• In the early 1960s, Wisconsin residents celebrated June Dairy Month with Farm Bureau Breakfast and Dairy Farms. The first official farm breakfast was held in 1970 in Jefferson County, Wisconsin. The event, which was organized by the local 4-H Club, had 155 attendees. Today, tens of thousands of residents attend more than 70 farm breakfasts in Wisconsin.
• The first farm breakfast was hosted by Craig and Laura Beane at Howlis Farms. As 96 percent of the 9,900 dairy farms in Wisconsin are still family-owned and family-operated, the majority of farm breakfasts continue to be held on family farms.
Hi-Way Holstein: landmark, Dane County breakfast site
BLUE MOUNDS, Wis. – People who frequently drive along U.S. Highway 151/18 from Madison to Dodgeville likely have taken note of a set of white barns and a house – all with navy-blue metal roofs. Perched atop the main barn between Mount Horeb and Blue Mounds is a hardy Holstein cow facing east.
For locals Hi-Way Holstein Ranch is a landmark. For Jason Ihm it’s home. And for visitors it will be the site of the Dane County Breakfast on the Farm, which will be held from 7 to 11:30 a.m. June 11 at 10436 County Road ID, Blue Mounds.
The first official account of ice cream in North America comes from a letter written in 1744 by a guest of Maryland Governor William Bladen.
The first advertisement for ice cream in this country appeared May 12, 1777, in the New York Gazette when confectioner Philip Lenzi announced ice cream was available “almost every day.”
Records kept by a Chatham Street, New York, merchant show that President George Washington spent about $200 for ice cream during the summer of 1790. Inventory records of Mount Vernon taken after Washington’s death revealed “two pewter ice cream pots.”
President Thomas Jefferson was said to have a favorite 18-step recipe for an ice cream delicacy that resembled a modern-day Baked Alaska.
In 1813, Dolley Madison served a strawberry ice cream creation at President James Madison’s second inaugural banquet at the White House.
Dairy excellent -- in 1937 and today
St. PAUL, Minn. – More than 75 years since the annual celebration began, June Dairy Month continues to recognize dairy foods and the farmers who produce them. Begun in 1937, the observance was created as a way to help distribute extra milk when cows started on pasture in summer months, according to the Midwest Dairy Association.
In “2015 Dietary Guidelines,” the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services and U.S. Department of Agriculture have reaffirmed dairy’s importance in the diet by maintaining the recommendation that people older than 9 years of age consume three servings of low-fat or fat-free dairy foods every day. Dairy foods are full of vitamins and minerals, help build strong bones and healthy muscles, help control blood pressure, help maintain a healthy weight and reduce the risk of heart disease, the Midwest Dairy Association said.
JUNEAU, Wis. — Brothers Greg and Royce Nehls are proud to share the history and inner workings of their 4,000-acre dairy farm with visitors. They recently welcomed folks who participated in farm tours during the Dairy Calf and Heifer Association Conference, held April 11, 12 and 13.
Nehls’ grandfather settled in the area many years ago. When his son, Willard Nehls, bought a neighboring farm in the early 1940s, he worked to build a high-quality, purebred show herd. Farmers from around the world bought his cattle. But Willard Nehls passed away in 1975 when his sons Greg, Royce and their now-deceased brother, Robert, were in high school. The three brothers took over the farm at that time. But they later realized it wasn’t financially viable to continue with purebred registration papers. The industry’s focus on purebreds had begun to fade away; many people weren’t willing to pay the price for those animals.
About 350,000 refugee Syrian children are being supplied free milk by the European Commission thanks to a €30 million programme to help those affected by the crisis in the region. The effort to help the children will also benefit Europe’s beleaguered dairy farmers, who have suffered huge financial losses in their own crisis, because the programme’s milk must originate in the European Union.
The funding for this latest programme is part of the €500 million support package for European farmers presented in 2015 by the commission, which represented a substantial response by the commission to support European farmers. As well as supporting European farmers through the purchase of drinking milk, the €30 million programme will also contribute significantly to the major challenge posed to the EU by the refugee crisis. The milk will be distributed to Syrian children and will reinforce an already operating food-distribution programme for school children financed by the EU in Syria.
The eighth-annual Tour of America’s Dairyland is a 10-day bicycle-race competition that will travel June 17-26 to several Wisconsin communities. Presented by the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, the first day of the tour will begin at 10:45 a.m. at the intersection of Division and School streets in East Troy, Wisconsin. The omnium competition – aka multiple-race event – also will travel to Grafton, Waukesha, West Bend, Milwaukee, Port Washington, Shorewood, Bay View and Wauwatosa.
“It’s great to have this series in June and we’re grateful for the support we’ve received all eight years from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board and the dairy-farm families of Wisconsin,” said Bill Koch, executive director of Midwest Cycling Series, which is the promoter of the Tour of America’s Dairyland competition.
Late-afternoon sun shines on a cow and her TMR snack.
Lynn Grooms/Agri-View
Once upon a time, Wisconsin was the Wheatland
Editor’s note: Wisconsin didn’t begin as dairy country. If not for men like the Mr. Morley mentioned in this article, Wisconsinites might all be wearing “wheathead” hats. The author describes the transformation of the state’s agricultural industry.
The event will be held from 5 p.m. to midnight June 3; 10:30 a.m. to midnight June 4; and 8 a.m. to 5 p.m. June 5 at Doyle Park at 100 Van Buren St. in Little Chute, Wisconsin. Visit www.littlechutewi.org or call 920-788-7380 for more information.
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Time to celebrate at Iowa County Dairy Breakfast
BARNEVELD, Wis. – The Iowa County Dairy Breakfast will celebrate Iowa County’s dairy industry as well as a fifth-generation farm family — a family who hosted the Iowa County Dairy Breakfast 20 years ago.
This year’s event will be held from 6:30 to 10:30 a.m. June 4 at Jenniton Registered Holsteins, 3861 Thompson Road in Barneveld. The Thompson family hosted the event in 1996 and Kyle Thompson, who now owns and operates the farm with his father, thought it would be nice to be a host again this year.
A calf at Snudden Farms in Zenda, Wisconsin, enjoys her fresh feed and water.
Lynn Grooms/Agri-View
Holstein calf at Snudden Farms
A pretty Holstein calf with a "bow-tie" on her head will be about two and a half months old by the time Walworth Farm Technology Days is in full swing at Snudden Farms in Zenda, Wisconsin.
FREMONT, Wis. – Good things – good-tasting things like cheese — come in small packages. Union Star Cheese Factory in unincorporated rural-crossroads Zittau, Wisconsin, is proof.
For more than a century, the Metzig family has made cheese at Union Star in Winnebago County, where next-generation cheesemaker Jon Metzig lives above the plant with his wife, Kelsey — just as past generations have done. Customers are charmed by Union Star’s nostalgic atmosphere and appreciate its hands-on traditional ways, just as they do its squeaky-fresh curds and other hand-crafted cheese. But despite his quaint surroundings, Jon Metzig – a member of the 2016 Wisconsin Master Cheesemaker graduating class – has big plans for the future of the family business.
