This 17-county region is home to 72 percent of Iowa's dairy cattle, owned by nearly 3,000 family dairy businesses. Like family farmers everywhere, the dairy producers in northeast Iowa are eager to preserve and maintain the family-centered values and quality of life they hold dear. The budding Northeast Iowa Community-Based Dairy Foundation and Initiative is helping them do that. Continuing education classes will also be offered, and the facilities will be used as a hands-on demonstration and milking farm for students, farmers, and the general public. They can explore various production alternatives, including totally confined and rotational systems.
Farmers can see how the manure digester works, for example.
The Dairy Foundation isn't waiting for the building to be completed before they begin their activities, however. They have already conducted two dairy study tours, one to Idaho and one to Vermont and New York. Idaho has rapidly grown their dairy industry in just a few short years. Formal classes will begin in September, with an expected enrollment of 60 to 100 students over two years.