A week from today, many Holstein USA members will begin their journey to Knoxville, TN, for the 2007 National Convention. There, Vice President Doug Maddox will assume leadership of the nation”””””””’’s largest breed association. Here”””””””’’s a recent article that appeared in the June issue of Holstein World as part of our “Day in the Life” series. I got to spend a day following Doug around - seeing what makes him tick, what keeps him thoroughly involved in his own dairy and how he keeps one eye on the future of this great industry of ours. Here”””””””’’s a quick look into the life of President-Elect Maddox.

Doug Maddox - husband, father, dairy producer, merchandiser, Vice President of Holstein Association USA
By Karen Knutsen

In an interview with California dairyman Doug Maddox in the March 2001 Holstein World, Editor Dan Bernick stated, “Veteran Holstein breeder Doug Maddox has never shied away from thinking big, thinking different or thinking optimistically.” Dan had interviewed Doug following the resignation of Holstein CEO Steve Kerr. Doug responded that Holstein needed to get a clear vision and direction of where the organization was heading. And since that time, he has helped the association tremendously by serving as its Vice President and soon-to-be President.

I first “really” met Doug at the National Convention in Sioux Falls. He’s always been someone I knew and admired, but that week, I got to not only talk with him, but hear him as he interacted with others in the room. He’s always thinking of the big picture for his own dairy and for our association. What a refreshing change of attitude it is to hear someone be proactive instead of reactive. I asked him if he’d like to be part of our new series and he graciously accepted. Following the California State Convention in Monterey in late January, I drove down through the Valley to Riverdale.

8:00am – I am lost. I lived in Hanford, CA, for a summer while interning at World-Wide Sires and drove to Maddox Dairy almost weekly with tours of international visitors. And yet, just a “few” years later, I can’t remember how to get there or to nearby RuAnn Dairy. After some apologetic phone calls with Gloria in the RuAnn office, I arrive. Doug has already completed his daily meeting with farm managers, his Monday morning phone meeting with Holstein CEO John Meyer and President Randy Gross, a weekly event for the three men, and a phone call with his representative in Argentina.

I asked him to give me a little history on the dairy, including the entire scope of what the Maddox family does. RuAnn Dairy has been home to four generations of the Maddox family since 1957. “We have always been a family partnership. First with my father and mother, Rufus and Annie (RuAnn), then with brother, Ed, and currently with our immediate family.” “We’re currently milking 4,800 cows at RuAnn and Maddox Dairy, with an overall herd average of 27,000M 3.7% 1019F,” Doug explained. “We have bred over 1,200 EX and 9,000 VG cows and Golden Genes and RuAnn have also exported over 25,000 head to more than 30 countries. RuAnn has also been the #1 honor list herd in the country six times.

In 1994, Doug and his brother and partner divided the property, and Ed is now farming on his own. Responsibilities are split 5 ways — Steve - Maddox Dairy; Pat - RuAnn Dairy; Jamie Bledsoe - Golden Genes; and daughter, Julia - office manager and chief financial officer. Doug is overall CEO and in charge of farm operations.

Maddox Dairy, a newer facility with four double-13 herringbone parlors, was built in 1982 and consists of 9,000 animals (80% Registered) and 10,000 acres. It’s a great setup for ET work with a fantastic pool of recipients to transfer nearly 4,000 RuAnn embryos into each year. There’s also RuAnn Sud America, Produgenes, who promotes RuAnn genetics and handles embryo and semen sales in South America for the Maddox family. I asked him why they chose South America as a place to sell their breeding program, and he explained that it’s the closest market to them. “It’s an immature market in my opinion, and in South America, the people relate to our business and dairy style. We’ve seen tremendous success with this venture. At one time, over one-half of the EX cows in Columbia were from RuAnn, and in addition, RuAnn cattle held national production records in six different countries.” The Maddox team also has trained over 200 veterinarians to do embryo transfer work in those same countries. “It’s important to not only give the people genetics that will improve their herds, but also train them to keep that genetic progress in motion.” Trainees are brought to RuAnn to get hands-on experience. In fact, there’s a visitor from Bolivia due to arrive today to continue his learning experience.

