Calling all youth exhibitors! Halter up Bessie, and get ready to show Wisconsin your “herd” work. The themes for the 2002 Wisconsin Junior State Fair dairy show have been selected.

A University of Wisconsin-Madison researcher wants to build a better corn plant from the ground down. Shawn Kaeppler is using genetics to first analyze and then improve corn’s root system.

California, the cheesehead state?

While summer and county fairs are still a few months away, Wisconsin dairy cattle judges need to be thinking about renewing or obtaining their Wisconsin Purebred Dairy Cattle Association judging certification. PDCA has scheduled its annual judges training for April 18 at the Vernon County Fairgrounds in Viroqua.

The Discovery Farms Program is pleased to announce a new publication for producers exploring the feasibility of methane digesters for their farms: “Anaerobic Digesters and Methane Production … Questions that need to be asked and answered before investing your money,” extension publication A3766.

Scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison have begun a major effort to comprehend a poorly understood mechanism that keeps cells working smoothly. They are studying the main pathway that cells use to remove proteins they no longer need or want.

Young dairy experts from Door and Vernon counties took top honors at this year’s State 4-H Dairy Bowl, held Jan. 26 at Wisconsin Dells.

Wisconsin’s pasturelands – long the larder of black-and-white dairy cows – can also support grazing poultry. Properly managed and marketed, pastured poultry can turn a profit for farm owners, a University of Wisconsin-Madison study has shown.

Kay Jensen and her husband, Paul Ehrhardt, pasture both chickens and turkeys on their JenEhr Family Farm near Sun Prairie. Their pastured poultry operation opened in 1999 with 500 chickens, doubling to 1,000 chickens in 2000. Last year they raised 2,500 chickens and 50 turkeys; in 2002 they plan to raise 4,800 chickens, 50 commercial turkeys and 100

Stronger milk prices in 2001 led Wisconsin’s farm economy to a dramatic improvement over a disastrous 2000. Milk sales account for more than half of Wisconsin farm cash receipts, and the all-milk price for 2001 averaged about $15 per hundredweight – up $3.30 from the previous year, according to a report by agricultural economists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences. Higher milk prices added about $730 million to farm cash receipts last year compared with 2000.