2300 North Cameron Street
Harrisburg, PA 17110
Center for Dairy Excellence
For the Pennsylvania dairy industry, the best view usually comes after the hardest climb. There’s always another way to level up and find room to grow, not necessarily in cow numbers but in management practices and business acumen. At this year’s Dairy Financial and Risk Management Conference, learn what the top 10% of dairy farmers do to set their businesses apart and hear from dairy producers who have turned their businesses around financially. Our speakers will challenge you to consider how to help your dairy clients navigate rock bottom years, how high-performing dairies can level up, and discuss how tariffs and trade policy impact global dairy markets.
We hope you’ll join us on Wednesday, September 10, 2025 for the 16th annual Dairy Financial & Risk Management Conference.
Registration Cost:
- Standard Rate for Non-Ally registrants – $260
- Allies for Advancement & EITC participant rate – $210
- Dairy Producer Rate – $130
Sessions and Speakers:
Cream of the Crop: What Sets Dairy’s Best & Brightest Apart?
What sets dairy’s best and brightest apart? What can underperforming dairies do to get turned around and how can high-performing dairies level up? What do the top 10% of dairies do that set them apart? Pauly Paul, dairy farm and ag business consultant and the owner of Complete Management Consulting LLC, will dive into all of this and more in this enlightening session!
Pauly Paul is a dairy farm and ag business consultant and the owner of Complete Management Consulting LLC. He and his team work alongside owners and employees, as well as their lenders, to assess the business both in the barn and on their balance sheet, in order to provide proven methods to save time, money and man hours, while increasing income and operational efficiency. Prior to founding Complete Management Consulting, Pauly spent several years running bank-owned dairies and successfully bringing them back from bankruptcy to a bottom line in the black. This experience, combined with more than 15 years working in dairy cattle reproduction, developed the “boots on the ground” approach he is known for in assessing all aspects of business organization, operations and finance. Additional services include: full-service farm management, crisis management, employee training and court-ordered receiverships. Based in New Holstein, Wisconsin, the team serves farms and businesses throughout the Midwest and beyond.
Leveling Up and Rising Above: Producer Panel with Dee Shafer (Shafdon Farms), Dale Brown (Jobo Holsteins), and Mark Mosemann (Misty Mountain Farm)
For dairy farms who are operating from a point of very high risk, how have they turned things around to move toward growth? What steps did they take to rise above financial risks and eventually become financially strong and thriving? Who helped them along the way? Dee Shafer (Shafdon Farms), Dale Brown (Jobo Holsteins), and Mark Mosemann (Misty Mountain Farm) will each share their unique story about the process in moving from a point of higher risk to becoming more financially stable. They will answer these questions and more during a producer panel discussion facilitated by Dr. Bob Fry, a veterinarian and business consultant for producers in the Mid-Atlantic region.
Dee Shafer grew up on a small dairy farm in Frederick County, MD. After high school, she attended Virginia Tech and earned a bachelor’s degree in Dairy Science in 2000. She continued her education at Virginia Tech and received a master’s degree in dairy science in 2002. After college she was a herdsman at Deer Spring Dairy in Middletown, MD for three years and then married her husband, Brent Shafer. They have been married for 20 years and have two daughters.
At Shafdon Farms, Brent and Dee formed a partnership in 2009 with his parents, Denny and Teresa Shafer. They milk 400 Holstein cows and raise 360 replacement heifers.
Dale Brown is a partner at JoBo Holsteins Farm LLC in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, where he is responsible for nutrition, dairy labor management, and milking center maintenance. He is married to Jennie (Hess) who he met at Penn State. He and Jennie co-paster at Bethel Mennonite Church in Biglerville. They have four children and two grandchildren.
Mark Mosemann dairies in Fulton County, Pennsylvania where he partners with his wife, his parents, and brother to operate a 500-cow dairy. They farm 900 acres and raise all replacement heifers on the farm. Mark has a bachelor’s degree in dairy and animal science from Penn State and fulfills the role of general farm manger on the dairy. Mark and his wife, Lauren, have four children.
Dr. Bob Fry graduated from the University of Georgia, College of Veterinary Medicine in 1977 and then began a bovine veterinary practice on the Delmarva Peninsula. His career interest has always centered on production and health issues of dairy cows. He and his wife, Judy, operate a pasture based, robotic milking Jersey herd in Kennedyville, Maryland. He continues to provide consulting services to producers in the mid-Atlantic and provides technical support for the Pro Ag Premix Company in Lebanon.
Tariffs, Trade Policy, and the Impact on Global Dairy Markets with Tony Rice
The conversation surrounding tariffs and trade policy has never been louder, but what points are truly worth dialing in on? What kind of impact are we seeing in the global dairy market landscape, and what does this all mean for the overall dairy industry and the producers we work with? Tony Rice, Trade Policy Director at the US Dairy Export Council and native of a PA dairy farm, will break down what tariffs and trade policy really mean for global dairy markets.
As the National Milk Producers Federation (NMPF) Trade Policy Director, Tony Rice works with NMPF’s Trade Policy team to develop, implement and communicate NMPF’s work to support policies that promote U.S. dairy exports, seek removal of policies that impede those exports and address foreign barriers to U.S. dairy sales. NMPF does this work in concert with the U.S. Dairy Export Council. Tony also manages supply chain policy for both organizations. A native of a Pennsylvania dairy farm, Rice has a master’s degree in applied economics from Johns Hopkins University and an undergraduate degree in agribusiness management from Penn State University. He currently lives in Arlington, VA.
Finding Support: Accessing Grant Funding with Jayne Sebright, facilitator
The capital investment associated with any dairy project can seem insurmountable, but there are plenty of acronyms like NRCS, DCED, SBDC, ACAP, and REAP that can help. Hear from individuals who have figured out how to rearrange the acronyms to spell OPPORTUNITY for the farmers they are working with.
Jayne Sebright has served in the role of executive director for both the Center for Dairy Excellence and Dairy Excellence Foundation since 2016. As director, she leads a team of eight individuals who are passionate about helping Pennsylvania’s dairy farm families to thrive and inspiring dairy’s next generation to prosper.