Daily Pioneer News

PLATTEVILLE- The University of Wisconsin-Platteville had a gold-placing team at the North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge, held March 27 and 28 in Syracuse, N.Y. The team consisted of Carissa Gjermo of Deerfield, Amber Zeamer of DePere, Torie Tews of Orfordville, and Amber Boeke of Juda. All four students are majoring in animal science. UWP professor of agribusiness Charles Steiner was the team's coach.

According to a press release from the Challenge's website, the Dairy Challenge was designed by professionals from both the agriculture education field and dairy industry. The goal of the Dairy Challenge is to help students apply classroom knowledge to a real-world situation, which better prepares students for their own careers in the dairy industry. Competitors in the Dairy Challenge visit operating dairy farms and make recommendations concerning profitability and efficiency of the operation to a panel of judges. The panel was made up of a dairy business owner and four experts in herd health, reproduction, dairy nutrition and financial management.

The competition took place over two days. On the first day, the team reviewed a 1,000-cow dairy farm's financial and production data. The team also traveled to the farm to conduct an on-site evaluation of the farm and interviewed the farm's owner. After collecting all of the relevant information, the team was allotted four hours to put together a presentation. The following day, teams made their presentations to the judges. The teams were judged on recommendations made, analysis of the operation and overall presentation.

Thirty-one teams, including two from Canada, competed in the Dairy Challenge. Teams from UW-Madison, Penn State, Cornell and Purdue were among the teams competing. Platinum, gold, silver and bronze placings were awarded, and the UWP team received the second-highest placing, gold, for their performance.

Anyone wanting more information about the Dairy Challenge team may contact Charles Steiner, professor of agribusiness, at (608) 342-6067 or steinerc@uwplatt.edu.

Contact: Charles Steiner, UWP professor of agribusiness, (608) 342-6067, steinerc@uwplatt.edu Written by: Ryan Broege, UWP Public Relations, (608) 342-1194, broeger@uwplatt.edu