New UW-Madison dairy complex now open for business

John Oncken
Correspondent for The Capital Times  —  7/31/2008 1:04 pm

ARLINGTON -- Several hundred guests gathered at the UW-Madison Arlington Agricultural Research Station to get their first peek at the newly opened dairy barn and milking facility.

The $5.1 million dairy complex includes two freestall dairy barns, a Double 16 WestfaliaSurge milking parlor, a sand bedding recycling system and 350 dairy cows that are milked twice a day. Soon 450 cows will make their home there.

But the dedication ceremony Wednesday was about more than the technology and details incorporated into the modern dairy facility -- there are many other barns similar to this one across the state. It was also about the unusual road taken to get the much-needed facility built.

Rick Grummer, chairman of the UW-Madison Dairy Science Department, said that planning for the facility began in 1994 as the existing dairy facilities were sadly lacking in terms of the needs of the changing dairy industry. But not much happened until August 2006, when Molly Jahn began her tenure as dean of the UW-Madison College of Agriculture and Life Sciences. Jahn made the languishing dary barn project one of her first priorities.

Jahn met with key players in Wisconsin's dairy industry for their input. Some suggested that the barn be built outside of the normal state building process. One impetus for this was an often-criticized and expensive dairy complex built at UW-River Falls.

All the stake holders involved in the project, including the state, the university and the dairy industry, met to find a way to speed up the procedures to build the dairy research complex.

The result was the formation of an unusual partnership with the Wisconsin Dairy Business Association (DBA), an industry organization made up of dairy producers and corporate and industry supporters, whose goal is to promote the growth and success of dairy farms by fostering a positive business climate in Wisconsin.

The DBA formed Dairy Building Contractors LLC with Laurie Fischer as executive director. The new company was selected as the building contractor. Fischer enlisted well-known dairyman John Pagel, who owns the 1,500-cow Pagel's Ponderosa in Kewaunee County, as the project manager.

Ground breaking was held in August a year ago, and the first cows were milked in the now-completed facility June 24.

"It was done on time, on budget and on target," Jahn said in her remarks to the guests. "The DBA, Laurie Fischer and John Pagel brought our challenge to the forefront and made it work."

Al Fish, UW-Madison associate vice chancellor of facilities, planning and management, called the new dairy complex "a research investment."

"We don't do ag very well in terms of buildings," he said. "Finally common sense broke through, and we let agriculture build an ag building. We sometimes think that under the normal government process, it's a miracle that anything ever happens. This creates a whole new paradigm in ag buildings."

In his closing remarks, Grummer thanked the dairy industry, DBA, Fischer and Pagel for their efforts. He also gave recognition to Lou Armentano, dairy science professor and past chair of the dairy science department at UW-Madison, for his efforts over the years in encouraging this project. "He was truly the heart and soul of the effort," Grummer said.

After the formal dedication, visitors toured the new barns via bus and saw the built-in cow comfort.

"We now have a lot of happy cows on Hopkins Road at Arlington," Pagel said.

John Oncken
Correspondent for The Capital Times  —  7/31/2008 1:04 pm