Hello, all welcome to WFHR's Rapids Report for this May 1st, 2025.
Have your host, James Jamail, off here, welcoming on to the show our great friend, Alcindere
Lanzone.
Haley Heintzel.
Haley, how are you doing?
Wonderful.
Thank you so much for having me today.
We love talking with you, Haley, and for many, many years, we've been able to hang out
with the Alcindere Lanzone.
We've really been enjoying getting to know you and working with you.
It's been a blast.
We hope you've been enjoying the time and your rain here.
And appreciate the topics we've been able to focus on.
Today, we're going to get into Wisconsin Dairy Farmers' Earth Day is every day.
Great topic, Haley.
I like this one.
Haley Heintzel.
Haley Heintzel.
Yes, very relevant.
We just recently celebrated Earth Day a couple of weeks ago.
Earth Month was just in April, but for our Wisconsin Dairy Farmers' Earth Day really
is every day.
They are always thinking about sustainability and putting sustainability first.
When we think about sustainability, I like to split it into three major pillars.
The first one is environmental, that's the obvious one that everyone really cares a lot
about.
But when it comes to our farms, we're also thinking about financial sustainability and
communities sustainability as well.
We want to make sure that our farms are financially able to keep going, and our farmers also
love to give back to their communities, especially during the Dairy Month, which is coming up
very soon.
Yeah.
We're gearing up for that.
Haley, some really interesting stats that you sent over that I thought were noteworthy
to this, certainly.
When we talk about sustainability, the percentage of Wisconsin dairy farms that are family-owned,
that one right there, I thought, was a great place to start.
Absolutely.
Incredible statistic.
That's 99% of our dairy farms are family-owned.
Many of those are multi-generational farms.
I've been on farms that are fifth, sixth, seventh, even eighth generation dairy farms.
And multiple generations are often working on the same farm together.
Grandparents with grandchildren, parents with their own children, and that's one of the
really big reasons that farmers focus so hard on sustainability and have been for generations.
We wouldn't have those multi-generational farms around if farmers didn't care so much about
caring for the cows and the soil and the planet.
And Haley, when it comes to getting the information and the resources that these farmers use, that's
just as interesting too, whether we're talking about the tech industry or nutritionists or
any of the above.
Yes, farmers certainly are not alone.
They have a huge team behind them helping to support our dairy farms in Wisconsin and
making sure that our farmers know exactly what they need to be doing.
Over 80% of Wisconsin dairy farmers work with a nutritionist for their cows' nutrition
program.
This is actually because cows are very unique in the way that they eat.
They have one stomach with four compartments.
They can eat a lot of things that we can't necessarily get all of the nutrients out of.
Things like grass, but also waste products from other industries like cotton halls and
brewers grains or distiller's grains, things that we can't eat that they can then digest
and turn into products we can use like dairy or beef.
And so they're going to work with a nutritionist to ensure that the cow's diet is completely
balanced.
And then on top of that, 80% of farmers are also producing 80% of their feed for their
own cattle.
So they're actually growing the feed that they're giving to their cows right on their own
land.
That's incredible.
Some really interesting stats.
And I could barely handle having one stomach.
I couldn't imagine that's a lot to go through.
This is really interesting about that.
There's more to this too.
Haley, how do Wisconsin's dairy farmers practice sustainability on their farms?
The best way that they can practice sustainability on the farm is taking care of the land.
There is a lot that they can control when it comes to our farm fields.
Many Wisconsin farmers are using cover crops to protect and enrich the soil on their farms,
which keeps the soil nutrient rich for the crops that they grow for their cows to eat.
That means that there's roots in the ground in Wisconsin farm fields all year long.
So a lot of us that are familiar with seeing corn throughout Wisconsin in the summer and
in the fall.
And once it's harvested, they're going to be actually replanting in the fall to make
sure that none of that soil is going to erode away over the winter time.
A lot of our farms are also moving towards no-till or reduced tillage, so they're not disturbing
the soil structure.
And that's really good for soil health and also good for the worms that are living in
the soil too, and really helping to keep those nutrients in the soil and preventing erosion.
Yeah, in addition to that, there's crop grown feed that they're using a lot too.
Yes, absolutely.
A lot of our farmers are also rotating their crops because they grow a lot of the feed for
their own animals.
So hay and corn and soybean, things that our cows are eating.
But corn is notorious for loving to suck a lot of nutrients out of the soil.
And so if we plant corn in the same field year after year, eventually the corn is going
to deplete that soil of all the nutrients.
So by rotating where the corn is grown, that can really help keep nutrients in the soil.
And another way is with nutrient management plans.
What goes into the cow does have to come out eventually.
And our farmers are able to use that manure in order to re-fertilize the land, and a lot
of them have management plans that are worked out by a team of people in order to ensure
that we're putting exactly the right amount of manure exactly where we need it.
A lot of our farmers also have buffer strips if they are farming near waterways.
That's going to catch any potential runoff because our farmers care a lot about water as
well.
Many of our dairy farms are recycling water up to four times on their dairy farms before
that water hits the field again.
Yeah, it's really interesting about the water conservation that the practice is being done
by our dairy farmers.
Yes, and it's really, really important.
Our dairy cows drink up to a bath tub full of water every single day, but there's also
a lot of different ways we need water on our farms, and we need water for our communities
as well.
So being really aware of how much water we're using is super important, but also protecting
the water that's around our farms.
Wisconsin has over 28 dairy farmer-led watershed groups that are protecting hundreds of thousands
of acres of land in water in Wisconsin.
Many dairy farmers are involved in these groups to care for their local waterways and water
supply.
