Nominations are being sought for 2003 Wisconsin Junior State Fair dairy themes. Please submit suggestions to Ted Halbach, University of Wisconsin-Madison extension dairy youth specialist, by March 1, 2003.

University of Wisconsin-Madison spin-off company Unifinium Ltd. enters an eighth holiday season with its Forest FreshTM product, which keeps needles of cut Christmas trees green and on the tree for up to six weeks. Sales of the proprietary mixture have increased about 10 percent annually since it was introduced in 1995.

Young dairy experts from Door and Wood counties recently represented Wisconsin at two national dairy bowl competitions. The two teams earned the right to represent Wisconsin by placing at the top of the Wisconsin 4-H Dairy Bowl Contest, held last January.

The Wisconsin 4-H team took first place at the 81st annual national dairy cattle judging contest, held Tuesday, Oct. 1 at World Dairy Expo in Madison.

For dairy farm families across Wisconsin, health insurance has become one more major problem in their lives. A new University of Wisconsin-Madison study reveals that more than 40 percent of dairy farmers either have no health insurance at all, or have insurance that does not cover all their family members.

The 2002 Dairy Day at the Marshfield Agricultural Research Station will focus on quality milk and quality feed.

Is it time for Cheddar and mozzarella to moooove over?

Entries for the 2003 Wisconsin 4-H Dairy Bowl competition Saturday, Feb.1 are due Jan. 6. The event this year will be at the Portage High School in Portage, Wis., starting at 9:45 a.m.

The Wisconsin Cheese Grading Short Course, an intensive two-day course covering the principles and practices involved in grading natural cheeses, will be held November 5-6 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Babcock Hall.

Although white pine first brought loggers to northern Wisconsin, another evergreen giant – hemlock – actually outnumbered white pine at the time. Today, travelers driving across large parts of the Northwoods may see only scattered hemlocks or small, isolated groves.