Wisconsin`s decisive shift towards the dairy cow

Wisconsin`s popular identity owes quite a bit to cows, their milk and culinary staples like cheese and ice cream. But how did the dairy industry influence the state`s culture more broadly, in terms of agricultural and environmental values?

In Wisconsin`s early years, farmers worked the soil directly, cultivating enough wheat that the state was the second biggest producer on the eve of the Civil War. But the work of early dairy farmers was inherently different, as they cared for living creatures...

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Ken Notes: This is now shifting to a factory mentality with CAFO`s. This will reverse the trend away from caring to manufacturing. I respect and admire farmers who actually care about their animals and I know a lot of them. Unfortunately over 1,000 farms have ended their dairy operations in the state in the past year alone... We need to fix this!!!