BURLINGTON – To help dairy farmers prepare for the growing season, the 2025 Organic Dairy Days will feature presentations on ruminant nutrition and high-quality pasture and stored forages.
The workshops are sponsored by UVM Extension’s Northwest Crops and Soils program and will run from 10 a.m. to 4 p.m. Dates and locations are, March 5, The Eastside Restaurant, 47 Landing St., Newport; March 6, Hotel Coolidge, 39 South Main St., White River Junction; and
March 20, Vergennes American Legion, 100 Armory Lane, Vergennes.
Sarah Flack, a Vermont independent grazing consultant, will talk about managing pasture and hay for quality. Participants then will have an opportunity to use nutritional modeling to better understand how the feeding of various qualities of forages impacts maintenance and production potential. Jen Miller, farmer services director with the Northeast Organic Farming Association of Vermont, will discuss how forage quality can impact cost of production, including the economic impacts of various forage quality scenarios. Dairy producers will hear from Kurt Cotanch, a Vermont dairy nutritionist, on rumen biochemistry and function.
These interactive workshops include lunch. Registrations accepted online at go.uvm.edu/2025organicdairy or by contacting the University of Vermont (UVM) Non-Credit Registration Office at (802) 656-8407 or [email protected]. The deadline to register is three days prior to the event. Anyone requiring a disability-related accommodation to participate should contact UVM Student Accessibility Services at [email protected] or (802) 656-7753 at least three weeks prior to the workshop. For questions about the program, contact Susan Brouillette at (802) 656-7611 or [email protected].