On approximately 450 acres of cropland nestled in the fields of Burlington, Wisconsin, a man and wife are able to farm as one with some credit to agriculture educational programs much like Annie’s Project. Ed and Dawn Noble own and operate Lone Chestnut Farms, LLC, a dairy farm where they milk an average of 120 head of Holstein cattle and grow corn, soybeans, winter wheat and hay.

Minnie Ward is a regional calf and heifer specialist for FAMO Feeds, Inc. Six years ago, Ward and her husband, Randy, began a calf-raising operation near Rochester, Minnesota. She recently spoke at the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin (PDPW) Calf Care Workshops in Wisconsin, sharing the lessons she’s learned from installing one of the first automated calf feeders in the country.

Age: 48 Location: Middleton, Wisconsin. We can see the Wisconsin state capitol in Madison from our farm. My dairy’s history: Blue Star Dairy Farms was established in 1976 by my mother and father-in-law, who had been dairy farming for 30 years, incorporated with their five sons. Over time we’ve become a family partnership which now has three of the brothers and two nephews as partners.

For Progressive Dairyman's Women in Dairy issue (November 21), I asked members of the dairy blogging community to describe their female icons of the dairy industry. Below were the responses we received. I couldn't resist also giving a shoutout to my own female dairy hero, my mom. She's pictured at right with, from left, my sister-in-law Kelly, me (can you tell I'm her daughter?) and my younger sister Sarah. The photo was taken at the 2010 Women in Dairy Conference in Harrisburg, Pennsylvania.

What if the next Bond girl was not a woman, but a bovine? Dairyman Ryan Bright and his blogging undercover bovines believe it’s completely possible. Bright works with his dad and uncle, Douglas and Edward Bright, on a 100-cow dairy in Philadelphia, Tennessee. Bright created a witty blog in November 2010, called The Udder Side, where he writes about fictitious undercover adventures of his herd from a cow’s perspective. “I thought I could do something a little off-centered and be more creative than just, ‘Here’s what I did today on the farm,’” Bright says. “That made it more fun for me to write about and still try to get information to non-agricultural people. They can find something good about the farm and find something to laugh about as well.”

(Click here to listen to the online exclusive audio interview with past intern Jackie Florent.) Golden Oaks Farm in Wauconda, Illinois, is known for a high-quality genetics program – including work in embryo transfer – in both the Holstein and Red and White breeds. In fact, nearly 70 percent of the herd is registered, which is fairly atypical for a dairy of its size. The milking herd consists of about 625 animals with an additional 600 youngstock raised at the farm. Located on the outskirts of Chicago, the farm also regularly hosts tours, not only for cow family enthusiasts but also for the general public, including local schools.

This article was #17 of the Top 25 most well-read articles on www.progressivedairy.com in 2012. to jump to the article. It was published in the November 1, 2011 Extra. Click here for the full list of the Top 25. Ever wonder what happened to Charlie from the original version of Willy Wonka and the Chocolate Factory? He became a dairy veterinarian in New York. This article featured Dr. Peter Ostrum and his decision to go back on camera for Pfizer Animal Health’s YouTube series, “Veterinarians On Call.”