Progress 01/15/10 to 01/14/15
Outputs
Target Audience: This project targeted dairy farmers as the main audience to serve. Within this audience, it better served disadvantaged, minority, and traditionally underserved (educationally and sometimes economically) grazing and organic dairy production system farmers. The project reached a group of at least 1000 farmers throughout the seminars, conferences, and workshops executed. Along with the farmers, UW Extension agents who are in close contact with these producers were important secondary target audiences of the project and at least 20 agents in Wisconsin were made aware andfollowed and transmitted results of the project. Other target audiences were on-farm consultants including nutritionists, veterinarians, commercial agricultural lenders, and government agency personnel (USDA-NRC-FSA) working with farmers. All publications, presentations, and decision support tools developed as part of this project are available at the University of Wisconsin Dairy Management Website: DairyMGT.info. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? Students: M.S. Claudia Hardie and Ph.D. Marion Dutreuil both sucessfully completed successfully their degrees from this project. The project also supported the training of enumerators (survey data collectors) from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture. Support also gave direct and indirect training to dairy producers through a number of local, national, and international extension programs. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? All project materials and results have been posted and updated at the University of Wisconsin Dairy Management Website, the most used web portal in the State of Wisconsin dealing with this subject matter. Results of the project were presented at high profile extension meetings (e.g., Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service Conference, the American Dairy Science Annual meeting, or the University of Extension Grazing Conference)at least once during the last 3 years of project. The University of Wisconsin-Extension grazing specialist and co-PI R. Gildersleeve have prepared a number of fact sheets based on the project's results, which have been used in a number of extension meetings across Wisconsin in the last 2 years of the project. This is currently an ongoing effort. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals?
Nothing Reported
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Results from the project describe the farm characteristics and management strategies contributing to performing pasture supplementation on organic and grazing dairy farms in Wisconsin. Results from this project have also clearly delineated production, economic and environmental outcomes related to pasture supplementation strategies of organic and grazing dairy operations in Wisconsin. Results and extensive data collected through comprehensive survey questionnaires and personal interviews have been accommodated into decision support toolsthatinclude proxy variables of sustainability indexes to help farmers and farm advisors with optimal decision-making. The tools developed within the project are listed on the tools section of the University of Wisconsin Dairy Management Website (http://DairyMGT.info -> Tools). Our main findings indicate: 1)Wisconsin's organic dairy farms differ significantly in size, feeding management, productivity, and income over feed cost. Organic farms having predominantly Holstein cows and relying on a greater variety of feed ingredients and greater amounts of nonpasture feeds had the largest production and productivity and thehighest income over feed costs (andlikelyhigher overall profitability) compared with farms using predominantly non-Holstein breeds and relying more heavily on grass-based diets. 2)Feeding management changes can be made to reduce greenhouse gas emissions on Wisconsin conventional, grazing, and organic dairy farms, and in some cases, those changes can improve profitability. Specific positive management strategies include increase grazing feeding on conventional farms and increase the level of concentrate in feed rations in organic and grazing dairy farms.In contrast, changes in manure management to reduce green house gases emission were possible, but these changes had a negative effect on profitability. The evaluation and the implementation of green house gases mitigation strategies and their impact in profitability should be based on farmspecificcharacteristics and using data from site-specific farm conditions.
Publications
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Dutreuil, M., M. Wattiaux, C. A. Hardie, and V. E. Cabrera. 2014. Feeding strategies and manure management for cost effective mitigation of greenhouse gas emissions from dairy farms in Wisconsin. Journal of Dairy Science 97:5904-5917.
- Type:
Journal Articles
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Hardie, C., M. Wattiaux, M. Dutreuil, R. Gildersleeve, N. Keuler, and V. E. Cabrera. 2014. Feeding strategies on certified organic dairy farms in Wisconsin and their impact on milk production and income over feed costs. Journal of Dairy Science 97:4612-4623.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Cabrera, V. E., and M. Dutreuil. 2014. Implementation of greenhouse gas mitigation strategies on organic, grazing and conventional dairy farms. In Proceedings 11th European International Farming System Association Symposium of the Farming and Rural Systems. Berlin, Germany. 1-4 April 2014.
