For those who want to learn how to start a dairy or livestock
business but don”t have the time or resources to attend class at the
University of Wisconsin-Madison, the Wisconsin School for Beginning
Dairy and Livestock Farmers (WSBDF) also simulcasts its program to
classrooms in Frederic, Independence, Wausau, Thorp, Chilton,
Reedsburg, and Platteville.

The sites offer much more than a video feed to Madison. Joining the
students at each site will be an on-site instructor, grazing
specialists, farm lenders, and mentor farmers from the area. The
curriculum ranges from farm selection, design and remodeling to
animal and grass management to business planning.

Many formers students say that the live, local component site is the
richest part of the distance education program, says Dick Cates, the
school”s director.

“What they find the most valuable is getting to meet others with
their same passion for farming,” Cates says.

Students particularly like talking to successful local farmers, many
of them graduates of the program, says Tom Cadwallader, a UW-
Extension agent who coordinates the Wausau classroom.

“Students tell us that learning from people who actually farm in the
real world was very important,” Cadwallader says. “When farmers spoke
from our site, students would stick around after class to learn more.”

Students at each site can also take farm tours, attend conferences
and have opportunities for internships.

More than 80 percent of those who graduated from WSBDF since 1995 are
currently dairy or livestock farming. Of those, about half have
started their own farm businesses.

The school is offered through the UW-Madison Farm and Industry Short
Course. The 15-week course begins Nov 13 and meets every Thursday
from 11 a.m.-1:15 p.m. through March 26 (the class switches to
Tuesday during Thanksgiving week and takes a four-week break in late
December and January).

Tuition and fees vary by site, number of credits earned, and how the
student enrolls. Typically, a student pays between $200 and $300.
Students can take the course for no credit, or for 1-3 credits
through either UW-Madison or several Wisconsin Technical Colleges,
paying the per-credit fee charged by that institution.

The deadline for applications for the distance sites is Nov. 1. Space
is limited, so applying early is recommended. Some scholarships are
available. Those interested in taken the course at given site should
contact that site”s facilitator:

– Chilton: Jeremy Hanson, FVTC Farm Business & Production Management,
920-849-4416; hanson@fvtc.edu

– Frederic: Otto Wiegand, UW-Extension, Washburn, Sawyer and Burnett
Counties, 715-635-3506; otto.wiegand@ces.uwex.edu

– Independence: Mary Anderson, River Country RC&D, 715-538-4396 ext
33, mary.anderson@rcdnet.net

– Madison: Richard Cates, WSBDF Director, 608-265-6437 or
608-588-2836; rlcates@wisc.edu

– Platteville: Gretchen Kamps, School of Agriculture, 608-342-1371;
kampsg@uwplatt.edu

– Reedsburg: Doug Marshall, MATC-Reedsburg, 608-524-7727;
dmarshall@matcmadison.edu

– Thorp: Maria Bendixen, Clark County UW-Extension, 715-743-5121;
maria.bendixen@ces.uwex.edu

– Wausau: Tom Cadwallader, UW-Extension, Lincoln & Marathon Counties,
715-539-1072 or 715-261-1240; TCadwallader@co.lincoln.wi.us

More Information about the WSBDF is available online at http://
www.cias.wisc.edu/dairysch.html.