JAYNE SEBRIGHT
Lancaster Farming Staff
MIDDLETOWN (Dauphin
Co.) To help dairy producers
keep up with the fast-paced and
ever-changing dairy industry,
the Pennsylvania State Univer
sity has launched “Dairy Alli
ance,” a new initiative to
enhance the economic develop
ment of the dairy industry.
Dairy Alliance will draw on
the resources of industry profes
sionals and Penn State faculty
and staff to provide dairy farm
ers with the latest information
and programs they need to stay
progressive.
“Our goal is to enhance the
economic development of dairy
through focused education pro
grams,” said N. Alan Bair, di
rector of dairy industry relations
for Penn State. “The Dairy Alli
ance is not just Penn State’s ini
tiative. It really depends on the
support of industry, and its ulti
mate audience is the dairy
farmer.”
The focus areas that Dairy Al
liance will target are labor man
agement, information
management, and nutrient man
agement. To help develop pro
grams and work with farmers,
Penn State will hire several new
positions within the University
and in Cooperative Extension
Dairy Alliance Created To Aid Progressive
Three positions were created
in the Department of Dairy and
Animal Science. Tammy Per
kins, formerly with the Michi
gan Farm Bureau and American
Cancer Society, filled the first
position, program manager, on
January 1. On March 1, Brad
Hilty was hired in the informa
tion management position at
Penn State. Hilty was an inde
pendent farm management con
sultant. Richard Stup, formerly
a feed management consultant
with Renaissance Nutrition,
started this Wednesday in the
labor management position.
Additionally, there will be one
position filled in the Agricul
tural Economics and Rural Soci
ology Department and three and
a half positions filled in Cooper
ative Extension. Those positions
include two in ag engineering,
one in herd health, and a part
time position in farm manage
ment.
“Think of these new employ
ees as additional resources to ex
tension,” said Bair. “They may,
depending on the time and abili
ties of local extension agents,
work directly with some farm
ers. However, their main respon
sibility will be developing
programs that will be adminis
tered by others, including
county extension agents, indus-
try professionals, consultants,
and even producers.”
Another role of the new Uni
versity hires will be to remain
close to the industry and know
what resources are available.
“If they find a company that
has an excellent resource for
farmers, they will work with
that company to extend that
program to a wider audience,”
said Bair. “If a company has a
wide audience and identifies
specific program needs, then
they can go to Dairy Alliance
staff to get the needed help.”
Dairy Alliance is designed to
bring resources together across
the industry and multiply those
resources to get them where they
are needed. One component of
the Dairy Alliance is a compre
hensive database of resources
available to dairy farmers. Per
kins will be managing the data
base, which farmers can access
by calling the Dairy Alliance’s
toll-free number, 1-888-373-PA
DAIRY.
For example, if a dairy farmer
is expanding his operation and
needs to know names of builders
in his area, he can call Tammy
to find out the information. If a
farmer needs information on
heifer raising, then the database
can direct him to the appropri-
ate publications and organiza-
Lancaster Farming, Saturday, March 18, 2000-A3l
tions.
Bair emphasized that the
Dairy Alliance was designed to
complement existing extension
programs and help aid farmers
who are progressive and looking
to the future.
“Extension has always had
the job of educating the dairy
man,” said Bair. “But we realize
that there are a lot of progressive
dairymen out there who can
adopt new technology faster
than extension agents can keep
up with it. The Dairy Alliance is
a partnership formed with com
panies that have a lot of re
sources, manpower, money, and
educational tools to keep up
with the rapidly-changing in
dustry.”
The core dollars funding
Dairy Alliance come from in
creased funding included for
Cooperative Extension in the
state’s appropriation for Penn
State. “The program was very
strongly supported by Penn
State President Spaniner,” said
Bair. “The support was also
very evident within the dairy in
dustry.”
According to Bair, the Profes
sional Dairy Managers of Penn
sylvania, a group of farmers who
stay with the latest technology
and innovations in the dairy in
dustry, asked for the initiative
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armers
because they needed the exten
sion system to keep up with
them.
“The Dairy Alliance will be
100 percent focused on helping
dairy producers,” said Bair.
‘This was very important to leg
islators that these funds help
dairy producers.”
In additional to new pro
grams and the database, Dairy
Alliance will also sponsor meet
ings to educate dairy farmers on
various issues. Two meetings
have been held in Franklin and
Lancaster Counties that focused
on feeding management and
labor management. The meet
ings were coordinated by local
extension agents and co
sponsored by Dairy Alliance.
Dairy Alliance also hosted
several Dairy Works seminars
featuring Dr. Tom Fuhrmann,
DVM, a management consult
ant from Arizona who has
worked with some of the largest
dairies in the world. The meet
ings were co-sponsored by Penn
State Veterinary Science Exten
sion and Keystone Agway, in
addition to the Dairy Alliance.
As part of the initiative, Penn
State will also launch a new
Dairy Alliance web site,
www.dairyalliance.com. While
the comprehensive database
that Perkins is developing will
only be available through exten
sion agents for the first several
years, eventually Dairy Alliance
hopes to make it available to all
dairyman through the web site.
“The information and pro
grams that Dairy Alliance will
provide is applicable regardless
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