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Hardie, C. 2013. M. S. Thesis. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin. General Management and Feeding Strategies on Wisconsin Organic Dairy Farms.
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Awaiting Publication
Year Published:
2015
Citation:
Dutreuil., M. 2015. Ph. D. Thesis. Comparison of farm management practices on conventional grazing and organic dairy farms in Wisconsin, and their impacts on economics and environment.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Dutreuil, M., M. Wattiaux, R. Gildersleeve, and V. E. Cabrera. 2014. Modeling the impact of feeding and manure management strategies on Wisconsin organic, conventional and grazing farms to mitigate greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. In Proceedings The Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service Conference. La Crosse, WI. 27 February to 1 March 2014.
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Gildersleeve, R., C. A. Hardie, M. Dutreuil, M. Wattiaux, and V. E. Cabrera. 2014. Farm characteristics of surveyed farms. http://dairymgt.info/publications/extension_publications/FS1%20Project%20Overview.pdf
- Type:
Other
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2014
Citation:
Gildersleeve, R., C. A. Hardie, M. Dutreuil, M. Wattiaux, and V. E. Cabrera. 2014. Feeding Strategies on Wisconsin Dairy Farms: Economic, Production, and Environmental Outcomes. http://dairymgt.info/publications/extension_publications/FS1%20Project%20Overview.pdf
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Progress 01/15/13 to 01/14/14
Outputs
Target Audience: Project's main target audience is dairy farmers. Within this audience, it better serves disadvantaged, minority, and traditionally underserved(educationally and sometimes economically) grazing and organic dairy production systems. During 2013 the project reached agroup of at least 400 farmers through conferences and seminars. Along with farmers, UW Extension agents who are in closecontact with these producers are important secondary target audiences of the project, as are other on-farm consultants including nutritionists, veterinarians, commercial agricultural lenders, and government agency personnel (USDA-NRCS-FSA) working with these farmers. All publications, presentations, and decision support tools developed as part or in leverage with this project are available at the University of Wisconsin Dairy Management Website: DairyMGT.info. Changes/Problems:
Nothing Reported
What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? M.S. Claudia Hardie complete succesfully her degree with this project support. Ph.D. Dissertor Marion Dutreuil passed her Ph.D. examination and is planned to defend her dissertation project in summer or fall 2014. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Extension presentations in Wisconsin had been the mean means of dissemination so far. Our partner UW-Extension Fcaulty Rhoda Gildersleeve is working on putting together a number (10) fact sheets based on results of our project. These practical take home messages will be widely disseminated across Wisconsin dairy industry community. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Here it is a tentaive plan of activities for 2013-2014: Revision article organic dairy farms cluster analysis (Hardie) January 2014 Submission article profitability and green house gasses (Dutreuil) February 2014 Decision support tool about grain/concentrate supplementation completed March 2014 Submission article regression explaining profitability (Dutreuil) April 2014 Submission article manure management and indices (Dutreuil) June 2014 Decision support tool about income over feed cost completed June 2014 Ph.D. student defense (Dutreuil) summer/fall 2014 Decision support tool about environmental impacts completed September 2014 Dissemination of decision support tools March 2014-January 2015 Production and dissemination of 10 fact-sheets (UW-Extension) March 2014-January 2015 Extension seminars and workshops June 2014-January 2015
Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals?
Active research to evaluate supplementation decisions and their economic, production, and environmental outcomes was performed during 2013. M.S. student Claudia Hardie defended her thesis successfully in June and as part of it a paper that deals with supplementation practices in organic farms has been submitted and s being reviewed in the Journal of Dairy Science. Ph.D. student Marion Dutreuil has outlined her dissertation and as part of it 4 major research accompishments with survey collected data are being developed: 1) whole farm environemtal and economic outcomes using the Integrated Farm System Model (paper almost ready to be submitted), 2) regression analysis of feeding strategies, and 3) manure management strategies. Under project objective 3, Marion is working on a research to use all previous collected information and analyses to develop sustainability indices. Under objectives 4 and 5 of project, a number of online decision support tools have been developed or adapted (please see Products section) and at least 4 extension presentations have been performed in Wisconsin with preliminary results.
