Dairyland State Academy Making Progress: New NTC Dairy Degree, Proposed Lab Farm

By Jane Fyksen, Crops Editor
Thursday, February 28, 2008 1:28 PM CST

Melissa Klein

A thriving dairy industry is important to northcentral Wisconsin. Marathon County agribusiness and producer leaders aren’t just talking about it; they’re walking the talk with the Dairyland State Academy.

The visionary DSA board - and its educational partner, Northcentral Technical College in Wausau n are actively looking for land to purchase on which to build a 200-cow teaching farm, split between 100 cows in confinement and 100 milking off pasture. NTC is also gearing up for the first crop of students this fall for its new two-year dairy science management associate-degree program. It’ll be the first such degree in offered in Wisconsin.

Agriculture Coordinator Melissa Klein is newly hired to help propel this grassroots dairy development initiative forward. Based at NTC, her new position is jointly funded by NTC and the Wausau Region Chamber of Commerce’s Partnership for Progressive Agriculture.

Originally from a 260-cow dairy just across the Mississippi in Lake City, Minn., she attended Northeast Iowa Community College in Calmar, Iowa, which has been involved in a very similar initiative to jump-start dairying in northeast Iowa. Klein also has degree in marketing communications with an ag emphasis from UW-River Falls. She came on board the DSA project last month.

Her first order of business is to spread the word about NTC’s new dairy degree program, for which classes begin this fall. Students will be taught at NTC, with higher-level classes at the UW-Marathon County campus. Adjunct faculty from the community will also be called upon to teach specialized courses. Negotiations are almost complete on a transfer agreement with UW-River Falls, so that credits earned in the new NTC program would all count toward a four-year degree from UW-River Falls. Similar discussions are underway with ag programs at UW-Platteville and UW-Madison, too.

Klein tells Agri-View that students coming in this fall to NTC’s groundbreaking program will take classes in: dairy nutrition and management, crop production, employee/employer relations, computer applications in farming, ag marketing, farm business management, Spanish for agriculture and more.

The Dairyland State Academy has recognized that the dairy industry is a critical component of the economy and social aspects of the region. However, the industry needs to modernize and train entrepreneurs n and employees n for even more vitality. To meet that challenge, a committed group of farmers, agribusiness people and educational professionals have developed an ambitious educational program focusing on dairy production, entrepreneurial skills and value-added food processing. The aim is to also have students track into biofuels, biotechnology, a veterinary technician program and others. Existing private and public resources n especially educational institutions n are being coordinated to meet the identified needs.

A signature facility will be constructed to provide hands-on, practical learning experiences for students. The proposed lab farm will also function as a center for dairy producers and related entrepreneurs in the region to seek and exchange ideas and skills and teach the public about opportunities in the region’s dairy industry. The Dairyland State Academy is actively looking for farms or farmland for sale inside Marathon County for the proposed, separate grazing and freestall herds and classroom/meeting room complex.

Also contributing leadership to this unique community-based initiative is Scott Mickelsen, NTC dean of agriculture and community services. He became dean early last year of the entirely new “division” at NTC focused on agriculture. Originally from a large cow-calf operation that included grass-fed yearlings in Idaho, Mickelsen and his wife bought a ranch in Wyoming with “400 mama cows,” which doubled as a working “guest ranch.”

He has a doctorate from Iowa State University in ag education and taught at Iowa State’s teaching farm (250 sows and 1,200 acres of corn and beans). He’s also taught ag production classes at a community college in Iowa, which also had a farm for its students. He joined NTC in 2005 as an associate dean, and has been promoted to ag dean working with the Dairyland State Academy.

Classes for the cutting-edge two-year, dairy degree program start in mid-August. Potential students can sign up for this fall’s program starting in mid-April. Mickelsen says NTC will allow entry into the program until the first day of class, but the “sooner the better” will guarantee them a spot in the 50-freshman program this fall. Even if only two students sign up for the new degree program, Mickelsen promises to run the classes “We’re committed to agriculture,” he states, leaving no room for doubt.

He says the two-year degree is a 68-credit program, and students can figure on paying roughly $100 a credit.

