The Midwest Dairy Challenge is right around the corner. Fox Valley Technical College will serve as host for the event held February 5-7, 2014 in Appleton, WI. Dairy students from 18 schools in 10 states will be attending the prominent education event for college students planning a career in the dairy industry.

“On behalf of Fox Valley Technical College and the Service Motors Agriculture Center, I would like to welcome everyone to Appleton,” said Kevin Rauchholz, Ag Instructor at Fox Valley Technical College. “The Dairy Challenge is such a positive experience for the college students involved, in developing analytical, teamwork, communication and dairy management skills.”

The Southern Regional Dairy Challenge took place November 17-19, 2013 at Louisiana State University. 51 students from 11 universities participated in the 8th annual event.

“The Southern Regional Dairy Challenge, in a new weekday format, continued to provide the students an opportunity to practice their dairy management knowledge, as well as leadership and communication skills, in a “real world” setting. All students evaluated the same farm, which was an excellent family owned operation in southeast Louisiana. An added benefit of the new weekday format was the interaction with more industry representatives than ever before, thus providing a tremendous networking opportunity for the students as they look toward a future in the dairy industry,” says contest planning committee chair Cathy Williams of Louisiana State University.

This year’s contest in Baton Rouge, Louisiana attracted students from Alabama A&M, Clemson University, Eastern Kentucky University, University of Florida, University of Georgia, University of Kentucky, Mississippi State University, North Carolina A&T, North Carolina State University, Virginia Tech and Western Kentucky University.

1st Place winners included: Clay Phelps-Virginia Tech, Shawna Blau-Mississippi State University, Meghan Grone-University of Kentucky, Casey Lucas-Clemson University, Roxanne Seltzer-Virginia Tech, Taylor Wright-North Carolina State University, Caitlin Conway-University of Florida and Kimberly Pierce-Western Kentucky University.

The events are part of four regional contests each sponsored by North American Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge. These are all funded by 130 agribusinesses and dairy producers. For it’s 13-year national history, the Dairy Challenge has prepared over 4,000 students for careers as dairy owners or managers, consultants, researchers, vets or other dairy professionals.

Teams inspect an operating dairy, analyze farm data and interview farm owners. Then each team develops recommendations for nutrition, reproduction, milking procedures, animal health and housing to increase performance and profitability.

Then teams present their recommendations to the farmers – while being evaluated by judges. Not only is this an educational contest, but also a great networking opportunity.

Media, sponsors and dairy enthusiasts are encouraged to follow the events. Please make advance arrangements with Molly Kelly at 217-493-3441 or naidcmjk@aol.com. For a schedule and more information about this year’s Midwest Dairy Challenge checkout their website.