The University of Wisconsin-Platteville Dairy Challenge Team recently placed fourth on their farm in the 2019 North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge, held in Tifton, Georgia. UW-Platteville was one of 44 universities competing in the event, totaling 240 students. The UW-Platteville team was comprised of Emmy Hastreiter, Ryan Smith, Julia Mitchell and Allison Foster.
“The judges had some great comments about how they found some unique aspects to the farm and the records and that our students did a great job working together and presenting their material,” said Dr. Tera Montgomery, associate professor of dairy and animal science at UW-Platteville.
The basis of the competition is dairy farm and records evaluation. Students work together to review farm data on the evening of the first day of competition. The next day they visit the farm to dig deeper into some of the items they identified during their data review. After that, they have an opportunity to interview the producer to get at more specific questions and prepare a presentation. The goal is to give an overview of the farm and an evaluation of strengths, opportunities and recommendations on ways producers can achieve their goals and become more profitable.
According to its website, the North American Dairy Challenge was established in 2002 as a management contest to incorporate all phases of a specific dairy business. Today, the Dairy Challenge strives to incorporate a higher-learning atmosphere with practical application to help prepare students for careers in the dairy industry. Thousands of students have enhanced their dairy management, communication and business skills through the dairy challenge, in turn generating highly qualified graduates to lead and further improve the dairy industry.