Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison are approaching the halfway mark in a nationwide survey of dairy producers that’s part of an effort to prevent Johne’s disease. Cooperating dairy producers will get free confidential testing of their cows, and they’ll be helping to reduce the impact of a disease that costs the U.S. dairy industry hundreds of millions of dollars every year.

Health insurance is almost always expensive for the self-employed, because they do not have access to large-pool group insurance and its associated lower premiums. However, among the self-employed, farmers are especially hard-hit.

As anyone who has driven across rural Wisconsin can tell you, tower silos are one of the most prominent features on the landscape. Up to 100 feet high, these domed towers are the traditional method of storing forage to feed livestock during the winter. In recent years, however, huge plastic “sausages” have sprouted throughout farm country.

We may never know how chronic wasting disease got into Wisconsin’s wild deer herd, but we’re going to get a better idea of how the disease could move across the state’s farm and forest landscapes.

Since the discovery of Chronic Wasting Disease (CWD) in Wisconsin deer this past spring, many individuals have expressed concern over the safety of venison. This fact sheet is designed to give you some background information on CWD, and to answer questions related to venison safety and handling this fall.

In 1999, jobs on dairy farms and in dairy processing plants produced about $1.9 billion in income for 80,500 jobholders in Wisconsin. Total industry sales came to $11.7 billion, or 1.3 percent of the state’s total industrial sales. That’s a pile of money, but it’s only a partial measure of the dairy industry’s contribution to Wisconsin’s economy, according to a researcher at the UW-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

The University of Wisconsin-Madison and the Friends of Troy Gardens have begun a project dedicated to research, education, and outreach at Troy Gardens on Madison’s north side.

The kura clover pastures at the Arlington Agricultural Research station have entered their fourth growing season. The pastures are grazed by dairy cows, and on Wednesday, June 26 they’ll be the focus of a Pasture Day at the station.

Anyone who shops the Dane County Farmers’ Market knows that locally grown food is healthy eating at its best. But did you know that there are many other opportunities to buy fresh, tasty produce, meat, cheese, and other locally grown food directly from farmers and businesses?

A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison biologists and computer scientists has received nearly $5 million to train students to handle the increasingly complex problems that researchers in biology and medicine will face.