Farmers are also sustainability students and researchers.
Yes, farmers are always continuing to learn.
There's many programs available to them to continue learning more about sustainability.
They are doing what is the best available right now, but they're always looking for what
is next when it comes to sustainability.
A lot of our farmers volunteer to participate in research as well that helps protect water
quality through a Wisconsin program called Discovery Farm.
Farmers are also regularly attending classes and reading educational materials to continuously
improve farm practices.
The Discovery Farm is a program to the University of Wisconsin that farmers can volunteer for.
It uses equipment that's placed right in the field to understand how the farm's crop
practices can affect water quality.
This partnership means that farmers are scientists and students, and UW researchers are also
learning directly from farmers.
Discovery farms volunteer farms are located all over Wisconsin, so we can understand how
to best match farming practices with unique characteristics of different areas in the state.
A dairy farm way up in the Bayfield, Ashland area is going to be completely different from
one down in Waukesha, and we want to make sure we're meeting the needs of all of our farmers
across Wisconsin.
It's one of these things that to somebody from the outside looking in, it's so fascinating
to me, all of the things we've been talking about, but I think one of the most interesting
and honestly cool things about it is the sharing of information, the rising tide raising
all boats, and how much of this comes down to certainly doing what farmers do, but also
doing it with the earth, working with the planet, working with other farmers and other farms.
All of this interconnected, it makes sense when you look down and see that the earth's
all connected, but we weren't always the best at this.
There's more and more over the last couple of decades, really, have really embraced this
of sharing information, of sharing data, and being students as much as teachers.
100%.
Wisconsin really is setting the bar when it comes to dairy science research and sustainability
research for our Wisconsin dairy farms.
One of the ways we really do that is through a special program called the Dairy Innovation
Hub, which works with the University of Wisconsin campuses, UW River Falls, UW Plateville,
and you'll be Madison to help fund research to forward our dairy industry.
They focus on four priority areas, land and water, farm business and community, animal
health and welfare, and human health and nutrition, so that human health and nutrition category
is affecting all Wisconsinites.
One great thing about this research is that it is really setting the bar across the U.S.
Other states are looking to Wisconsin for cutting-edge research that we have here.
If you want to learn more about that program, you can visit dairyinnovationhub.wisc.eu and
if you are a college student out there or want to do research one day, they are a great
place to look.
They have tons of research programs going on.
Yeah, shout out to UW, do some great work, and shout out to this state.
I'm so glad that we get the chance to talk to you, Haley, and put attention to something
like this, where everything I was saying about farmers Wisconsin has taken on when it comes
to being called the dairy state.
That's not just a tagline.
That's something that they are looking to enhance, not just for us, but for the industry,
which is really, really unique and cool.
So much of what we talked about is interesting, and I imagine people are wanting to learn
more.
Where can we go to find out more information about dairy sustainability?
You gave us a great one in the hub that you told us about other other websites or resources
we can use, Haley.
Absolutely.
Sustainability is something you can 100% get a college degree, and there's a lot of information
that I shared today, but you can always learn more.
A great place to start is WisconsinDairy.org slash sustainability.
And if you want to help support the sustainability of our dairy farmers in store, the best way
is to look for the proudly Wisconsin dairy or proudly Wisconsin cheese badge, and the
number 55 in the plant code on your all-year-old fluid milk packaging.
There's also June dairy months coming up right around the corner, a full month of celebrating
all the hard work our Wisconsin dairy farmers do all year long.
That's a great way our farmers are giving back to that community sustainability.
You can visit WisconsinDairy.org slash June dairy month to learn more, and see where there's
a June dairy breakfast near you.
I will be scattered throughout a lot of them throughout the day.
I'm very excited to be meeting a lot of Wisconsinites throughout my last month as Alice.
Yeah, I was going to ask you this where I wanted to kind of wrap up, Haley, or it feels
like we just get to know you and then you're gone.
But that's the job, and we understand that's how it is, and certainly we'll look forward
to the next Alice, but we have really, really enjoyed getting to know you and hanging out
with you, Haley.
You're amazing.
When it comes to what you're up to next, do you have a new next spot you're going to
be?
Um, I will actually be in Cross for a little bit next week.
Oh, this Friday, I'm going to be in some Medford area school.
This month, really in May, we're focusing on a lot of classroom visits right now, because
all of those classes are going to be ending pretty soon, and all the students are graduating
for the summer.
Um, so I've been in school, our fourth grader is doing expedition agriculture, and then
I've also gotten to go into some upper middle school and high school classes talking about
beef and potatoes.
Um, so I'll be doing some harvest parties for our younger students who have been growing
potatoes all year, and also doing some nutrition classes for potatoes and beef, and cooking
demonstrations, things like that, and I'm very excited for.
You can always see what I'm up to by heading to Facebook and Instagram and looking up
Alice in Dairyland.
I'm always doing something fun and new in agriculture, and you can also head to Alice in Dairyland.com.
Um, you know, I only have about two months left, but you can definitely request our 78th
Alice in Dairyland to your event.
We'll be selecting her on May 17th.
Cannot wait.
We're looking forward to it, and Haley, I don't know, are we going to talk to you at least
one more time, aren't we?
Yes, I will have one more time in June, and then next time in July, we'll be our 78th
Alice in Dairyland.
All right.
Well, we're looking forward to hanging out again, and thank you for everything, Haley,
for you doing for our state and hanging out with us here.
Safe travels out there.
We'll talk again real soon.
Awesome.
Thank you so much.
And be listening for more rapid support coming up right here at WFHR.com.
