Photo gallery Chancellor Mnookin tours dairy farm, highlights research efforts
Chancellor Jennifer L. Mnookin on Monday toured the Schmidt family farm in Lone Rock, Wis., a 3,000-cow dairy operation that produces 330,000 pounds of milk daily. The family told her about their commitment to sustainable farming practices and the key role UW–Madison plays in the dairy industry in Wisconsin and beyond. Mnookin also visited UW–Platteville’s Pioneer Farm on Monday, highlighting UW–Madison’s Dairy Innovation Hub partnership with UW–Platteville and UW–River Falls. The Dairy Innovation Hub receives $7.8 million from the state annually with the goal of conducting research and offering support to keep Wisconsin’s dairy community at the global forefront in producing nutritious dairy products in an economically, environmentally and socially sustainable manner. In Wisconsin, 79,000 jobs are dairy farming or processing related, with 6,275 dairy farms that produce 31.7 billion pounds of milk.
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin (right) laughs with State Sen. Howard Marklein as they tour the Schmidt Dairy Farm in Lone Rock, Wis. Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin (center) looks at the rotary milking parlor with Schmidt Dairy Farm owner Randy Schmidt (left) and Schmidt’s son Ryan Schmidt (right). In this 72-stall rotary milking parlor, four farm workers stand in place around the circle to prep, harvest the milk, and post-dip the cows as they pass by. Each cow can produce 10 pounds of cheese a day, and overall they produce 330,000 pounds of milk each day. Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Chancellor Jennifer Mnookin greets a dairy cow as she tours the Dairy Innovation Hub at Pioneer Farms at UW–Platteville. Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Chancellor Mnookin (right) walks with Wisconsin state Sen. Howard Marklein (center) and UW–Platteville Interim Chancellor Tammy Evetovich (left) during a tour of Pioneer Farms. Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Chancellor Mnookin smiles as UW–Platteville Interim Chancellor Tammy Evetovich (at right) takes a photo of her holding some Total Mixed Rations at Pioneer Farms. Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Second from right, Chancellor Mnookin listens to Ryan Schmidt talk about cow maternal health along with (counterclockwise) Sen. Howard Marklein; Glenda Gillaspy, dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences; and Regan Schmidt, as the chancellor toured the Schmidt Dairy Farm. Photo by: Althea Dotzour
Chancellor Mnookin (back left) sits with (clockwise) Glenda Gillaspy, dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences (CALS); Crystal Potts, director of state relations with University Relations; and state Sen. Howard Marklein at Steve’s Pizza in Platteville. Photo by: Althea Dotzour