Publications
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Hardie, C. A., M. Dutreuil, R. Gildersleeve, M. Wattiaux, N. S. Keuler, and V. E. Cabrera. 2013. Impact of feeding strategies on milk production and profitability on Wisconsin organic dairy farms. Journal of Animal Science 91 (E-Suppl. 2):TH378.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Hardie, C. A., M. Dutreuil, R. Gildersleeve, and V. E. Cabrera. 2013. A comparison of feeding strategies on Wisconsin organic dairy farms. In Proceedings The Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service Conference. La Crosse, WI. 23 February 2013.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2012
Citation:
Hardie, C. A., V. E. Cabrera, M. Dutreuil, and R. Gildersleeve. 2012. Characterization of certified organic Wisconsin dairy farms: Management practices, feeding regimes, and milk production. In Proceedings UW-Extension Grazing, Teaching, and Technology Conference. US Dairy Forage Research Center, Prairie du Sac, WI. 28 August 2012.
- Type:
Conference Papers and Presentations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2012
Citation:
Dutreuil, M., V. E. Cabrera, R. Gildersleeve, and C. A. Hardie. 2012. Factors affecting profitability on Wisconsin dairy farms. In Proceedings UW-Extension Grazing, Teaching, and Technology Conference. US Dairy Forage Research Center, Prairie du Sac, WI. 28 August 2012.
- Type:
Theses/Dissertations
Status:
Published
Year Published:
2013
Citation:
Hardie, C. 2013. M. S. Thesis. General Management and Feeding Strategies on Wisconsin Organic Dairy Farms. University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin.
|
Progress 01/15/12 to 01/14/13
Outputs
OUTPUTS: During the period January 2012 through January 2013, the two students involved in this project, Marion Dutreuil (PhD) and Claudia Hardie (MS), worked on the design, data entry and implementation of the project's main database containing comprehensive information on 131 dairy farms previously surveyed. Seventy farms are organic, 30 are grazing (non-organic), and 31 are non-grazing, non-organic Wisconsin dairy farms. The database has been completed and it is being used for scientific analysis. Main results of scientific analyses that included a description of Wisconsin dairy farms' profitability, green house gas emissions, and profiles of organic dairy farms in Wisconsin were presented at the Joint Annual Meeting of the Animal Sciences and the American Dairy Science Association in Phoenix, Arizona in July 2012. Results were also presented in more producer- and practitioner-oriented settings. Two presentations were made to Extension and other agency partners during the University of Wisconsin Extension Grazing Teaching and Technology Conference held at the U.S. Dairy Forage and Research Center (August 2012) on "factors affecting profitability on Wisconsin dairy farms" and "characterization of certified organic dairy farms in Wisconsin." At the annual World Dairy Expo Grazing Seminars (October 2012) "supplementation on pasture dairy farm systems" was presented to an audience that included producers, agency staff, and allied ag industry interests. Consulting with statisticians and definition of further analysis continued during the remainder of 2012. Expected continued work includes: application of the Integrated Dairy Farm System Model to 3 defined dairy farm systems to study their economic, production, and environmental outcomes; use of cluster analyses to study manure management practices on Wisconsin dairy farms; application of cluster analysis to study factors affecting farm profitability; research of grazing practices' impacts on dairy farm performance; and studies of farmer satisfaction according to dairy farm characteristics. