There are two dairy conferences scheduled in early March that will provide area dairy producers with the opportunity to learn skills and hear information that can help them with the production management and financial management tasks of operating a dairy farm.

            The first conference is the annual Northeast Ohio Regional Dairy Conference organized by the Killbuck Valley Veterinary Medical Association.  This conference will be held on March 1 at Fisher Auditorium and the Shisler Conference Center on the OARDC campus in Wooster. The theme of the conference is: Survive, Thrive or Dive: Developing a Financial Strategy for All Markets.  The featured speaker is Gary Sipiorski, a contributing author to Hoard’s Dairyman and a dairy financial specialist with Vita Plus who works on developing financial training tools for dairy producers.  Mr. Sipiorski will present 3 different topics at the March 1 conference entitled “What does a top third dairy producer do”, “How to talk to your banker” and “You can’t give up milk”.  Other speakers include Dr. Bill Yost providing a dairy update and Dianne Shoemaker, OSU Extension dairy production economics field specialist talking about the 15 Measures of Dairy Farm Competitiveness. The day begins with registration at 9:00 am, program at 10:00 am and concludes by 3:30 pm.

          There is no cost to attend the conference but reservations are required by February 24 for a lunch count.  Lunch costs are covered thanks to the generous sponsorships of the conference exhibitors.  Reservations can be made by calling any of the following veterinary clinics; Tri-County Animal Clinic (419-853-4835), Orrville Veterinary Clinic (330-682-2971), Pittsburgh Veterinary Clinic (330-264-7787), Byland Animal Hospital (419-994-5515) or RSVP on-line at: www.neodairy.com.

            The second dairy conference opportunity is the Winter Dairy Conference scheduled for Thursday, March 9 at Fisher Auditorium on the OARDC campus.  Sign-in/registration is at 9:30 am and the day will conclude around 3:00 pm.  This conference is organized by the OSU Extension Dairy Working Group and includes a number of OSU specialists on the program.  The theme of the conference is dairy cattle nutrition and management.

Topics and speakers include:

• Less is more with reduced lignin in alfalfa: Mark Sulc, OSU Extension Forage Specialist
• Numbers can lie! The importance of good feed sampling: Bill Weiss, OSU Dairy Nutrition and Interim Chair, Department of Animal Science
• Dairy Economics: Measuring Up,  Dianne Shoemaker, Extension Field Specialist, Dairy Production Economics
• Wading through a sea of numbers: How to evaluate a feed lab test: Bill Weiss, OSU Dairy Nutrition and Interim Chair, Department of Animal Science
• Automated Milk Feeders for Calves: There’s more to manage than the milk dispensing equipment: Maurice Eastridge, OSU Dairy Nutrition
• Creating a culture of good handling practices on your herd: Katy Proudfoot, OSU Extension Animal Welfare & Behavior Specialist
• Salad bar and dessert: Managing the feeding system on farms with robotic milking systems: Maurice Eastridge, OSU Dairy Nutrition

          Cost of the conference is $10/person and includes morning refreshments, noon lunch and handout materials.  Pre-registration is requested by Thursday, March 2 to the Wayne County Extension office at 330-264-8722 or RSVP by email to: parker.1269@osu.edu.  Sponsors of the dairy conference include Farmers National Bank, Farm Credit Mid-America, Wayne Savings Community Bank and Farmers State Bank.

An informational flyer and registration form is available at: http://go.osu.edu/winterdairyconf