Dairy Exchange to focus on succession planning, housing facilities
WEST LAFAYETTE, Ind. - Dairy farm succession planning will be a key focus as Indiana and Kentucky dairy producers, nutritionists and support industry professionals come together for the fifth annual Kentuckiana Dairy Exchange near Shelbyville, Ky.
The conference and farm tours will run from 1 p.m. July 31 to noon Aug. 1. Program attendees will visit five dairy operations in Kentucky and hear presentations from Purdue University faculty.
On the evening of July 31, Angela Gloy, Purdue farm business planning specialist, and Kelly Heckaman, a Purdue Extension educator, will give a presentation on planning for the next generation of dairy farmers.
"We have a lot of dairy producers nearing retirement," said Tamilee Nennich, Purdue Extension dairy specialist. "That's sparking questions from farmers wondering how to split their assets and adequately plan for the next generation."
Gloy and Heckaman will help dairy producers think through these complex issues.
Nennich said the exchange also will offer farmers an opportunity to learn about new techniques in the industry and meet and share ideas with other farmers in the area. This year, farmers will see and learn about compost bedded pack barns, a type of housing facility not common in Indiana.
The dairy tours also will feature a farm that extensively uses alternative feeds and operations that use sand-bedded freestall barns in their production.
The Kentuckiana Dairy Exchange is an annual event organized in a collaboration among Purdue, the University of Kentucky and Indiana Dairy Producers.
For more information, contact Nennich at 765-494-4823, tnennich@purdue.edu, or Mike Schutz at 765-494-9478, mschutz@purdue.edu
For registration information and detailed information about the farm tours, visit https://indianadairy.org/
Writer: Abigail Maurer, 765-496-2384, maurer@purdue.edu
Sources: Tamilee Nennich, 765-494-4823, tnennich@purdue.edu
Mike Schutz, 765-494-9478, mschutz@purdue.edu
Ag Communications: (765) 494-2722;
Keith Robinson, robins89@purdue.edu
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