Roden Echo Valley LLC, a 550-cow family dairy located just outside of West Bend, Wisconsin, has taken on the challenge of educating their community on just what a dairy farm consists of. This challenge for many may have been too large or intimidating to attempt, but with the enthusiasm and leadership of their youngest daughter, Jacki Roden, the family dairy became a classroom.

Around 8:30 p.m. on the night of Aug. 28, 1981, Gary Burley came home from visiting a neighbor of his and found the lights on in his barn. As he went out to see what was going on, he found his wife, Betty, very excited that their first cow had calved and was fresh to milk.

Event: Fire Injury or losses to cattle: 17 newborn calves; 1 cow Insured: Yes Total covered losses: Full coverage

Oregon Dairy Farm LLC in Lancaster County, Pennsylvania, is the 2015 Dairy Beef Quality Assurance (BQA) Award winner. Oregon Dairy Farm is an impressive example of best practices in dairy production as well as a model of how dairy producers can help bolster consumer confidence by producing high-quality beef from dairy cattle.

Age: 27 Location: Richfield, Utah Your agricultural background, in a nutshell: My dad bought his uncle’s farm in 1978 and began milking with 39 cows. In 2005, we were milking 400 cows and had moved the dairy to Richfield.

One Wisconsin county has been selecting young women to serve as year-long dairy promoters for going on 60 years. Read responses from several of the current Green County dairy queens to find out why they are proud to promote dairy farming and dairy products:

Make 1,000 pounds of cheese per week. Age it for two months. Sell it to restaurants and grocery stores in the Chicago area. Sounds like a simple, effective plan, right? Wrong. Or at least that is what dairyman Mike Bandstra quickly learned when he started his Gouda cheese business, Frisian Farms, in Leighton, Iowa.

When it comes to telling agriculture’s story to the general public, Kim Bremmer “sticks” to her trusted resources: sound science and personal experience.