WMMB Resources Tell Wisconsin Dairy Story
Byline: Sandra Cihlar, WMMB Director and Mosinee, WI, dairy producer

Wisconsin is America's Dairyland. Wisconsin is home to more dairy farms than any other state, and 160,000 of our state's residents are employed within our extensive dairy industry. Our heritage and dairying expertise is not a secret—people from around the world know that quality dairy products come from Wisconsin. New resources available from the Wisconsin Milk Marketing Board (WMMB) have been developed to give each of us the opportunity to continue to share our dairy story with consumers in our local communities and around the world.

Like many Wisconsin dairy producers, I have hosted visitors on our dairy farm in Marathon County and have even had the opportunity to visit a number of foreign countries. Each time I head off to another destination, I fill my suitcases with products that represent our wonderful state and our dairy business. Whether you're planning a trip or a farm tour in your backyard, WMMB has a number of tools to help you share Wisconsin's dairy story.

Each year WMMB publishes a new Dairy Promotion Materials Catalog. This resource is filled with promotional items ranging from balloons to quality kitchen tools—all available at reasonable prices. The catalog offers small items such as pencils, stickers, colorful erasers and inflatable cows that travel well and make excellent hand-outs. Clothing and gift items such as baseball hats, CowParade Wisconsin figurines and cuddly cows are also available in the catalog. To receive your own copy of the 2007 Dairy Promotion Materials Catalog, call 800-373-9662 or e-mail producer@wmmb.org.

Additionally, Wisconsin dairy educational materials are available for special events. Items such as full-color postcard sets complete with educational dairy messages, magnets depicting the importance of our state's $20.6 billion industry and WMMB's Taster's Guide—a map of Wisconsin's many cheese factories, wineries and breweries—can make a nice addition to any dairy-related activity.

In Wisconsin, more than anywhere else in the country, dairy farm families open their farms, homes and businesses for dairy education tours and fun days on the farm. Children of all ages enjoy these opportunities—making farm tours and dairy education continually more important. WMMB offers a number of dairy items to enhance your dairy farm tour plan, and Wisconsin farm tour guide is available online. This guide contains up-to-date dairy facts, common questions and answers and ideas for group activities. WMMB also offers activity booklets, pencils, postcards and bags free to Wisconsin dairy producers planning an on-farm activity.

If you're planning a dairy-related presentation to your local civic group or community organization, consider highlighting the extreme economic importance of our dairy industry—we fuel the state's economy with more than $39,000 per minute! WMMB can assist you by providing up-to-date dairy facts and presentation templates that can be customized to your own area of the state or dairy operation. A series of videos about Wisconsin's dairy industry as it relates to our states economy and environment have also been developed. These videos are available in a variety of lengths and make great additions to any presentation.

These WMMB resources can make telling our dairy story a bit easier. The next time you're planning a trip, farm tour or presentation, consider sharing a little piece of America's Dairyland along your travels. To request a catalog or to find out more about WMMB's many resources, call the WMMB office at 800-373-9662 or e-mail producer@wmmb.org.

Sandra Cihlar represents Marathon County on the WMMB board of directors. She and her husband, Dennis, are partners in Cihlar Farms, Inc., a Holstein dairy outside of Mosinee. In addition to serving on the WMMB, Cihlar is active in a number of other industry organizations.