Since October 2013, I have been working at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, School of Veterinary Medicine with The Dairyland Initiative as an Associate Outreach Specialist – a job that I truly love.
The Dairyland Initiative is a web-based outreach program that combines dairy animal health, production, and behavior research with field experience into an information center and building assessment program that is meant to enhance current engineering practices as well as produce dairy facilities that are both economically viable and welfare friendly.
Currently, we have 4,000 people (dairy farmers, veterinarians, nutritionists, and other dairy consultants) registered for the website and have trained over 500 people worldwide on how to design supplemental positive pressure tube ventilation systems for calf barns and milking center holding areas. Our work has been featured in many leading industry magazines such as Hoard’s Dairyman and Progressive Dairyman, and we are consistently being asked to present at meetings worldwide. My main responsibilities include creating, organizing, and updating materials for our workshops and website, performing site visits and risk assessments for dairy cattle housing, and developing specifications for calf barn ventilation systems.
In addition to my full-time work with The Dairyland Initiative, I am enrolled in a part-time MBA program at Edgewood College.