10:00am – The embryo transfer team meets at RuAnn to discuss current plans and future ones. Danielle, one of the on-farm vets, just got back from a one-month training session in Brazil and needs to put together a program of what the rest of the team needs to do. She has just calculated the price of production to make one embryo and shared that with the rest of team, as they discussed ways to improve on that cost of production. Doug mentions that World-Wide Sires phoned and has an embryo order for China available. The team also needs to fulfill an embryo shipment to Argentina. They discussed at length ways to not only produce that many embryos, but what the health restrictions are and what additional screening they’d need to do.

11:00am – The embryo meeting is strictly limited to one hour, a good sign that the Maddox’s value busy employee schedules. I then visit with Pat and learn more about RuAnn’s Registered herd. “My dad always taught us that ‘like begets like’ and we’ve stuck to that,” Pat explained. “Over one half of our herd comes from five cow families – the Merla’s, the Gloria’s, the Dorinda’s, the Andrea’s and the Tauna’s. We select for elite type, milk and components and are really breeding for the true, total-balance cows. This wasn’t always the case. Twenty-five years ago, we’d use good milk bulls regardless of type. Now, we consider all traits, including health traits, with a heavy emphasis on type. We try to stay away from the extreme minus bulls. Bulls have to have a linear profile that I like, because it goes back to the ‘like begets like’ theory.” Bulls that were in the lineup in January at RuAnn were Marion, Bolton, Lou, Airraid, Damion, Aspen, Dundee and Bradley.

12:15pm – Doug and I hop in the car and head to town for some lunch. We pull up in front of the El Charro Café, a fantastic authentic restaurant with the hottest relleno & enchilada combination I’ve ever tasted…and it was good! We talked about issues facing the industry and the recently released McKinsey report, a document that analyzes the California dairy industry. “Everything the dairy industry does encourages overproduction, and it’s something the industry has to address,” Doug commented. “We have to look at the future to determine what we do in the present. No one knows for sure what opportunities will be available in the future however, continued growth is a must in any successful business. Right now, bigger is not necessarily paramount…but quality and being better is.”

After lunch, we take a tour of the entire farming operation of the Maddox family, which includes production of all the roughage (hay and silage) needs for the dairy operations, as well as, 1,600 acres of almonds, 3,000 acres of wine grapes, pistachios and olives (new this year), operated by a staff of 200 farm employees, 60 of which work on the dairy. Employee loyalty and longevity are important to Doug, as evidenced by some employees that have been there over 30 years.

We stop by Golden Genes Inc., on our way, which is now owned by Jamie and Liz (Maddox) Bledsoe. Golden Genes is home to 2,000 head of commercial replacement heifers and breeding age bulls. The business office of all family operations are located here, and Doug meets with his accounting department and daughter, Julia, and discusses financial matters, a common, albeit unpopular, task of every dairy producer’s day.

2:00pm – I take a walk through the RuAnn “boxstall” with Pat, which, according to him, is a living example of what’s happening there. “When visitors come to the farm, we can’t take them through all the freestall barns for practical and biosecurity purposes.” So they built an open-lot paddock at the front of the ranch that is easily accessible by car, bus or foot. In addition, the Maddox’s have made a video that gives visitors a virtual tour of the dairy very quickly. “The disadvantage of our size dairy is that it is difficult to take care of cows individually,” Pat continued, “but we use size to our advantage and make more good cows!” Among the boxstall cows we see are the 8 ½ year old Encore dam of Ruann Durham Lassiter 750-ET (EX-95), the sire of the unanimous 2006 All-American Milking Yearling, Ruann Lassit Dorinda-40775. There are 30 milking Lassiters in the pen right now, and Pat said there are nearly 400 more Lassiter daughters coming. Other highlights include a 93-point Astro Jet that has 43,000M and was All-California Jr. 3-Year-Old, a 92-point, second calf Hi Metro from a 15 year-old Blackstar that’s still on the dairy, a 91-point Rudolph with 42,000M, a pair of BW Marshall full sisters, a 5th gen. EX Rubens, a 93-point Formation and an 87-point Red Advent to name just a few. “We can’t sell many red animals to South America, but it’s been very easy to sell them domestically.” Besides the red market, the Maddox’s sell to junior Holstein breeders and also sell nearly 3,000 breeding bulls each year. Our bulls work well for commercial dairymen. Generally, they do not use the elite A.I. sires, but they can afford to use sons of the great bulls!”

