Bilingual dairy educator reports statewide collaborations, Spanish webinar and July field day at Arlington

Allison, the bilingual dairy educator, briefed the Agriculture Extension Education Committee on June 16 about outreach, training and collaborations serving Spanish‑speaking dairy employees and managers.

She said the program now publishes a bilingual e‑newsletter for dairy managers and workers and that the second issue focuses on animal water needs and nutrition. The newsletter includes QR codes linking to further resources and is distributed at farms and conferences.

Allison said she is collaborating with Michigan State University on a survey to identify language barriers on dairy farms; the survey will gather responses from owners, managers and employees and MSU will analyze results after the July submission deadline. She also said Cornell extension bilingual educators will collaborate on a Spanish webinar planned for September and October to reach dairy employees nationally.

Allison described local on‑farm consultations she has been conducting across the region, including a recent visit to a large Walworth County operation reported to have about 5,000 cows. She said the dairy contacted Extension for help with animal handling, milking routine and employer‑employee communication and that staff were well received.

She also said the dairy and crops teams are helping plan a field day in July at the Arlington Agricultural Research Station and that UW–Madison is running a three‑day September calf‑raising conference with a producer field day component at Arlington.

Committee members were given printed copies of the bilingual newsletter; Allison said the newsletter is bimonthly and that collaborators from other states have found the materials useful. No formal committee action followed the report.