News

Dairy Science now at 3rd Wisconsin college

Another college in the Dairy State is offering a Dairy Science major.  The University of Wisconsin in Platteville, in far southwestern Wisconsin, is only the third of the 26 U-W campuses to offer the program.

Associate Professor Tera Montgomery says they already have about 40 of their anticipated 60 students enrolled for this fall.  She says, “We actually have students already in the program.  We’ve got new freshmen that came in through our enrollment this summer, and then also current students that switched over to our Dairy Science major, so we’ve got our program up and running already.”

Montgomery says their students have worked hard on dairy classes and projects, and it was time to help showcase what they can do to the industry and other professionals while adding specialized courses focused on dairying. “What’s different from a couple of years ago are dairy records analysis classes, where we delve into Dairy Comp and PC Dart, and some of the technology that’s out there now, and then also something that sets us apart from a lot of other schools is our calf and heifer production systems class, where we’ll be partnering with some industry professionals and working on projects on our farm here at Pioneer Farm.”

Montgomery says the Dairy Science students will also be working with producers off campus in the tri-state region.

UW-Platteville’s College of Agriculture already offers Animal Science and Soil Science degrees.

UW-Platteville also focuses on agriculture specialties commonly found in southwest Wisconsin, including organic farming and dairying with goats and sheep.

The University of Wisconsin System includes 13 four-year campuses and 13 more two-year campuses.  Platteville, River Falls, and Madison are the only three offering a Dairy Science major.  Montgomery says it’s not uncommon to get students transferring in from other two and four year schools in and out of Wisconsin.