Students will have the option of carrying a fulltime load (at least 12 credits) so that they might be eligible for financial aid. They’ll graduate after two years with an “associate of applied science” degree. And it looks pretty certain at this point in time the credits will transfer to UW-River Falls, so that they’ll be able to enter that four-year university as juniors in a dairy-related program.

Mickelsen says NTC also expects to have many non-traditional students (perhaps working farmers or older students retooling from other careers) to be interested in entering the dairy industry and seeking training. They might only be able to take a class or two a semester. Certificates will be offered in grazing, dairy science, agronomy, cheese and milk processing, vet science (the latter with the aim of ultimately establishing a vet tech degree at NTC).

Classes will start at 10 a.m., allowing students to milk in the mornings if need be. Arrangements are being forged with area farmers to bring students out to a number of different farms, in order to expose them to different styles of management. Within the next two months, NTC will also be hiring a dairy science instructor, notes Mickelsen.

As noted, NTC is the only technical college in Wisconsin with a two-year degree in dairy science management. Mickelsen says there are one-year programs, such as at Lakeshore Tech. He’s having discussions with Lakeshore Tech so that those one-year students might easily transfer into NTC’s two-year program and then only UW-River Falls if they so desire.

NTC is also tooling up for a similar horticulture program, which will launch in June. Three certificates will be offered in one-year programs in horticulture (plant) sales, landscaping and greenhouse management. The goal is to turn that into a more in-depth associate degree program, like the new one in dairy. Mickelsen adds that NTC is also looking down the road to either certificate or associate degree programs in natural resources and biotechnology.

Meantime, fundraising is underway for the lab farm. Marathon County has already committee a million dollars to the project n for the capital building of DSA. Financial institutions and others in the ag community have also come on board with funds.

Other community donations are being sought, as well as state and federal funds. Mickelsen says they’re hoping to break ground come fall and have a teaching farm up and running by the fall of 2009. He figures the Dairyland State Academy needs 300 acres (for lease or purchase) that’ll support a “sound manure plan.” The aim, as noted, is to have separate confinement and grazing herds at the same location. Fully stocked and ready to run, with cows, equipment and an educational building, the lab farm would likely carry a $5.8 million price tag. There’d be showers for students and instructors, instructor offices, and a gathering place for classes.

However, Mickelsen stresses that this lab farm will also be utilized by the larger community, for producer meetings, by FFA for judging and other events, even by grade schools for the fourth-grade ag unit and farm safety days.

When asked about the need for such a facility relatively close to the Marshfield Ag Research Station’s new dairy, Mickelsen says “the last thing they (researchers) want is to have kids turned loose on cows” involved in complicated, cutting-edge research. He foresees the dairy researchers at that station, however, playing an integral role in the Dairyland State Academy educational efforts.

The Dairyland State Academy is a nonprofit. Active participants in its development include producers from Marathon, Clark, Taylor and Lincoln counties. The group is seeking to expand the regional representation to Langlade, Shawano, Portage, Wood, Price and other interested counties. Mickelsen says Dairyland State Academy wants to get the word out and is seeking to do presentations at producer meetings and other community events.

The president of the Dairyland State Academy board is Marathon County dairyman Bob Prahl. Keith Langenhahn, another Marathon County farmer and county board chair, is vice president. Sandi Cihlar, a Mosinee producer, is secretary. Tim Buttke with M&I Bank at Wausau is treasurer. Also on the board are: Alan Alden, with Trig’s supermarkets; Nolan “Whiz” Beck, associate dean, UW-Marathon County; Steve Brost with Farm Credit Services Financial Servicesin Wausau; Ken Heiman, a dairy farmer (Weber Farm in Marshfield with on-farm retail milk sales) and cheesemaker (Nasonville Dairy); Del Heise, owner of Marathon Feed; dairy farmer Kevin Paul; LaVern Stencil, head of Marathon Cheese; Jeremy Welch, a Wausau attorney; Lori Weyers, NTC president; and Cheryl Zimmerman, executive director of Wisconsin FFA.

Readers interested in NTC’s degree program or other facets of the Dairyland State Academy can contact Mickelsen at 715-803-1387 or Klein at 715-803-1671 or mailto:Klein@ntc.edu.

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