Date: 11/21/11-6/29/12
Travel With Pam & Holiday Vacations
Date: 5/26/12-7/1/12
June Dairy Breakfast Schedule
Date: 5/26/12
Green Co. Dairy Breakfast
Date: 6/2/12
Rock Co Breakfast on the Farm
Farm Events: |
Farm News: Tomandl Named Grazing AdvocatecommentsPosted: 02.07.2012
When Joe Tomandl, III accepted the Grazing Advocate Award at this year’s Grazing Conference, he may have been the only person in the room who was surprised. His work on the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship Program has received much attention over the past year. The exciting new program was developed in partnership with GrassWorks, Inc. and the Wisconsin Department for Workforce Development with funding support from USDA-National Institute for Food and Agriculture’s Beginning Farmer and Rancher Program. It provides unprecedented training support for new dairy farmers by combining paid on-farm training with formal instruction and creates a pathway for farm transfer to the next generation.
Tomandl would be the first to acknowledge that the Dairy Grazing Apprenticeship Program is the result of the combined efforts of many individuals and has roots in a grazing movement that began decades ago. But there is no doubt that the program owes its immediate and impressive success to his vision, leadership, and enthusiasm as well as his tireless commitment to getting the work done.
While the Apprenticeship Program is currently a primary focus, Tomandl has a strong history as a grazing advocate. He graduated from UW-River Falls in 1994 with a degree in Agriculture Education, taught high school for a few years, and wrote the first grazing curriculum for high school and technical college agriculture teachers. In 1998, he left teaching to farm and purchased 35 Jersey cows that he grazed rotationally on 80 acres. By the mid-2000s, he had grown the herd to 150 cows and youngstock on 320 owned and rented acres with a new parlor and upgraded facilities. This was the successful grazier model. In 2009, he purchased a second grazing farm, with 180 cows and 200 acres, which is currently managed by his Dairy Grazing Apprentice, who will have the option of transitioning into ownership.
Throughout his farming career, Tomandl has been active in the grazing community, participating in the Central Wisconsin River Graziers Network, serving as President of the GrassWorks Board of Directors, conducting seminars at the Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy and Livestock Farmers, and presenting at the GrassWorks Grazing Conference and other farming conferences through the state and the region.
The Grazing Advocate Award is given annually at the GrassWorks Grazing Conference to recognize individuals who have helped to facilitate the adoption of managed grazing and whose work on behalf of the grazing community is exceptional.
|