Many Wisconsin dairy farm families are coming to a fork in the road regarding their farm’s future. However, farmers may miss an opportunity if they only consider expanding their mid-size operations or selling their assets and getting out of the business. A recent study from the University of Wisconsin-Madison found management-intensive rotational grazing to be a cost-effective, popular alternative for a growing number of dairy farmers.

An innovative new means of supporting the dreams of aspiring young farmers also honors the memory of a Richland County dairyman and family farm activist.

When it comes to improving alfalfa, plant geneticist Edwin Bingham believes the job takes persistence. Bingham has become single-minded you might even say persistent in advocating for greater persistence as an agronomic virtue in alfalfa.

A good teacher must combine the qualities of taskmaster and nurturer – a difficult act, but one that Marion Brown has mastered during 32 years of teaching in the Department of Agricultural Journalism. His efforts have earned him a Jung Teaching Award for 1997.

When you hear think of an agricultural engineer, you probably think of heavy metal. You think of someone like Dick Straub, who teaches courses titled “Tractors,” “Tractor and Power Equipment,” and “Spark Ignition and Diesel Engines,” and co-authored a nationally used text, “Farm Machinery Fundamentals.”

Here’s something new for gardeners who have run through all the winter plant catalogs. It’s Landscape Plants of the Upper Midwest, a CD-ROM featuring color photos and information on more than 600 species and varieties of trees, shrubs, vines and ground covers that grow in the region.

Managed rotational grazing on deep silt-loam soils does not appear to contribute to groundwater contamination, say researchers from the U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center.

The Wisconsin Agricultural and Life Sciences Alumni Association will celebrate its 25th Anniversary April 4-5 on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus. A variety of events will give CALS alumni and other friends of the college a chance to return to campus and reconnect with faculty, staff and students.

Four people were honored recently for applying the “Wisconsin Idea” to natural resource policy development and implementation. Anthony Earl, partner in the Quarles & Brady Law Firm in Madison; Alan Haney, dean, College of Natural Resources, University of Wisconsin-Stevens Point; Nicholas Neher, administrator of the Agricultural Resource Management Division at the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection; and Caryl Terrell, legislative liaison for the Sierra Club received the Wisconsin Idea Award in Natural Resource Policy at a banquet on March 4 at Memorial Union on the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus.

Common knowledge doesn’t always square with the facts. Case in point: spotted owls and logging jobs in the Pacific Northwest.