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals (PIs/PDs) and main role/expertise: Victor E. Cabrera: General project leadership, economic decision-making related to dairy feed supplementation. Rhonda Gildersleeve: Dairy pasture management, grazing activities, and overall dairy grazing and organic production systems. Michel Wattiaux: Dairy cattle nutrition, crop systems, and nutrient management. David Combs: Dairy cattle nutrition combined with grazing systems. Individuals (Students) and roles: Marion Dutreuil (PhD): Survey instrument development, field data collection, data entry and database development, statistical analyses, and research and extension publications. Claudia Hardie (MS): Sample determination, field data collection, data entry, statistical analyses, and research and extension publications. Statistical support: Nick Keuler, Associate Researcher at Computer & Biometry, University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural & Life Sciences. Erik Nordheim, Professor in the Statistics Department, University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Letters. TARGET AUDIENCES: This project's main target audience is dairy farmers. Within this audience, it better serves disadvantaged, minority, and traditionally underserved (educationally and sometimes economically) grazing and organic dairy production systems. During 2012 the project reached a group of at least 500 farmers through conferences and seminars. Along with farmers, UW Extension agents who are in close contact with these producers are important secondary target audiences of the project, as are other on-farm consultants including nutritionists, veterinarians, commercial agricultural lenders, and government agency personnel (USDA-NRCS-FSA) working with these farmers. All publications, presentations, and decision support tools developed as part or in leverage with this project are available at the University of Wisconsin Dairy Management Website: DairyMGT.info. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
As previously described, a large number of scientists and dairy farmers or dairy farmer practitioners have increased their awareness of a series of new applicable and relevant information gained through the present project. Below is a synopsis of these major knowledge gains. A wide range of intersected profitability levels exists among dairy farms regardless of the dairy production system: conventional, grazing, or organic. More important than the system type are the management strategies that farmers choose to exercise within their farming system, which account for most of the economic difference among dairy farms. The impact of animal density on estimated green house gas emissions depends on the farm management more than the type of the system (conventional, grazing, or organic). Combining farm data with model-based prediction is a powerful and useful framework to perform critical decision-making on dairy farms. Certified organic dairy farms in Wisconsin have tremendous variations regarding herd performance characteristics and feeding regimes. Increased awareness and understanding of the general structure of this broad range of on-farm resources and conditions should help design and implement Extension programs and agricultural publications better suited to meet the educational needs of this dairy sector.
Publications
- Cabrera, V. E., M. Dutreuil, C. Hardie, R. Gildersleeve, M. Wattiaux, and D. Combs. 2012. Strategies of pasture supplementation on organic and conventional grazing dairies: Assessment of economic, production and environmental outcomes. Pp. 27-30 in Proceedings USDA Institute of Food Production and Sustainability, Organic Programs Project Directors Meeting. Washington DC. 3-4 October 2012.
- Dutreuil, M., Gildersleeve, R., and V. E. Cabrera. 2012. Dealing with high feed cost: Supplementation on pasture. In Proceedings 4th Annual World Dairy Expo Grazing Seminars. Alliant Energy Center, Madison, WI. 5 October 2012.
- Hardie, C. A., V. E. Cabrera, M. Dutreuil, and R. Gildersleeve. 2012. Characterization of certified organic Wisconsin dairy farms: Management practices, feeding regimes, and milk production. In Proceedings UW-Extension Grazing, Teaching, and Technology Conference. US Dairy Forage Research Center, Prairie du Sac, WI. 28 August 2012.
- Dutreuil, M., V. E. Cabrera, R. Gildersleeve, and C. A. Hardie. 2012. Factors affecting profitability on Wisconsin dairy farms. In Proceedings UW-Extension Grazing, Teaching, and Technology Conference. US Dairy Forage Research Center, Prairie du Sac, WI. 28 August 2012.
- Hardie, C. A., V. E. Cabrera, M. Dutreuil, R. Gildersleeve, and M. Wattiaux. 2012. Characterization of certified organic Wisconsin dairy farms: Management practices, feeding regimes, and milk production. Journal of Animal Science 90 (E-Suppl. 3):M239.
