Upcoming Events

Penn State’s Extension Dairy Team is collaborating with the Center for Dairy Excellence and the Professional Dairy Managers of Pennsylvania to offer a new “On-Farm Dairy Series: Plan the Work; Work the Plan” at three locations this summer. The series provides an opportunity to learn from dairy enterprises that have made improvements based on sound business and facility planning. Each meeting is designed to spotlight a unique set of business decisions that enabled each farm to move forward.

Dates and locations for the three meetings are:

• Thursday, July 25 – Incremental Expansion – Kish-View Farms, Reedsville, PA
• Wednesday, July 31 – New Dairy System – Lebanon, PA
• Wednesday, August 7 – New Milking Center – Shippensburg, PA

All meetings are from 8:30 a.m. to 3 p.m. and include lunch and a farm tour following the morning educational session. Registration, which includes lunch and light refreshments, is $20 per person for each meeting site.

Dan McFarland, agricultural engineering extension educator, who is organizing the meetings said, “The emphasis will be on long-term profitability which comes with careful planning and continual strategic reinvestment in the dairy.” He noted that the meetings will show how to incorporate the latest technologies, including improvement in cow comfort, herd and employee management and reduced environmental footprint.

Dairy industry professionals will be on hand to share information and insight into the dairy industry, dairy management topics and dairy business benchmarks.

Incremental Expansion – Kish-View Farms
Thursday, July 25, 2019

• 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. | Reedsville Volunteer Fire Company, 16 Firehouse Boulevard, Reedsville, PA 17084
  • State of the Dairy Industry – Dave Swartz, Penn State Extension
  • Turning the Data You Have into Profit – Jeffery Bewley, Alltech, Inc.
  • Dairy Business Benchmarks – Mike Hosterman, Ag Choice Farm Credit
  • Incremental Expansion: Kish-View Farm’s Experience – Keith Spicher
  • Lunch

• 1-3 p.m. | Kish-View Farms, 4733 E Main Street, Belleville, PA 17004
  • Farm tour
  • Educational stations

New Dairy System – Talview Dairy, LLC
Wednesday, July 31, 2019

• 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. | Lebanon Valley Agricultural Center, 2120 Cornwall Road #1, Lebanon, PA 17042
  • State of the Dairy Industry – Dave Swartz, Penn State Extension
  • Turning the Data You Have into Profit – Joe Bender, U of Penn
  • Dairy Business Benchmarks – Tim Beck – Penn State Extension
  • Planning & Building a New Dairy System: Talview Dairy’s Experience – Brent Copenhaver
  • Lunch

• 1-3 p.m. | Talview Dairy, LLC, 1501 Mt. Pleasant Road, Lebanon, PA 17042
  • Farm Tour
  • Educational stations

New Milking Center – Gro-Lan Farms
Wednesday, August 7, 2019

• 8:30 a.m. – 12 p.m. | Shippensburg Firefighters Activity Center, 33 W Orange St, Shippensburg, PA 17257
  • State of the Dairy Industry – Zach Myers, Center for Dairy Excellence
  • Turning the Data You Have into Profit – – Joe Bender, U of Penn
  • Dairy Business Benchmarks – Wayne Brubaker
  • Milking Harvesting Decisions: Gro-Lan Farm’s Experience – Jay Grove
  • Lunch

• 1-3 p.m. | Gro-Lan Farms, 115 Clearfield Rd, Shippensburg, PA 17257
  • Farm Tour
  • Educational stations

All of the sessions will offer insight to making decisions about improvements for the short term or long term and will contribute to your future success.

Register online or call (877)-345-0691.

Walk-ins are welcome, but please call 717- 840-7408 one week before each meeting date to allow an accurate meal count.