3:15pm – Doug finishes up returning some phone calls from people looking to buy bulls. He then calls son Steve and grandson Stephen, a 3rd generation Cal Poly graduate and 4th generation dairyman, to RuAnn to meet with Pat and himself. It’s sire selection time, and now the real business of the day begins. There are 2,500 total bulls on the dairy and with a number like that Pat explains that it helps with the selection process. “With having a large number of bulls here, we can really pick out the good bulls by sheer numbers alone. In fact, we have a bigger selection of bulls than most AI companies, and only select the top 1% of bulls to use.”

Doug continued, “We try to breed RuAnn bulls that represent the best of what AI can do. The dairymen who buy bulls from us reap the benefits of us spending all the time that we do to study pedigrees. There are no real secrets, we just take the time to care enough about the results, and we throw in a little bit of common sense. Because we merchandise, our reputation is important to us and is based on factors that are important to our buyers, cows that will milk with high components, and especially they are concerned about feet and legs. With ‘like begets like’ as our motto, we select young bulls with style, excellent feet and legs…things we can see. We combine that with top AI sires of the breed that excel in linear traits and balanced with a high production index (things we can’t see), to produce young sires that give us a lot of information to project the performance of our next generation.”

Doug begins the weekly meeting by driving around the bull pens and doing a visual inspection. By the time the other Maddox men arrive, the pedigree books are pulled out, and a discussion on each bull ensues. The main focus of the meeting is on bulls separated in a barn that houses elite bulls from yearlings to full-aged service sires. The quartet decides which bulls to sell, which to use on the herd, and which to cull. It’s very interesting to not only scour each pedigree and talk about each cow’s performance, but to also get in the pens and see the bulls move, listen to each man’s evaluations and hear the friendly banter of making the final decision. It’s serious business, not only reflecting how the next generation of Maddox cattle will turn out, but also in realizing that these decisions impact our customers, both domestic and international.

Even though I worked in California for a summer and have visited many large dairies since then, the sheer size and scale of these operations never ceases to amaze me. As Doug states, “really, there is very little difference in the type of problems encountered on dairies.” “Whether its 50 cows, 500 or 5000 the major difference is another “0”, and he’s right. The most fascinating thing of all is the progressive minds of these dairymen to not accept status quo, to not rely on milk pricing only and to always look for a newer, better, more efficient way of doing things. The Maddox family is extremely active on and off the dairy, realizing that without being involved in local, state and regional organizations, they won’t have the most accurate “big picture” of the dairy industry, and an industry this family has a deep commitment to.

So as I leave, the four men head into the office to continue their sire selection discussions. Another project, another meeting, another set of daily decisions to be made! I am more impressed than ever with scope and scale of RuAnn and Maddox dairies.

Doug Maddox at a glance
…On handling adversity – how badly do you want it?
…On commitment to the dairy industry - it’s a 24/7 passion
…On their breeding program - work at it every day…there’s no quick fix
…On managing such a large farm – we’re a one cow at a time, one acre at a time management team
…On his grandfather’s best motto - when a potential problem is brewing, you’d best fix it now. Not later. Later may be too late.
…On Holstein USA programs – we classify four times a year on Holstein Complete, meaning we score 1,000 cows every three months
…On flushing cows – we flush 4-6 cows every day, 5 days a week

Judge: Barclay Phoenix
June 9, 2007
Raleigh, NC
Eight states represented
Junior Champion: Lake-View Durham Gina, 1st spring yearling, Heath, Stevens & Yeoman
Res. Junior Champion: Premier-S Adve Treat-Red, 2nd spring yearling, Chris & Jennifer Hill and Richard Green
Intermediate Champion: Jy-Ro Durham Pearlie, 1st Sr. 2-year-old, Richard Green & Tom Mercuro
Res. Intermediate Champion: Overside Rubens Tamara-ET, 2nd Sr. 2-year-old, La-Foster Farm
Senior & Grand Champion: Miss Dictator Rachel, 1st aged cow, Barbee, Carpenter, Proctor & Hulen
Res. Senior & Res. Grand Champion: B&R Stormatic Trish-ET, 1st 4-year-old, Kingsmill Farm
Premier Breeder & Exhibitor: Sunny Hill Farm

