This handbook will help mentors develop their teaching skills as they progress through their first—or perhaps fortieth—internship. [...more]

For a wide variety of economic, environmental and social reasons, it makes good sense to regard the practice of managed grazing as an effective system for strengthening dairy and livestock farming in Wisconsin. The UW-Madison Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems (CIAS) partnered with GrassWorks, Inc. to develop a statewide, participatory discussion about managed grazing that they called “Blue Sky Greener Pastures” (BSGP). [...more]

CIAS staff member Steve Stevenson is co-author of a new book on the crisis faced by mid-scale farms and ranches, and strategies for reviving these operations. Food and the Mid-Level Farm makes it clear that the demise of midsize farms and ranches is not a foregone conclusion and that the renewal of an agriculture of [...] [...more]

The number of dairy farms in Wisconsin has been declining steadily for years. This decline has inportant implications for the economic, ecological and social sustainability of communities, families and individuals in Wisconsin. Life satisfaction is one important social consideration in agriculture. Without offering a satisfying life, even the most profitable and ecologically sound forms of [...] [...more]

How satisfied are graziers with their lives? According to a recent survey, graziers are more satisfied with all quality of life measures than farmers who use pasture less intensively and operators of small confinement dairies. Dairy graziers and operators of large confinement dairies expressed the same high levels of satisfaction with family time, time with [...] [...more]

The size of the average farm in the Midwest grew steadily in the second half of the 20th century. As farm size has gone up, the number of farms has gone down. The shrinking number of farms in America no longer represents people liberated from the drudgery of agricultural toil. Instead it brings to mind families forced to leave the land and work they love by falling agricultural prices and rising costs of production. [...more]

“I must say it was the hardest I’ve ever worked for free, but somehow I really didn’t mind. I knew that the knowledge I gained was priceless.” Those are the words of Mike Tomandl who recently completed a dairy farm internship in New Zealand. He and fellow intern Joe Heimerl went to New Zealand in July [...] [...more]

Despite volatile milk prices, hundreds of new farmers get started in dairying each year. Compared to other types of livestock farming, dairying can provide a higher income per animal, monthly paychecks, and, in many areas, more markets. [...more]

New dairy farmers often face high start-up costs for land, equipment and facilities. Volatile milk prices, long hours and hard work reduce the appeal of a career in dairy farming. To better understand the start-up strategies used by beginning dairy farmers, a research team surveyed 321 beginning dairy farmers in 1996. They [...] [...more]

You don’t need to take over a family farm, or even grow up on a farm, to be a successful dairy farmer in Wisconsin. You can milk 50 or 150 cows, and you can own or rent land. But you do need to identify how well your experience, financial resources, and farming support networks can [...] [...more]