JUNE IS DAIRY MONTH!
Monday, June 16th, 2008 -- 2:31 PM
We're smack-dab in the middle of June Dairy Month. It seems as good a time as any to think about the impact dairy has on our state."It is our largest industry," says Michelle Mielke of the Wisconsin Dairy Council, "We have over 160,000 people employed; that means one in 8 Wisconsinites is working directly with the ag industry, and it continues to grow."
Despite a perception that huge, corporate farms are beginning to dominate the industry, Mielke says smaller family farms still rule.
"That's a strength for Wisconsin: not only do we have large herds, we also have smaller ones," Mielke says, "Our number one herd size in the state right now are herds between 50 and 99 animals; our second most popular herd size would be between 30 to 49 animals."
While California has caught Wisconsin in terms of milk production, they're a long way from producing as much cheese.
We continue to add new cheese plants and expand existing ones.
Wisconsin producers account for more than one-fifth of the nation's total dairy exports.
Wisconsin earned the title "America's Dairyland" in 1930.
We'll have more with Michelle tomorrow on In Depth (Tuesday).
Feel free to contact us with questions and/or comments.