- Dutreuil, M., V. E. Cabrera, R. Gildersleeve, C. A. Hardie, and M. A. Wattiaux. 2012. Impact of animal density on predicted greenhouse gas emission on selected conventional, organic, and grazing dairy farms in Wisconsin. Journal of Animal Science 90 (E-Suppl. 3):777.
- Dutreuil, M., V. E. Cabrera, R. Gildersleeve, C. A. Hardie, and M. A. Wattiaux. 2012. A cluster analysis to describe profitability on Wisconsin dairy farms. Journal of Animal Science 90 (E-Suppl. 3):M119.
- Hardie, C. A., V. E. Cabrera, M. Dutreuil, and R. Gildersleeve. 2012. Characterization of certified organic WI dairy farms: Management, feeding regimes, and milk production. Pp. 20. Midwest Forage Association Forage Focus. December 2012.
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Progress 01/15/11 to 01/14/12
Outputs
OUTPUTS: During the period January 2011 and January 2012, the two students involved in this project: Marion Dutreuil (PhD) and Claudia Hardie (MS) devoted great effort and time on selecting, recruiting, and interviewing organic and grazing dairy farmers across Wisconsin. They used the 50-page (5-hour) survey developed in the previous year as the instrument for data collection. In total, they collected in-depth information from more than 120 dairy farms. The data collection (interview) part of the project is now completed. Preliminary results of subsets of data collected through the interviews were presented to the Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service Conference (February 2011), Organic Farming Systems Research (March 2011), and in the National Joint Annual Meeting of the Animal Sciences (that includes the American Dairy Science Association) (July 2011). Several database, statistical, and methodological analyses packages to be used with the data collected are being explored. A database standard for the survey was created and is being used to enter the collected data. Several methodological statistical frameworks were explored and are still being analyzed. These include descriptive statistical analyses, principal component analyses, factor analyses, cluster analyses, Delphi method, etc. The Integrated Farm System Model, which is a whole dairy farm simulation model has also been studied and selected as a tool to describe and perform predictions and scenario analyses with the data collected in the surveys. A benchmarking decision support online tool (DairyMGT.info: Tools: Dairy Extension Feed Cost Evaluator) has been prepared to receive data from the surveys and perform seasonal analyses on the studied farms of income over feed costs and their relationships with feed supplementation. Farmers, whether they are participating in the study or not, have free access to it. An increasing group of farmers are using this tool for practical decision-making. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals (PIs/PDs) and main role/expertise: Victor E. Cabrera: General project leadership. Economic decision-making related to dairy feed supplementation. Rhonda Gildersleeve: Dairy pasture management, grazing activities, and overall dairy grazing and organic production systems. Michel Wattiaux: Dairy cattle nutrition, crop systems, and nutrient management. David Combs: Dairy cattle nutrition combined with grazing systems. Individuals (Students) and role: Marion Dutreuil (PhD): Survey instrument development, field data collection, data entry and database development, statistical analyses, and research and extension publications. Claudia Hardie (MS): Sample determination, field data collection, data entry, statistical analyses, and research and extension publications. TARGET AUDIENCES: This project targets dairy farmers as the main audience to serve. Within this audience, it better serves disadvantaged, minority, and traditionally underserved (educationally and sometimes economically) grazing and organic dairy production systems. During 2011, the project reached a group of at least 1,000 farmers throughout the survey process. Although not all of them participated or will participate in the study (a group of 120+ farmers were interviewed during 2011), all of them were exposed to the concepts of the project. Along with the farmers, UW Extension agents who are in close contact with these producers are important secondary target audiences of the project, as are other on-farm consultants including nutritionists, veterinarians, commercial agricultural lenders, and government agency personnel (USDA-NRC-FSA) working with these farmers. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.
