising tariffs on imports from China.
Galen Emanuele will bring his encouraging message, “Create a ‘Yes’ Culture on Your Farm,” to the 2019 National Holstein Convention in Appleton. He will speak from noon to 1:20 p.m. Thursday, June 27.
PRAIRIE FARM — If not for the many twisted, broken trees, little evidence remains of the vicious tornado that ripped through the Cory and Janelle Picknell farm two years ago, tearing the roof off the barn as Cory, his sons and the family dog huddled, terrified, in the corner.
The Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association recently announced that Dave Buholzer of Klondike Cheese Company, Monroe, has been elected to serve as president of the board of directors, beginning July 1.
John Peterson has plenty on his mind these days with a wet spring pushing back the start of planting season.
The Wisconsin Holstein Association will host the 2019 National Holstein Convention, with a theme of “Making Legendairy Leaps,” on June 24-27 in Appleton.
Consumers have a lot of misconceptions about agriculture and the dairy industry, according to Dave Styer of Alfalawn Farm near Menomonie. Styer said his family’s farm allows them the opportunity to better educate the public.
UNITY — Leading up to a May 9 pasture walk on his dairy farm, Jimmy Bloome was a little concerned about the state of his pastures.
It had been 12 years since the Raethke family had hosted a dairy breakfast on their R Green Acres farm. So when they heard the Pepin County Dairy Promotion Council had host farms lined up for the next few years but were still looking for a host for the 2019 breakfast, the Raethkes decided to…
BROWNTOWN — The 40th edition of the Green County Breakfast on the Farm will be held on May 25 at the Minder Family Farm, a fourth-generation dairy farm that supplies the U.S’s only Limburger cheese plant in Monroe. The annual event runs from 6 to 10 a.m. and features breakfast, live musical …
Wisconsin dairy farmer Dean Strauss of Majestic Crossing Dairy was presented with a national award for Outstanding Dairy Farm Sustainability at the eighth annual U.S. Dairy Sustainability Award ceremony May 8 in Rosemont, Ill. The farm was one of three national winners in their category.
Dairy Pricing Association, a Capper-Volstead cooperative in Taylor, has completed its first purchase of whole milk powder for distribution to humanitarian causes overseas while simultaneously removing milk from a saturated market to boost farmgate milk prices.
With the number of dairy farms in Wisconsin in decline, many counties are struggling to find hosts for their dairy breakfasts or have moved their events off the farm.
BANGOR — For a couple of days at the end of March, the future didn’t look promising for the La Crosse County Dairy Breakfast.
The dairy industry’s continued woes were the subject of the first hearing this year for the U.S. House Agriculture Committee’s Subcommittee on Livestock and Foreign Agriculture. The hearing was held April 30 in Washington, D.C.
Dairy farmers got a bit of welcomed relief with the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s May Day announcement of the new class and component prices for April, as the Class III milk price rose almost $1, to $15.96 per hundredweight.
JEFFERSON — The Kutz family welcomed nearly 700 students, 35 teachers and 151 adult chaperones from 21 different Jefferson County schools to their dairy farm on May 1 for the 26th Annual Fourth Grade Farm Tour. The free field trip is sponsored by the Jefferson County Farm Bureau and the Jeff…
MADISON — In urban hubs across China, young people are lining up by the hundreds to try a new product: cheese tea. Promoted by a tea store called HEYTEA, the specialty tea is made with a layer of cream cheese whipped topping floating on top, with HEYTEA representatives claiming the salty che…
U.S. dairy officials on April 26 lauded the U.S. Trade Representative’s Office for denouncing Europe’s anti-trade agenda against common-name food products and pursuing avenues to preserve U.S. export access rights.
MADISON — According to K.J. Burrington of the Center for Dairy Research, farmers and others in the industry have been asking about how dairy-based and plant-based products compare for a while now, making it a timely topic for the recent Dairy Exchange, a dairy-centered forum held four times …
