Industry leaders, business people and enthusiastic citizens can all play a vital role in dairy promotion efforts. In fact, welcoming a wide variety of ideas and opinions has proven to be effective for three County Dairy Leader Groups across Wisconsin. Dairy promotion groups from Oneida, Sauk and Lincoln counties have each found ways to expand their committees beyond producers and bring dairy messages to their unique audiences.

Oneida County
Dairy promotion is not limited to areas rich with dairy. That rings true in Oneida County, a tourist community home to a beautiful landscape but not one dairy farm. After hearing of the dairy promotion funds available

from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board, Mitch Huebner, who was raised on a hog and beef operation, decided to start his own promotion group. "I thought dairy promotion was particularly important up here where dairy is the furthest thing from people's minds," he says. "It's important to the economy of the whole state, even if we are in a tourist area," he continued.

For the past three years, Huebner has been the driving force behind a variety of dairy promotion activities in Oneida County. Assisted by other community members, including his mother and UW-Extension employees, Huebner's committee visits schools, works with 4-H members at the annual June Fun Fest, and has become part of the Oktoberfest celebration in Rhinelander. As schools in the county have consolidated, it's become easier for Huebner to reach the children with dairy messages. "We teach the kids in the classroom about dairy's impact on the economy of the entire state," he says.

Oneida County's busy dairy promotion group is a prime example of how enthusiastic supporters are carrying dairy messages to unconventional areas of America's Dairyland.

Sauk County
Unlike Oneida County, dairy is the largest part of agriculture in Sauk County. More than 5,500 jobs in the county are directly tied to dairy. The Sauk County Dairy Leader Group has capitalized this industry presence by requiring that the board be made up of community members and producers alike. "Since I became involved with the committee, we've had a bylaw stating that we include others (besides dairy producers) tied to dairy," Shelley Meyer, Sauk County Dairy Promotion president, says of her committee members.

Meyer says that three seats are currently filled by industry employees, including a school foodservice director, a loan officer and an equipment dealer. Along with the dedicated dairy producer members, each industry representative brings something new to the table at monthly committee meetings. "Each member of our board is eager to get dairy products into the public's hands," Meyer says.

In Sauk County the cooperation of industry and producer members allows them to delve into a variety of activities including school presentations, retails cheese promotions and their famous apple-pie-in-a-glass promotion at the annual Ski-Hi Apple Orchard festival.

Lincoln County
In Lincoln County, the Agri-Business Committee of the Chamber of Commerce functions as the County Dairy Leader Group, applying for funds from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board and carrying out dairy promotion activities throughout the county. Jane Ann Savaske, an employee of Chamber of Commerce, works closely with the Agri-Business Council. Savaske is a member of the committee and spends time almost daily making sure tasks are completed and events are organized. "We donate our time and talents as employees. We pull volunteers together and make sure things are organized," she says.

Like Sauk County, the County Dairy Leader Group of Lincoln County is not limited to dairy producers. In fact, in Lincoln County dairy producers are the minority on the Agri-Business Council. "The Ag committee includes many people," Savaske says. She lists a maple syrup farmer, cheesemaker, past dairy farmer, insurance agent, and a dietician among members of the Agri-Business Council. Lincoln County also makes an effort to include FFA students as part of the Agri-Business Council by sharing minutes from meetings and including them in activities. "We keep them in the loop. We both feel that they're an important part of our committee," Savaske says.

Monthly meetings and year-round activities keep the Agri-Business Council members busy. "We have a lot of very talented people on our committee who share their time in schools and in the community," Savaske says. One member of the committee pushed to introduce milk vending machines in schools while another volunteers her time to teach her trade of cheesemaking to students. Presentations to Optimist, Rotary and Kiwanis organizations, school visits, grocery store demonstrations and the annual June dairy breakfast fill up the calendar quickly.

Savaske, like members of other diversified dairy promotion groups, is convinced that the wide variety of interests and talents of her committee members is a positive aspect for their dairy promotion efforts.

For more information about the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board's County Dairy Leader Groups or how you can get involved in your local area, contact Becky Kronberg at 800-373-9662 or check out the Wisconsin County Dairy Leader Group link on www.wisdairy.com.

For Wisconsin Dairy Impact information, email or call Moriah Morris at 800-373-9662.

UW-Extension offers full-color brochures of county-specific agricultural and dairy statistics.