Julie Brown and I had a chance to visit the other Kingsmill Farm yesterday — Kingsmill DCF in Liberty, NC, about an 85 mile drive from their well-known dairy in Durham.  The Liberty farm, a large dairy formerly owned and designed by Arlin Butke, is home to 1,100 cows and 400 acres.  We chose, what I considered to be, one of the hottest and most humid days to visit…but I””m sure many in the south would laugh at my weather complaints.  For as hot and humid as it was outside, inside the barns, the breeze from hundreds of fans was so intense that our hair and shirt collars were continually moving.  The cows were extremely comfortable on their sand beds, with plenty of large, open drinking areas…so large in fact that some of the cows enjoyed dunking their entire heads under the water!  Management is key and the managers at the dairy - Eddie Patrick and Charlie Lloyd - not only show extreme dedication to the cows, but an intense interest in always learning new things.  Yesterday, Mitch Hockett was at the farm flushing some cows, for the fourth day in a row.  He explained that once the weather turns terribly hot, they usually just flush heifers and flush cows, not any milking cows.  Mitch is teaching Eddie and Charlie to flush, find eggs and implant all embryos used at the farm - a tremendous advantage in terms of labor and efficiency.  For their overseas embryo orders, their certified vet continues to do this work. 

New technologies used on the farm — manure recycling at its best.  Mr. Falk is building a new recycling center for manure that”’’s already used in the swine industry.  It takes the solids of manure and converts them so that they can be used to make black plastic.  And the liquids from manure are converted from a black substance, to crystal-blue pond water.  A fascinating process that I””m sure you””ll hear more about soon.  Another really interesting tool at the dairy - a series of catwalks above each pen of cows in the milking barns.  Not only can you see every cow within a matter of minutes, but you do so without disturbing them one bit.  In addition, the feed alleys were designed so that feed trucks/tractors never cross an alley-way that the cows use, thus eliminating the chance of getting manure mixed into the feed. 

They are continuing to add more cows, and hope to be at 1,300 soon, and in fact just had a load arrive from Arkansas the day before. 

Cows at the big dairy are used as recipients for some of the high-profile cows housed in Durham.  While we were watching Mitch flush some of the cows in Liberty, other Kingsmill employees were flushing in Durham, and in fact, got 25 #1 eggs from the well-known Sweetie Rae. 

Continuous communication and a vision of how to manage high-profile individuals and a tremendous group of recipients, is the glue that holds the system together. 

The Liberty crew milks three times a day - 24 hours a day.  With an 87 pound a day milk average in very intense, humid, Carolina heat, they””re doing an outstanding job!  Look for photos coming soon. 

Originally called “Wattsville,” Perry www.perryga.com is now known to many as the “Crossroads of Georgia” because of its location at the intersection of Highways US 341, US 41, GA 127, and I-75. Because of its central location and, since it’s “handy” on the way to so many places in Georgia, it has taken advantage of this fact and grown tourism into its number one industry.

Founded in 1821, Georgia’s history and culture are rich and deep and merit your trip there to explore it all at length.  Of course the area is famous for peaches and pecans!  Everywhere you look is an image of a Georgia peach, including water towers, billboards, and city welcome signs. As you near the central Georgia area, a prominent peach orchard appears on your right with a simple sign touting a website as “Growers and Shippers of Georgia Peaches and Pecans.”  This is www.lanepacking.com, a large operation that can be accessed right off the interstate.  In Perry, a local institution is Priester Pecans www.priester.com.

Perry has taken steps to preserve its culture in a meaningful and admirable way.  This includes a walking tour that begins at the New Perry Hotel www.newperryhotel.com which showcases some 40 restored and documented historic sites around town, including several buildings built in the 1820’s through the civil war period and thereafter.  Beautifully restored older homes of all sizes with wraparound porches, interesting woodwork and trim and shutters are seemingly everywhere. I only had time for a quick stop in town the evening after the sale but was taken by the quaint streets, shops, churches, and other structures of note and a special treat was when the chimes at the courthouse played an interlude of several tunes that hung in the air and provided atmosphere such that I felt I was the only person downtown.

