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 certifications. PDCA has scheduled its annual judges training for April 12 at Henk and Bonnie Van Dyk’s Willow’s Edge Farm in New Richmond, WI.

A team of University of Wisconsin-Madison dairy cattle judges placed first in oral reasons and Guernseys at the 2003 Southwestern Exposition and Livestock Show -Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest, Jan. 12 at Fort Worth, Texas.

Marion L. Jackson, emeritus professor of soil science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, died Saturday, Dec. 21, 2002. He was 88 years old.

The University of Wisconsin Madison Farm and Industry Short Course annual alumni reunion will be held in Madison Saturday, Jan. 25. The reunion will be held at the Coliseum Bar (formerly Jingles), 232 E. Olin Ave., across from the Dane County Alliant Center.

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.