DGA is extremely excited to announce an all new learning platform for our Managed Grazing Innovation Center for our Fall 2022 Semester!

With that, the MGIC Fall 2022 Semester is going to look and feel a bit different than our past semesters. Many MGIC classes will have an updated look and content!

Classes offered Fall 2022:

Soil & Water Resources Management

Farm Business Management

Dairy Cattle Health and Wellness

Managed Grazing Systems for Dairy Cattle

FALL 2022 REGISTRATION IS OPEN NOW! 

DGA is excited to welcome Jessica Duran to the DGA Staff!!

Jessica Duran has joined the DGA Staff as the MGIC Content Manager. She is creating our new Learning Management System (LMS) in MGIC and refreshing and creating classes. This will all be in addition to her Education Coordinator duties for Michigan.

Jessica comes to us with an amazing resume!  Jessica is a DGA graduate and the founder of MI Country Life. Her passion for the Dairy Industry began in college while working with the National Autonomous University of Mexico Dairy Extension Team. There, she was able to assist farmers in a small community near Mexico City. When she finished her Veterinary Medicine Degree in Mexico, she moved to the United States, where she was hired by one of the biggest Dairy Companies in Wisconsin, gaining a lot of experience in training, management, hoof trimming, reproduction, animal welfare, and safety. She has managed organic farms, conventional farms, and farms with robotic milking machines. 

In 2019, to increase her knowledge, she participated in the MSU Dairy Extension Team as a producer, and with the United Dairy Industry of Michigan Board Mentor Program. 

Welcome Jessica to the DGA Staff!!

Mentors!

DGA has launched an all new discussion forum just for you!

Join us

On the 2nd Tuesday of the month from 6:30-8pm Central for an informal conversation to build relationships with other grazing farmers and Mentors...and maybe even bring something back to your own farm that can improve efficiencies, profitability and quality of life.

Please watch your email monthly for the Zoom Link.

Next Scheduled discussion is set for 

October 11th from 6:30-8pm Central

DGA MONTHLY WEBINAR OPPORTUNITY:

'MAKE YOUR FARM A TOP WORKPLACE'

MONDAY, OCTOBER 3RD @ 11:30AM CENTRAL

All Mentors, Journey Graziers, Apprentices & Apprentice Candidates & Interns are welcome to attend!

In our monthly DGA Webinar (every first Monday of the month from 11:30 until 12:30 CST) on October 3^rd we will have an informal discussion on creating a professional work environment on our farms. We have all seen the “we are hiring “signs and this demand for workers shrinks an already small labor pool willing to enter the dairy industry. What can we do to make our farms an attractive work place? Dr. Richard Stup is an agricultural workforce specialist with Cornell Cooperative Extension and will give us an overview of what all goes into creating a professional work environment on our dairy farms.

The Zoom Link for the monthly webinars comes directly to your email one week prior to the webinar date.

**Got webinar topic ideas??? Send your suggestions to

[email protected] If your topic is selected you will receive a DGA hat!

**Webinars are recorded and available anytime on the DGA website to all our participants. Go to your dashboard and click the “Resource” button to find them.

Hello Newsletter Readers!

It has been an incredibly busy summer so far and we are ready to head into fall. In my last newsletter article (in June!), I talked about our Education Coordinators who help us manage our national program. Last month, we all got together for our annual Education Coordinator Retreat. We spend three days talking, planning, strategizing, and getting in some great peer-to-peer learning opportunities.

This year we met in Michigan on the campus of Michigan State University. It was a beautiful location for us to spend time on our plans for the remainder of 2022 and into 2023. We discussed new ways to recruit Mentors and Apprentices, brainstormed ideas for offering more resources to our Mentors, and learned from each other how to best perform our Education Coordinator role for DGA.

Routinely, our ECs tell us how much they love the time together to talk and get to know each other better. They also come away from the retreat feeling refreshed and excited with new ideas on how to manage their DGA region or state.

We also were introduced to our new Learning Management System (LMS) that will host our MGIC related instruction classes. We saw a demonstration on how the system works and how it will expand our ability to offer not only our classes, but other Mentor resources and additional classes in topic areas we hope our Apprentices will enjoy. Most people don’t know that our related instruction classes and the new offerings are open to the public. Anyone who is interested in learning more about managed grazing dairy can take our classes. We also offer a Managed Grazing Dairy Certificate for anyone who completes our core classes.

Back home from the retreat, I am compiling the notes from discussions and creating a Mentor survey that will be going out to our DGA Mentors. This survey will help us identify the resources that would be most valuable to our Mentor farmers. As a group we came up with a list of ideas and the survey will help us know if we are on the right track. If you are a Mentor farmer in the DGA program, please watch for the survey and take 5 minutes to fill it out. We want to offer you resources that you fine useful, so your input it critical in deciding the topics.

Thank you to all our ECs for participating in the retreat and for all you do in your work for DGA!

~Angie Sullivan, [email protected], 715-553-0364



Welcome to our newest Mentor Farms, approved in SEPTEMBER:

PARKER BEARD, IA

Congratulations to our DGA Graduates in the month of SEPTEMBER:

Journeyworker MEAGAN FARRELL, WI

• September 22nd - NRCS/PaddockTrac: Walter Organic Farm, Villard, MN
• September 26th - NRCS/PaddockTrac: Seven Stars Farm, Phoenixville, PA
• September 27th - NRCS/PaddockTrac: Settlages, OH
• September 29th – 2501: Terraced Acres Farm, Gay Mills, WI
• October 2-7 - WORLD DAIRY EXPO, Madison, WI
• October 4th - MN Pasture Walke, Canton, MN
• October 6th - NRCS/PaddockTrac: Sheffer's Grassland Dairy, Hoosick Falls, NY
• October 11th DGA NATC October MeetingI
• October 13th DGA Board of Directors' Meeting - Madison, WI
• October 18th - NRCS/PaddockTrac: Legacy Dairy, Medford, WI
• October 20th - NRCS/PaddockTrac: Kitten Creek Farm, Harwood, MO

Event registration is required for many of these events.

To learn more and register, select a specific event from the DGA event calendar

DGA MN Mentor Featured in Dairy Star

'How to operate a robot dairy while grazing'

DGA Ohio Mentors, John and Jordan Settlage Focus on Saving Soil

Gwenyn Hill Farm Weaves Ecology into Operation with DGA Journey Dairy Grazier, Ryan Heinen

Grassworks is Hiring!

Become GrassWorks’ next Executive Director!

GrassWorks, Inc. the Midwest’s farmer-driven grazing organization, is in search of a new Executive Director! After 12 years at the helm, Jill Hapner is retiring and the GrassWorks board is eager to engage the right person to help lead the organization into its next 30 years. With our strong foundation of farmer-to-farmer learning, networking and community building, our goal is to work with the right person to grow the organization and build capacity to serve our membership and the nearly 3000 people in 30+ states we reach. The position will be remote and is offered at 75 to 100% time with benefits. Work commitment, schedule, and salary are negotiable. Visit GrassWorks.org for a full position description and application instructions.

Questions? Contact [email protected]. Initial application review will begin on October 4th, 2022 and will continue until the position is filled.