If you are interested in the area of central Georgia and enjoy antiquing, take in the Georgia Antique Trail, also found on www.perryga.com  A link can also be found there to another prominent local site for tourists, the Andersonville War Museum and historic site, the Confederate prison camp known as Camp Sumter.  A good general site for those interested in Georgia attractions is www.georgiaonmymind.com.  Tomorrow, watch for some photos featuring downtown scenes in Perry.

Perhaps one of the most uplifting trips I make every year in my position with Holstein World is a short trip in April to the Old South-Perry, Georgia. From the time I land in one of America’s busiest airports in Atlanta, to the time when I head home again two days later, it is a festival for all the senses we as human beings have. I’d like to share a little of that with our readers if I can. There’s a great charm to the landscape beginning when you head south on Interstate 75 for an hour and a half, traveling through what I’ve heard referred to as “The Pine Tunnels.” You’ll leave the suburbs of Atlanta and proceed through Macon.

Macon www.cityofmacon.net is the home of the Harriet Tubman Museum www.tubmanmuseum.com among other attractions. Along the way you’ll observe trees completely leafed out (as opposed to spring just beginning at home, or maybe hasn’t arrived in the North, even) and flowers blooming everywhere including honeysuckle, roses and wild flowers in the highway right of way. The rich red dirt in the area is home to many thousands of pecan and peach trees, although you see the rapid encroachment of development is making those areas fewer and more precious to see. As you approach Perry, you’ll begin to comprehend the importance of agriculture to the local economy of central Georgia. From fruit and nut production to beef, dairy, and equine pursuits, the entire community is extremely supportive of agriculture, both in terms of where they have come from historically, and where they are headed. You’ll find one of the finest venues for Agricultural events anywhere in the Georgia National Fairgrounds www.gnfa.com. This super 628 acre facility is beautifully landscaped with a fountain, lakes and gardens. Throughout the year, the schedule includes many events which culminate in October with the Georgia National Fair www.georgianationalfair.com said to be one of the very best in the region.

A highly active Holstein community can be found within the Georgia Holstein Association. It’s a highly progressive group that conducts their annual Southern Invitational Sale each year with class, professionalism, and integrity. Many prominent individuals in the breed have crossed the shavings at this sale over the years. View www.holsteinworld.com to check out the specifics of the sale and show this year and~tomorrow-tune in for A Magical Experience: The Town of Perry.

This is a huge pecan grove just outside of Perry beside the highway. Notice that bright red dirt! It was very late in the day and I pulled into the end of a driveway to get a few shots, when a pickup truck hurried up in a cloud of dust-I was sure I had run into someone who was suspicious of what I was doing and might be a little upset. The very polite gentleman in the truck, when I quickly explained I was taking a few photos of the area, said, “Oh, that ain’t no problem! I was just leaving- I didn’t come to bother you-go right ahead!” So-I did.

What do you do to make June Dairy Month special? If you are looking for ways to incorporate a June Dairy Month celebration in your community, take a look at some of the ideas I was able to find. Keep in mind that June is just a month away! Now is the time to get some of these ideas rolling.

Breakfast on the Farm – Work with your county ADA or local chamber of commerce to host a breakfast on your farm this year! Employ the help and assistance of organizations you work with in the community – have your banker serve some pancakes, your implement dealer arrange clean-up, your local dairy princesses give tours around the farm and the 4-H and FFA organizations arrange kids activities. This is a great event that creates an opportunity for the whole community to come together promoting dairy through on-farm education and some good food!

June Dairy Month Baby – Each baby born in the month of June can be entered into a drawing to win the title of June Dairy Month Baby. The winning family receives a basket of dairy products, animal toys and coupons for dairy products.

Other ideas include:
Dairy product donations to local food shelves.
Dairy trivia contests on local radio stations.
Community parade appearances.
Dairy nights at sporting events.
Community celebrity cow milking contests.
Milk mustache contests.

There is no doubt many more ideas out there to help celebrate June Dairy Month. Do you have any you’d like to share? Drop me an email at sschmidt@dairybusiness.com and I can post your ideas in the blog.

