Badgerland Financial, Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation and UW Cooperative Extension have announced an expanded conference agenda for their second annual Wisconsin Ag Women’s Summit, to be held April 27-28, 2012, at the Kalahari Resort in Wisconsin Dells. The agenda includes not only one – but two – keynote presenters, including Kevin Hall and Paul Wesselmann. Hall, an acclaimed business consultant, coach and bestselling author of Aspire, will present “Transform Your Life through the Power of Words” and help attendees discover the inherent power of key words that function as passwords for unlocking purpose and potential. Wesselmann, aka The Ripples Guy, will explore actions to get more out of work, school, family and life through his presentation “GREAT Expectations: Five Awesome Actions for Success in Work & Life.” His weekly inspirational email RIPPLES is read by more than 27,000 subscribers around the world.

ABS Global, Inc. recently wrapped up a successful week of World Dairy Expo festivities, including facility tours, farm tours, and progeny success in the dairy cattle shows. More than 600 guests from 15 different states and countries took advantage of facility tours held Monday through Friday at the ABS headquarters in DeForest, Wisconsin. On Monday, ABS had the opportunity to host the National 4-H Conference group and more than 200 youth and chaperones at ABS Dekorra, just outside of Poynette, Wisconsin.

Click here to download a pdf of the latest checkoff watch, provided by Dairy Management, Inc. PD

DeLaval recently wrapped up its 2011 Profound Productivity Tour schedule with the VMS Freedom to Choose Tour and the World Dairy Expo Tour. The company hosted a total of more than 70 visitors at dairy farms in the U.S. and Canada and showcased a wide variety of DeLaval milking solutions where herd sizes ranged from 60 to 8,000 cows. Both tours also included a day at some of the industry’s largest tradeshows in North America.

“The Aerial Environment: Fresh Air and Plenty of It” will be the topic of the next session of the Technology Tuesdays webinar series offered by the Penn State Extension Dairy Team. The webinar will be held Nov. 8 from 8:30 to 10 a.m., Eastern time, and is free of charge. The session is part of the webinar series’ cow-centered housing segment, which focuses on design and evaluation of dairy housing from the cow’s perspective, particularly as it relates to cow comfort and well-being.

When the dairy producer leaders of the United Dairymen of Idaho (UDI) and its two branches – the Idaho Dairy Products Commission and the Idaho Dairymen’s Association – agreed to establish a scholarship program this year, they intended to award $1,500 scholarships to seven deserving students of Idaho dairy farm families. An overwhelming response, however, changed all that and immediately raised the bar.

A Waukesha County dairy farm family with a long history of soil conservation has been chosen to receive the Leopold Conservation Award from Sand County Foundation and the Wisconsin Farm Bureau Federation. The award announcement was made during a meeting of the state Natural Resources Board. The Koepke family, from Oconomowoc, Wisconsin, will receive the $10,000 award and a Leopold crystal Dec. 4 at the WFBF Annual Meeting in Wisconsin Dells, Wisconsin.

South Dakota State University has hired 44 new field specialists to staff the eight regional centers for the newly restructured SDSU Extension program. SDSU Extension provides expertise to South Dakota residents on topics such as agriculture and natural resources.