DAIRY NEWS – Four Wisconsin dairy farms are opening their doors to community members, elected officials, business leaders and fellow farmers for the 2024 Agricultural Community Engagement® (ACE) Twilight Meetings. The free events are designed to spark positive conversations and ideas to strengthen rural communities and will feature tours of each host farm – and ice cream for all attendees.
Made possible through a partnership between Professional Dairy Producers® (PDP), Wisconsin Counties Association and the Wisconsin Towns Association, each meeting will begin with a tour of the host dairy farm at 6:00 p.m., providing attendees an up-close look at how animals are cared for, housed and fed. Attendees will also have the opportunity to view each dairy’s facilities and learn more about the technologies they use. Ice cream will be served at 7:00 p.m., with open dialogue about such issues as water, conservation, roadways and transportation, educational opportunities, protecting shared resources, and more. Meetings will conclude at 8:30 p.m.
The 2024 ACE Twilight Meetings host farms are:
- Mon., Aug. 26 – Luckwaldt Agriculture Inc in St. Croix County (2606 County Rd. D, Woodville, Wis.). Hosted by Dan and Mary Luckwaldt family, who milk around 1,400 cows and work 2,300 acres of crop land.
- Tue., Aug. 27 – Grass Ridge Farm in Wood County (7916 Apple Rd., Pittsville, Wis. – at the heifer farm location). Hosted by Matt, Paul and Carl Lippert. After more than 100 years of Lipperts operating the family-owned dairy, they’ve grown their farm from the original 100 cows and 80 acres to today’s 600 registered Holstein and Jersey milking cows, and farming about 2,000 acres.
- Wed., Aug. 28 – Pagels Ponderosa Dairy LLC in Kewaunee County (N4893 County Rd. C, Kewaunee, Wis.). JJ and Chase Pagel family, Bryan and Ashley Pagel family and Jamie Witcpalek family will provide tours of the dairy that milks 5,500 cows and raises crops on 7,500 acres. The dairy features an on-farm digester that produces renewable natural gas.
- Thu., Aug. 29 – Wargo Acres, Inc., in Columbia County (W13157 Cty Rd J, Lodi, Wis.). Hosted by Gordon and Emily Carncross, and Craig and Jen Carncross family, whose breeding focus is on cows with a balance of production and type. They recently collaborated with the Lake Wisconsin Farmer Watershed Council and Columbia County Land & Water Conservation to showcase the conservation efforts they’ve incorporated into their family dairy farm.
Bring your questions to these meetings and plan to engage in the discussions. To learn more and to register for the free event, visit www.PDPW.org or contact PDP at 800-947-7379. Follow along digitally in advance of and during the event by following @dairyPDPW on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram, and LinkedIn.
“Professional Dairy Producers (PDP) is the nation’s largest dairy producer-led organization of its kind, focusing on producer professionalism, stakeholder engagement and unified outreach to share ideas, solutions, resources and experiences that help dairy producers succeed.”
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