As I was compiling information for this blog subject on milk promotion, I was given the following information for websites that provide useful information about dairy farming and dairy products. Surf the web and take a look, then pass along the addresses to your friends and family. I was impressed especially by this first website. Launched within the last year, I think it does a great job painting a picture of many of our family farms. Happy surfing!

www.dairyfarmingtoday.org
Learn how modern dairy farm families care for their animals and protect the land while growing healthy farming businesses for future generations.

http://www.3aday.org
The latest news and information about the 3-A-Day of Dairy program, including great-tasting recipes and valuable nutrition education information.

http://www.ilovecheese.com
Everything you ever wanted to know about cheese.

http://www.whymilk.com
The best of the “got milk?®” Milk Mustache campaign.

http://www.nationaldairycouncil.org
Information and media resource about the health benefits of dairy products.

http://www.nutritionexplorations.com
Ideas and tools for parents, educators and school foodservice professionals to keep kids on the right track to healthy eating, including dairy’s role in the Food Guide Pyramid.

http://www.butterisbest.com
Recipes and cooking tips regarding the great taste and versatility of butter.

http://www.dairycheckoff.com
Industry information regarding the national dairy producer checkoff and its programs.

http://www.dairyresponse.com
Information and resources regarding dairy animal care issues.

http://www.foodsafety.gov
News and resources on a variety of food safety topics.

3-3-03, what a great day to start a new advertising campaign! Especially if your message is centered on the number 3. This day was the official nationwide launch of the 3-A-Day of Dairy campaign. The simple message aimed at encouraging consumers to have 3 servings of dairy each day – milk, cheese or yogurt – started off with a bang and has continued to increase consumer demand across the country. So, what’s up with 3-A-Day these days? To find out, I visited www.3aday.org and was welcomed with an abundance of 3-A-day information!

The message is quite simple, 3-A-Day of Dairy is as easy as 1-2-3:

1. Look for the 3-A-Day logo on packages of milk, cheese and yogurt showing they are an excellent source of calcium.

2. Enjoy your favorite flavors of great-tasting milk, snackable cheeses or portable yogurt.

3. Take a “3 p.m. Break” every day. Use this time as a reminder to tally daily dairy servings. If falling short, it’s a good time to work in another one.

If you’re like me, you probably easily get your 3-A-Day…and some. It’s hard to believe that just 1-8 oz. glass of milk or 8 oz. container of yogurt is a serving! Most people don’t realize that getting their 3-A-Day of dairy is this simple. And the rewards are so great!! Stronger bones and healthier bodies are a direct result of the essential nutrients dairy provides.

Further surfing around the website revealed a variety of resources. Recipes & snacks, tips & tools, mom’s corner, dairy & your health – these are some of the different areas of the site where you can learn more. But again I’d like to emphasize that the purpose of this blog subject is not for just you to learn about these different promotional programs our check-off dollars support, but to then take this information and share it with those around you! For that, I have created my own 3-A-Day campaign…

Each day, or at least each week, accomplish the following:

1. Visit with your kids, grandkids or neighbor kids about the importance of dairy in their diets. Encourage them to share this info with their friends, classmates and teachers.

2. Eat three servings of dairy and tell someone about it. We can spread our message by being examples of healthy consumers ourselves.

3. Spice your 3-A-Day up a bit. Try new flavors or varieties of milk, cheese and yogurt. Keep it interesting!

If you have some fun ways you spread the message of 3-A-Day, let me know! I’d love to share them with our readers in the blog. Not to mention it’s a great way to get ideas rolling for activities to coordinate in your area for June is Dairy Month. Its just around the corner!

Interesting side note: As I write this blog message this morning, I am snacking on Quaker Oatmeal Squares with some nice, cool milk in my 3-A-Day of Dairy glass. I assure you, this was not planned! The irony made me smile and I just had to share

On Wednesday, the end of my blog briefly mentioned doing a classroom visit in your area. There are many dairy farmer volunteers out there that take the extra hour out of their day to accomplish this small task that results in huge rewards! It basically comes down to this simple question: Would you prefer to have the next generation of consumers learning about agriculture and dairy farming from a teacher who also has to be an expert to them on reading, writing, spelling, math, etc. OR a real dairy farmer who knows the ins and outs of the industry and the important information to share with the students?

Try and remember your days back in the classroom. Do you recall the weekly spelling tests or the daily math lessons? Or do the memories of a special visitor, like a dairy farmer or dairy princess, stick out more in your mind? All classrooms can be different, but more often than not, the kids are genuinely happy, excited and interested in what you have to say! They love asking questions. In fact, classroom visits tend to be 10% presentation and 90% answering questions. Therefore, as a presenter, there doesn’t need to be a tremendous amount of effort on your end preparing for these visits.

