Posted: 10.06.2010
If you’re an aspiring dairy or livestock farmer looking for some
instruction and mentoring within reasonable driving distance, the
Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy and Livestock Farmers (WSBDF)
wants to hear from you.
Co-directors Dick Cates and Jennifer Taylor hope to offer WSBDF’s
distance education program at seventeen sites around the state this
year. In order to offer the program at a given site, at least three
students have to sign up to attend there.
Participants in the Farm Services Agency’s (FSA) beginning farmer loan
programs can sign up to attend WSBDF to obtain the business training
that FSA programs require.
The distance education classrooms are designed for students who want
start farming but aren’t able to attend class in Madison. Taylor
describes these classrooms as “high tech - high touch.” Each will have
video and audio hookups so that students can participate in the weekly
seminar based in Madison, but will also have an on-site instructor and
feature guest lectures by area grazing specialists, farm lenders and
experienced farmers. Students also tour local farms and have
opportunities for internships and conference attendance.
"Students consistently tell us that hearing from farmers, especially
young graduates of the WSBDF who are succeeding in dairy and livestock
farming, is one of their favorite parts of the program," Taylor says.
The curriculum covers all aspects of business planning, from farm
selection, design and remodeling, to animal and pasture management.
More than 80 percent of those who graduated from WSBDF since 1996 are
now farming. Of those, about half started their own farm businesses.
The school is offered through the UW-Madison Farm and Industry Short
Course. The 15-week course begins November 11 and meets every Thursday
from 11 a.m.-1:15 p.m. through March 24 (the class meets Tuesday,
November 23rd during Thanksgiving week and takes a four-week break in
late December and January).
Tuition and fees vary by site, number of credits earned, and how the
student enrolls. Typically, a student taking the class at one of the
off-campus sites pays between $225 and $300 which includes creating a
business plan. Students can take the course for a certificate of
completion, or for 1-3 college credits (either UW-Madison or Wisconsin
Technical College), paying the per-credit fee charged by the
institution.
The deadline for applications for the distance sites is Nov. 1. Some
scholarships are available. Those interested should contact the
facilitator at one of these locations:
Antigo: Alex Crockford, UW-Extension, Langlade County, 715-627-6236, alex.crockford@ces.uwex.edu
Appleton: Randy Tenpas, Fox Valley Technical College, 920-735-5673, tenpas@fvtc.edu
Balsam Lake: Ryan Sterry, UW-Extension, Polk County, 715-485-8600; ryan.sterry@ces.uwex.edu
Chilton: Jeremy Hanson, Fox Valley Technical College @ Chilton
Regional Center, 920- 849-4416; hanson@fvtc.edu or Greg Booher,
Lakeshore Technical College, 920-693-1241; greg.booher@gotoltc.edu
Independence: Mary Anderson, River Country RC&D, 715-538-4396 ext 33; mary.anderson@rcdnet.net
Lancaster: Arin Crooks, Agricultural Research Station, 608-723-2580; aecrooks@wisc.edu
Neillsville: Maria Bendixen, UW-Extension, Clark County, 715-743-5121; maria.bendixen@ces.uwex.edu
Medford: Sandy Stuttgen, UW-Extension, Taylor County, 715-748-3327; sandy.stuttgen@ces.uwex.edu
Menomonie: Mark Denk, Chippewa Valley Technical College, 715-577-3036; mdenk1@cvtc.edu
Phillips: Mark Kopecky, UW-Extension Price County, 715-339-2555;
mark.kopecky@ces.uwex.edu
Prairie du Chien: Vance Haugen, UW Extension, Crawford County,
608-326-0223; vance.haugen@ces.uwex.edu
Reedsburg: Doug Marshall, MATC-Reedsburg, 608-524-7727; dmarshall@matcmadison.edu
Spooner: Otto Wiegand, UW-Extension, Washburn, Sawyer & Burnett
Counties, 715-635-3506, otto.wiegand@ces.uwex.edu
Thorp: Brad Sirianni, Chippewa Valley Technical College, 715-579-5834;
bsirianni@cvtc.edu
Viroqua: Jean Stramel, Grazing Specialist, 608-647-8874 ext110;
jean.stramel@wi.usda.gov
Waupaca: Lynn Jerrett, Fox Valley Technical College, 920-831-4387; jerrett@fvtc.edu
Wausau: Melissa Klein, Northcentral Technical College, 715-803-1671; klein@ntc.edu
To get application materials to attend the WSBDF on the Madison
campus, or to get more information about any aspect of the program, go
online to www.cias.wisc.edu/dairysch.html or call 608-265-6437.
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