Dan Monson Gratiot, Wisconsin Director of Dairy Specialists Agri-King

Please describe your agricultural background.
I grew up in the heart of southern Wisconsin’s dairy industry on a family farm still operated by my brother today. My passion for milking cows carried through to managing dairy farms along with sales and sales management in Wisconsin, California and the Northwest U.S. over the past 30 years.

What territory will you cover?
I will have a focus in the Midwest as well as provide support to the growing presence Agri-King is developing in Idaho, Washington and California.

What are your new responsibilities?
I will be responsible for the development, training and management of a team of dairy specialists with a focus on the U.S. dairy business.

What previous positions have you held?
After completing technical college, I served as dairy herd manager with two Wisconsin Holstein herds. In 1989 I took a role with Landmark Genetics as sales manager and was responsible for AI sales and an AI technician team in the south San Joaquin Valley of California.

These experiences led to my role in 1998 as managing partner of Spring Grove Dairy – an 1,800-cow Wisconsin dairy where I was responsible for planning, construction and daily operations along with my wife and family.

Most recently I held the role of sales team leader for Alta Genetics in the Northwest.

What excites you most about working in your new role?
Agri-King is located in Fulton, Illinois, and has focused on bringing key nutritional advancements to the world’s livestock producers for more than 40 years with headquarters in both the U.S. and the United Kingdom. Agri-King is focused on livestock nutrition and forage treatment technology.

I have worked with and been acquainted with Agri-King over the last 23 years of my professional life and understand the excitement ahead to bring the technology and services Agri-King brings to its clients to create efficient and profitable solutions to animal nutrition and animal health.

How will you be of most help to producers in your region or area of expertise?
I will bring value to producers with the technology developed by Agri-King from the perspective of a dairy owner and manager.

Why did you choose this company?
My history with Agri-King as a client impressed me with [their] approach to solving animal health issues and concerns.This – along with the research and development at Agri-King that is bringing new technology for animal agriculture, in particular dairy enzymes – gave me great confidence that this company and its focus moving forward will provide cutting-edge solutions to the challenges of today’s modern dairy industry.

What goals would you like to accomplish while in this position?
Agri-King has long been a leader in providing solutions to create efficiency and profitability for animal agriculture. I am going to challenge myself to share that story with industry allies and producers across the U.S. dairy industry by collaborating with other professionals who support the dairy producer. PD