Our dairy checkoff program works to encourage dairy in the schools through a variety of programs. One of these programs is Nutrition Explorations. Ideas and tools for parents, educators and school foodservice professionals to keep kids on the right track to healthy eating are just a mouse click away. The website, www.nutritionexplorations.com, provides lesson plans, games, posters, meal ideas, and more to help promote a healthy diet but more specifically, dairy’s role in the Food Guide Pyramid. These resources are available for the wonderful cost of FREE!

One of the latest projects currently going on to help maintain and increase students desire to have milk with their meal is the Cold Milk Temperature Survey – Strive for 35°! The process is simple, encourage your school to logon to the Nutrition Explorations website and click on ‘Take Cold Milk Survey’ link. Here they can take the Milk Temperature Survey and read the Cold Milk Fact Sheet. Once they’ve filled out the survey they can enter their results into an online drawing for a chance to win a FREE cooler for their school! The next survey deadline is October 15, 2007.

Speaking of milk coolers in schools, how great is it that we now have milk vending machines in schools! If your school has not jumped on this popular bandwagon yet, information about starting a milk vending program is also available on the Nutrition Explorations website. Here you will find a variety of resources and research results to help get the process going. Often times a local FFA Chapter has been able to successfully add milk vending machines to their school and receive a portion of the profits.

Classroom visits, fun ways to learn about nutrition, cold & delicious milk, vending machines – these are just a few of the ways we can create a positive dairy experience for today’s students and tomorrow’s purchasing consumers. Not to mention it’s a great way to incorporate 3 servings a day into their diet. Speaking of 3-A-Day…ok, I’ll save that subject for another day. Have a great weekend!

Yesterday morning I had the chance to visit with Sherry Newell, Industry Relations and Communications Manager for the Midwest Dairy Association (MDA). This group is financed and directed by the dairy producers in nine states – Arkansas, Illinois, Iowa, Kansas, Minnesota, Missouri, North Dakota, South Dakota and Eastern Oklahoma. Sherry was able to share with me some information on the latest promotional initiatives MDA is working on – People Behind the Product and “Speak Out!”

One of the newest ways for dairy producers to get involved and be a part of a promotional program, People Behind the Product emphasizes who dairy producers are – Dedicated, Responsible, Neighbors, The Future. The MDA website, www.midwestdairy.com, appropriately defines the dairy producer in these four areas and displays pictures of real-life dairy farm families on their operations. We are the “people behind the product” and it is our job to be the promoters of our product – that’s just good business sense. We need to keep our customers informed about dairy farming and milk production.

In late 2006, a toolkit called “Speak Out!” was introduced, accompanied by a training session for producers. This program encourages dairy farmers to make presentations to community groups in an effort to help them understand dairy farming more completely and to provide a personal connection to a dairy farmer in their area. The first training session was held in December and more are being organized. To date, 70 presentations have been scheduled and 50 have been completed.

“The ‘Speak Out!’ program is an ideal way for dairy producers to get involved and talk about what they do on a daily basis,” Newell shared. “We provide the training, resources, and practice sessions to prepare them. Then a scheduler with MDA works with each producer to arrange presentations in their area.” A minimal amount of extra effort is required by the producer to get these presentations set up.

The society of consumers in our country wants to know more about how their food is produced and wants to be able to ask questions and be given truthful answers. We need to provide them with a “winning message” that addresses their fears and concerns, uses the right words and presents it all with a simple delivery style. For example, prepare short answers to these top current concerns of consumers: Animal Care, Food Safety, Environment and Nutrition. The ‘Speak Out!’ program helps producers do just that.

Now, you might be saying to yourself, “But Im not in the nine state region of the Midwest Dairy Association. How can I ‘speak out’?” It may take a little more time and additional initiative on your part, but I guarantee you that the resources are out there for you to do something like this in your community. A simple call to your local chamber of commerce could put you in contact with groups that would be interested in having you come speak to them. Not to mention the wonderful audience your son or daughter’s school classroom can provide! I”m positive you don’t need a crown to catch their attention – although it does help! Speak out and be your own dairy prince or princess!