Impacts
Our project's team emphasizes that the process of performing and applying a large, comprehensive, and detailed survey has provided an opportunity for the farmer being interviewed to reflect, learn, and possibly take actions about their operation's management. Interviewed farmers have indicated that they usually do not take time or have not thought before about all the integrated factors and potential impacts of feeding supplementation practices on the performance of the whole integrated dairy farm operation. Farmers exposed to the survey during 2011 have experienced a change in knowledge that may lead to changes in actions such as improved feeding management strategies, pasture utilization, feed supplements purchase, or feed price risk management. We are planning to summarize take home messages found with the surveys, send those with custom analyses to participating farmers, and distribute the main results widely throughout Wisconsin. We envision that results will lead to improved dairy farm sustainability, especially for organic, grazier, or transition farmers. Improved sustainability is projected because these farmers will make better decisions on feeding supplementation regarding their economic, productive, and environmental outcomes based on-farm data collected through this project. At the moment, similar data are very limited or non-existent. Knowledge gained and an improved understanding of on-farm production situations can be summarized in some initial assessments described below. Preliminary analyses suggest that Wisconsin organic producers have a large size range between 12 and 650 cows, pasture area between 6 and 146 ha, production average between 2,350 and 10,270 kg/cow per year, feed consumption between 11.8 and 25.6 kg of dry matter /cow per day, and grazing time between 122 and 244 days/year. Awareness of these extreme variations should help design Extension programs and agricultural publications better suited to meet the educational needs of this growing dairy sector. An initial cluster analysis using complete linkage on 4 organic, 4 grazing, and 12 conventional interviewed dairy farms regarding their milk income over feed cost yielded 3 clusters. Each of the 3 clusters contained farms from different systems indicating that management system was not a major descriptor of income over feed cost. Moreover, it suggested that income over feed cost was associated with quantity and quality of milk, percentage of milk withheld, feeding strategy and age of the farmer, in spite of the farm being classified as organic, grazing, or conventional. An analysis of 3 representative dairy farms (one organic, one grazing, and one conventional) studied with the aim to test the impact of animal density on predicted greenhouse gas emission using the Integrated Farm System Model suggested that increasing animal density would have a lesser impact on the predicted greenhouse emission per unit of milk production on the grazing farm than on the organic or conventional farm. Within the scope of the farms analyzed, the grazing farm would be able to support more cows than the organic and conventional farms when looking to minimize greenhouse gas emissions.
Publications
- Cabrera, V.E., R.R. Gildersleeve, M.A. Wattiaux, D.K. Combs, M. Dutreuil and C. Hardie. 2011. Strategies of pasture supplementation on organic and conventional grazing dairies: assessment of economic, production, and environmental outcomes. USDA ERS Organic Farming Systems Research Conference, Washington, DC, 16-18 March 2011.
- Dutreuil, M., Wattiaux, M., Gildersleeve, R., Barham, B., Cabrera, V.E. 2011. Impact of feeding strategies on milk production and income over feed cost: A case study of organic, grazing, and conventional Wisconsin dairy farms. J. Anim. Sci. 89 (E-Suppl. 1): 313.
- Dutreuil, M., Wattiaux, M., Cabrera, V.E. 2011. Impact of feeding strategies on milk production and milk income over feed cost: A case study of organic, grazing, and conventional Wisconsin dairy farm. The Midwest Organic and Sustainable Education Service Conference, La Crosse, WI, 24-26 February 2011.
