Farm Ready Research Webinars

Farm Ready Research is Extension’s agriculture winter webinar meeting series for farmers and ag professionals. Join the webinars to learn the most up-to-date information on topics from dairy and livestock production to farm management resources. Sessions begin December 2020 and run through April 2021. Review the program topics and descriptions, and register at: https://extension.wisc.edu/agriculture/farm-ready-research/

Upcoming programs February – March:

• • February 2, 1 PM, Badger Dairy Insight: Animal care on the farm and beyond
  • February 5, 11 AM, Farm Management Fridays: Standing Strong and Resolute as a Guardian of Your Equity
  • February 9, 1 PM, Badger Dairy Insight: Preventing Injuries When Working with Cattle
  • February 9, 7 PM, Beef: Management of Newly Weaned Calves in the Feedlot
  • February 16, 1 PM, Badger Dairy Insight: Getting the Most Out of Your Farm’s Data
  • February 17, 7:30 PM, Small Ruminants: Getting your timing right: producing for the ethnic markets
  • February 19, 11 AM, Farm Management Fridays: Is Fair Equal?
  • February 23 11 AM, Badger Dairy Insight: Getting the most out of your Forages
  • February 23, 7PM Beef: Hairy Heel Wart: A Threat for the Health and Production of Cattle in Beef Operations
  • March 2, 1 PM, Badger Dairy Insight: Optimizing the use of sexed semen in your dairy herd
  • March 5, 11 AM, Farm Management Fridays: Building a positive farm business culture, with employee health and safety
  • March 9, 1 PM, Badger Dairy Insight: Oh, Crash! Safety consideration for agricultural implemented on roads
  • March 9, 7 PM, Beef: Pasture weed management
  • March 16, 1 PM, Badger Dairy Insight: Improving diary farm efficiency through genetics
  • March 17, 7:30 PM Small Ruminants: Building your brand for the future, innovative marketing (registration link coming soon)
  • March 19, 11 AM, Farm Management Fridays: Your farm startup: Where to begin and who can help?
  • March 23, 7 PM, Beef & Small Ruminant: Direct marketing meat and introduction to meat suite
  • March 30, 1 PM, Badger Dairy Insight: Robotic farm management; What’s different?

Focus on Forage Webinar Series

• Focus on Forage is a FREE, 7-part Extension webinar series highlighting research-based information and farmer strategies to optimize forage yield, quality, and profitability in Wisconsin.
• February 3: Using small grains to fill a forage niche (Scott Reuss and Dr. Matt Akins)
• February 10: Alternative forage strategies (Tom Kilcer, Advanced Ag Systems)
• February 24: Alfalfa-Fescue mixtures for dairy forage (Dr. Jerry Cherney, Cornell University)
• March 3: TBD

Focus on Forage webinars will be held weekly on Wednesdays from 12:30 to 1:30 pm from January 13^th through March 3^rd. CCA CEUs will be offered for each webinar. Webinars are free, but registration is required by 5 pm the day before the event at https://go.wisc.edu/334pqz. A Zoom link will be emailed to registrants. For more information on the Focus on Forage webinar series contact Ashley Blackburn, Nutrient and Pest Management Outreach Specialist, at aablackburn@wisc.edu.

Heart of the Farm, Women in Agriculture, Coffee Chats

February 8th, How to Read and Understand Your Milk Check
Speaker: Mark Stephenson, Director of Dairy Policy Analysis and Center for Dairy Profitability and the University of Wisconsin-Madison, Division of Extension
Are you confused about what is printed on your milk check and what all the components are? Are you having difficulty reading your statement and knowing if the payments, particularly the premiums paid, are on par with what other producers are receiving. Dr. Stephenson will review where the numbers on your milk check come from and what they mean to your operation.

March 8th, Developing your Farm Product Brand
Speaker: Jenni Gavin, Gavin Farms, Reedsburg, WI.
Ever wanted to brand and market your farm’s product? Jenny Gavin will discuss how she and her husband developed a brand and began to market their beef directly to consumers. They just opened a farm store where they market their beef as well as other local food products. Jenni is very excited to share their story, how they created their brand and what it has looked like for them to market their beef locally.

Register online at: https://uwmadison.zoom.us/meeting/register/tJItceirrzkvEtfMSLLljrhhSJFMymAHHUA4 Once registered, you will receive an email confirmation containing information about joining the meeting. Registered participants will only need the meeting website link or phone number to participate. More information can be found on the Heart of the Farm website: https://fyi.extension.wisc.edu/heartofthefarm, by calling your local UW-Madison Division of Extension County office, or contact Jenny Vanderlin, jenny.vanderlin@wisc.edu, 608-263-7795.

Division of Extension and DATCP Farm Center seeking farmers willing to discuss farm stressors and challenges

UW Extension and the Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection’s (DATCP) Farm Center are partnering on a project to learn about farmers’/farm families’ unique challenges and stressors. This information will be used to teach health care and mental health care professionals about farm life and farm culture so they can better support their patients/clients in Wisconsin’s rural communities.

Farmers who are willing to participate will join a teleconference by phone. During the teleconference facilitators will ask a series of questions to generate discussion among the farmers on the call. The time commitment is approximately 1 ½ hours. Participants will be able to join anonymously, and the information and discussion will be kept confidential.

The two opportunities to join are:

• • February 16, 1:00 pm – 2:30 pm
  • February 18, 8:00 pm – 9:30 pm

If you are farmer interested in participating in one of these focus group teleconferences, please register by completing this online form: https://go.wisc.edu/5pz9iy or contact Morgan Cavitt at morgan.cavitt@wisconsin.gov, 608.224.5050. If you have questions, contact morgan.cavitt@wisconsin.gov  608.224.5050 or Joy.kirkpatrick@wisc.edu, 608.263.3485

These farmer focus groups are part of the Wisconsin Farmer & Rancher Stress Assistance Network, a research project sponsored by USDA-NIFA 2020-70028-32728.