When the votes were tallied at the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin’s 2011 Business Conference, the membership elected two new individuals to its Board of Directors and re-elected a third to the Board. Charlie Crave, Waterloo, Wisconsin, and Kay Zwald, Hammond, Wisconsin, were elected to their first three-year term on the Board while Mark Diederichs, Malone, Wisconsin, was re-elected to his second three-year term.
Crave owns Crave Brothers LLC, a 1,000-cow dairy, in partnership with his brothers Tom and Mark. Another brother, George, operates a cheese factory which produces specialty cheeses.
“Sharing the message of environmental stewardship, backed with sound science and solid practices implemented on the farm is one of my goals,” Crave stated.
Zwald and her husband Bob own and operate Bomaz Farms in partnership with Bob’s brother Greg and Greg’s wife. The dairy milks 600 registered Holsteins and raise their own haylage, corn silage and corn on about 1,200 acres of cropland.
Zwald emphasized that she is a strong proponent of lifelong learning and urges dairy producers to tell their story so the public knows that dairy farmers “do a great job of caring for their cows and the land and water so they don’t question our ability to farm.”
“Telling the dairy story needs to be done at every opportunity, and it needs to be understood by all consumers,” Zwald stated.
Diederichs is a managing partner of Lake Breeze Dairy LLC, a 3,000-cow dairy that has 35 full-time employees. Diederichs said he looks forward to helping PDPW develop programs that bridge the understanding and communication gap between consumers and the dairy industry.
“I think we need to be more attached to consumers and the mid-industry people so they will understand how and why we do things on our farms,” Diederichs said. Applauding PDPW for its Agriculture Community Engagement activities that work toward this end, Diederichs adds that he’s anxious to see how far PDPW’s Visible Voice expands and what other outreach activities can lessen the understanding gap between the dairy industry and consumers.
These three join six other individuals who complete PDPW’s nine-member board: Eric Hillan, Ladysmith, Wisconsin; Walter Meinholz, DeForest, Wisconsin; Doug Knoepke, Durand, Wisconsin; Russel Strutz, Two Rivers, Wisconsin; Kevin Krentz, Berlin, Wisconsin; and Keith York, Lake Geneva, Wisconsin. PD
—From PDPW news release