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Progress 01/15/10 to 01/14/11
Outputs
OUTPUTS: Project's team (http://dairymgt.uwex.edu/projects/orei.php) conducted a series of focus groups with dairy farmers and extension agents around the State of Wisconsin, including a special session in the 2010 Grazing Conference in Wisconsin Rapids. During the focus groups, feedback was solicited from participants regarding the project. A document summarizing the most important findings from more than 50 people is being used for project's next steps. In collaboration with survey experts at the University of Wisconsin-Madison (Prof. B. Barham) and with the participation of students involved in the project, the project's team developed a highly interdisciplinary and comprehensive survey instrument. The goal of this 50-page questionnaire is to collect very detailed information from dairy farms with regard to: A) Farm business structure and decision makers; B) people working on the farm; C) dairy herd and management; D) feeding management; E) pasture management; F) land management and cropping operation; G) manure and nutrient management; H) farmer to farmer interactions; I) economic information; and J) assessment of farm management and satisfaction. During the final stages of survey instrument development, the questionnaire was extensively reviewed, commented, and analyzed by technical personnel from the USDA's National Agricultural Statistical Service, Wisconsin Field Office (WASS) with the endorsement of its Director (R. Battaglia) and improved based upon their feedback. The questionnaire was then tested with 5 farm operations and further improved. A survey manual document was developed to define each and every major concept to help enumerators collect consistent data in the field. In September 2010, the project's team conducted a two-day training workshop in Richland Center, WI, with the attendance of 8 enumerators hired to conduct the survey in South West Wisconsin counties. Six of the enumerators were from WASS and 2 of the enumerators were free-lance, local individuals with farm background and interest to conduct the survey. A random sample of 100 dairy farmers (50 conventional graziers, and 50 organic) was defined and distributed among the enumerators, who are currently performing the interviews. As an additional deliverable leveraged by this project was the inclusion of additional 100 non-grazier conventional farmers in this sample frame within the collaboration with Prof. B. Barham and his NSF project. Before starting, a press release and letters to county extension offices were distributed to alert and invite them in our efforts. The team defined a protocol for enumerators that included to mail a personal letter, visit in person selected farms, make appointments with accepting farmers, ask farmer to sign the project's approved IRB consent form, perform survey, and provide a summary benchmarks later. Marion Dutreul, Ph.D. student is developing a database with the survey data and the framework for data analyses. A phase II of the survey to include all other counties not included in Phase I is currently under development. Claudia Hardie, M.S. student, will perform personal interviews for Phase II of survey. PARTICIPANTS: Individuals (PIs/PDs) and main role/expertise: Victor E. Cabrera: General project leadership. Economic decision-making related to dairy feed supplementation. Rhonda Gildersleeve: Dairy pasture management, grazing activities, and overall dairy grazing and organic production systems. Michel Wattiaux: Dairy cattle nutrition, crop systems, and nutrient management. David Combs: Dairy cattle nutrition combined with grazing systems. Individuals (Students) and role: Marion Dutreuil (PhD): Survey instrument development, data entry and database development, lineaments of analyses. Claudia Hardie (MS): Plan and application of developed survey (Phase II) to all Wisconsin, except the South West counties. Individuals (Enumerators) and role: Stephanie Eastwood: Interview surveys in the South West Wisconsin. Allen Moody: Interview surveys in the South West Wisconsin. Partner organizations: Program on Agricultural Technology Studies (PATS) and the Department of Agricultural and Applied Economics at the University of Wisconsin-Madison. We joined forces with Brad Barham, recipient of a NSF grant, to leverage resources in the development of a more comprehensive survey in scope and content. The PATS provided expertise in the development of survey research through the individuals of Brad Barham (Senior Faculty Associate), Alan Turnquist (Outreach Specialist), and Caroline Brock (Outreach Specialist). USDA's National Agricultural Statistical Service, Wisconsin Field Office (WASS). The WASS office provided comprehensive feedback in the survey instrument and survey planning through several functionaries: Robert Battaglia (Director), Heidi Woodstock (Officer), Andrew Dau (Officer), and Audra Hubbell (Officer). Moreover, the WASS office committed 6 field enumerators to perform part of the project survey in the South West Wisconsin. North American Network on Sustainable Dairy Systems A group of ~20 scientists from 4 universities in Mexico, the University of Laval in Canada, and 2 co-PIs/PDs of this project (Wattiaux and Cabrera) are collaborating within the main thrust of dairy farm sustainability. As part of such collaboration, resources would be leveraged to perform comparative studies on feed supplementation on representative systems in different locations in Canada, the US, and Mexico. Training or professional development Two-day training workshop in Richland Center, WI, with the attendance of 8 enumerators hired to conduct the survey in South West Wisconsin counties: