November 1 is the deadline to sign up to attend the Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy and Livestock Farmers (WSBDF) at one of its distance education classrooms. The school hopes to offer its distance education program at 17 sites around the state this year, but at least three students must sign up for a site for the program to be offered there.

The distance classrooms are designed for students who aren’t able to
attend class in Madison. Each classroom will have video and audio
links to the school’s weekly seminar in Madison, but will also have an
on-site instructor and feature guest lectures by local grazing
specialists, farm lenders and experienced farmers. Students also tour
local farms and have opportunities to participate in internships and
industry conferences.

The WSBDF curriculum covers all aspects of business planning, from
farm selection, design and remodeling to animal and pasture
management. WSBDF qualifies for the business training required by the
Farm Services Agency’s (FSA) beginning farmer loan programs.

The school is offered through the UW-Madison Farm and Industry Short
Course. The 15-week course begins November 10 and meets every Thursday
from 11 a.m.-1:15 p.m. through March 22 (the class meets Tuesday,
November 22 during Thanksgiving week and takes a four-week break in
late December and January).

Those interested should contact the facilitator at the appropriate site:

Antigo: Alex Crockford, UW-Extension, Langlade County, 715-627-6236, alex.crockford@ces.uwex.edu

Appleton: Randy Tenpas, Fox Valley Technical College, 920-735-5673, tenpas@fvtc.edu

Chilton: Jeremy Hanson, Fox Valley Technical College @ Chilton
Regional Center, 920- 849-4416; hanson@fvtc.edu or Greg Booher,
Lakeshore Technical College, 920-693-1241; greg.booher@gotoltc.edu

Independence: Mary Anderson, River Country RC&D, 715-538-4396 ext 33; maryc@rivercountryrcd.org

Lancaster: Arin Crooks, Agricultural Research Station, 608-723-2580; aecrooks@wisc.edu

Ladysmith: Rich Toebe, UW-Extension, Rusk County, 715-532-2151, richard.toebe@ces.uwex.edu

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

Medford: Sandy Stuttgen, UW-Extension, Taylor County, 715-748-3327; sandy.stuttgen@ces.uwex.edu

Menomonie: Mark Denk, Chippewa Valley Technical College, 715-577-3036; mdenk1@cvtc.edu

Phillips: Mark Kopecky, UW-Extension Price County, 715-339-2555;
mark.kopecky@ces.uwex.edu

Prairie du Chien: Vance Haugen, UW Extension, Crawford County,
608-326-0223; vance.haugen@ces.uwex.edu

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

Spooner: Otto Wiegand, UW-Extension, Washburn, Sawyer & Burnett
Counties, 715-635-3506, otto.wiegand@ces.uwex.edu

Thorp: Brad Sirianni, Chippewa Valley Technical College, 715-579-5834;
bsirianni@cvtc.edu

Viroqua: Jean Stramel, Grazing Specialist, 608-647-8874 ext110;
jean.stramel@wi.usda.gov

Waupaca:  Lynn Jerrett, Fox Valley Technical College, 920-831-4387; jerrett@fvtc.edu

Wausau: Victoria Pietz, Northcentral Technical College, 715-803-1414; pietz@ntc.edu

To get application materials to attend the WSBDF on the Madison
campus, or to get more information about any aspect of the program, go
online to www.cias.wisc.edu/dairysch.html or call 608-265-6437.