Despite the hard work, long hours and stresses associated with farming, most women on Wisconsin dairy farms were positive about their quality of life, according to a new University of Wisconsin-Madison study published in late November.

Registration is still open for the Midwest Dairy Herd Health Conference, Nov. 13-14 at the Ramada Inn Conference Center in Eau Claire. The conference is designed for dairy farmers interested in improving the health of their cows and features a slate of nationally known educators and a tour of Five Star Dairy LLC in Elk Mound. The University of Wisconsin-Extension Dairy Team and the UW-Madison Department of Dairy Science (College of Agricultural and Life Sciences) sponsor the program. Interested participants should register by October. 30.

Agricultural lands do more than produce crops – they help to raise families, provide wildlife habitat, create small-business opportunities and jobs, support rural economies, and provide natural beauty that draws visitors to Wisconsin.

The steering committee for the Discovery Farms program met for the first time July 20 to devise a strategy for selecting the first group of commercial farms to be included in the research program.

University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers are looking for rural Wisconsin women newly diagnosed with breast cancer for a study. The study will evaluate how successfully computers and the internet can be used to help women face this life-threatening disease.

The application deadline has passed for the first group of Discovery Farms to be selected as part of the Wisconsin Ag Stewardship Initiative. The Discovery Farms office has received applications from more than 30 qualified farms.

As Wisconsin legislators debate the balance between spending and taxes at the state level, a University of Wisconsin-Madison study has found no indication that the taxes cities and villages collect and spend are excessive.

The Land Tenure Center, University of Wisconsin-Madison (LTC), will assist the Sahelian countries of Africa in their sustainable development and natural resource management efforts. The Sahel region includes Burkina Faso, Cape Verde, Chad, Gambia, Guinea-Bissau, Mali, Mauritania, Niger, Senegal.

Despite the lowest milk prices in two decades, state farmers probably won’t see a repeat of the financial crisis of the mid-1980s – at least not this year, according to Bruce Jones, an economist at the UW-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Milk prices account for more than half the cash receipts of Wisconsin farmers, and the low prices are putting more and more farms under financial stress. Unless milk prices improve, the state’s farm economy could face big problems in coming years, he says.

High school juniors and seniors, their parents, and other prospective students are invited to visit the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison and see if the Farm and Industry Short Course will meet their needs.