Crawford, Grant, La Crosse, Lafayette, Monroe, Richland, Sauk, and Vernon. TARGET AUDIENCES: This project targets dairy farmers as the main group to serve. Inside this group, it better serves disadvantaged, minority, and traditionally underserved (educationally and sometimes economically) grazing and organic dairy production systems. During 2010, the project reached a group of at least 50 organic, 50 grazing, and 100 comparable (small) conventional dairy farms throughout the process of survey. Although not all of them participated or will participate in the study, all of them were exposed to the concepts of the project. Along with the farmers, extension agents who are in close contact with these producers are important target audiences of the project together with farm consultants including nutritionists and veterinarians working with these farmers. With the aim of helping in the process of farmers making better informed decisions and in preparation of the data analysis and further follow up with farmers, project's team has developed a web-based, log-in tool (http://dairymgt.uwex.edu/iofscdb/login.php) to benchmark and evaluate feed cost supplementation and income over feed cost among a group of farms. Data from surveys will be entered in this database in order to record trends and collect results of feeding supplementation practices. Farmers, whether they are participating in the study or not, have free access to it. An increasing group of farmers are using this tool for practical decision making. Better informed farmers are making better feed supplementation decisions and consequently improving overall farm sustainability. The project is currently undergoing and additional extension outreach activities are planned when data are available. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Due to extremely economic hardship during the last 2 years (several times expressed by farmers to enumerators) and because the level of detail pertained in the survey instrument (4 hours of interview on average), a rate of response lower than expected to survey participation is occurring. The rate of participation is being around 20% and we expected 40%. Leverage performed with another project allowed to increase our sample size, which is helping to reach our goal of completed surveys. Nonetheless, in order to assure a number of participants higher than the target of 50 organic and 50 graziers, the project team has agreed to hire additional enumerators and offer a compensation of $100 to participating dairy producers.
Impacts
Project's team emphasizes that the process of performing and applying a large, comprehensive, and detailed survey, as previously described, also provides an opportunity for the farmer being interviewed to reflect, learn, and possibly take actions about the operation's management. Farmers being interviewed indicate that they usually do not take time or have not thought before about all the integrated factors and potential impacts of feeding supplementation practices on the performance of whole integrated dairy farm operation. Farmers exposed to the survey have certainly experienced a change in knowledge that may lead to changes in actions such as improved feeding management strategies, pasture utilization, purchase of feed supplements, or feed price risk management. The interdisciplinary team of scientists and students involved in the process of developing the survey instrument and designing and planning the survey learnt a great deal from each other and from the target public to be interviewed during the process. Actions were changed and adjusted after a better understanding of the integrated concepts and the farmers to be interviewed. It is early in the project to measure impacts as the collection data is still underway, but we envision that results from project's research and extension will lead to improved dairy farm sustainability, especially for organic, grazier, or transition farmers. Improved sustainability is projected because these farmers will make better decisions on feeding supplementation regarding their economic, productive, and environmental outcomes based on-farm data collected through this project. At the moment, similar data are very limited or non-existent. Preliminary analyses are showing that compared to conventional, organic and grazier dairy farms have a lower feed efficiency (milk/dry matter intake), lower feed cost, and lower dry matter intake. However, organic farms could have a higher income over feed cost because of substantial milk price premium and lower pasture feed costs. Given 2010 prices, organic farms could be as much sustainable as conventional or grazing systems when including the USDA organic dairy production standards. Details of final results will be critical to help dairy producers change in actions, which will lead to change in conditions. With the aim of helping in the process of farmers making better informed decisions and in preparation of the data analysis and further follow up with farmers, project's team has developed a web-based, log-in tool (http://dairymgt.uwex.edu/iofscdb/login.php) to benchmark and evaluate feed cost supplementation and income over feed cost among a group of farms. Data from surveys will be entered in this database in order to record trends and collect results of feeding supplementation practices. Farmers, whether they are participating in the study or not, have free access to it. An increasing group of farmers are using this tool for practical decision-making. Better informed farmers are making better feed supplementation decisions and consequently improving overall farm sustainability.
Publications
- No publications reported this period
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