As is life on the farm, everyone was up early and hard at work for the 45th Dane County Breakfast on the Farm. Thousands came to take in that life at Blue Star Dairy Farms in DeForest on June 8.
“It’s going well, obviously it was a little before 7 a.m. and we had a little bit of rain and I got a little scared, but it is holding off for now, and we’re hoping for a good crowd today,” said Jenna Langrehr, public relations coordinator with the Dane County Dairy Promotion Committee.
In her first year with the organization, she was tasked with getting word out about the event. Originally from a smaller La Crosse area dairy farm, Langrehr said that in Dane County, with the combination of rural agriculturally focused communities and more urban areas, like Madison, events like this are important for “bridging the gap” between county residents.
“We should have close to 200 volunteers,” said Langrehr, standing at the edge of the cooking tent, where volunteers were cranking out hundreds of pancakes at a time, gallons of scrambled eggs and tubs of sausage. “Obviously it takes a village and these people came out around 6 a.m. and were firing up the griddles and we’ll have a switch around 9:30.”
At the Blue Star Dairy, she said the the wide spread of the farm made things appear a little misleading at times, as she briefly was struck by a lack of foot traffic: “I was over there and was like, ‘There’s hardly anyone over here!’ and then I came over here and everybody’s eating.”
Visitors took plates through the line for breakfast and into a barn filled with picnic tables and seating for well over 300 people at a time. In total they would expect between 5,000 and 6,000 visitors. After breakfast, she hoped they would make their way through the different sights and demonstrations throughout the farm.
“There are parts of the farm that are blocked off, so the cows can still give milk and they can go get fed, and things like that, but [visitors] can explore a good majority of the farm,” she said.
Nearby the Land and Water Resources Department had a trailer with samples of different soils and cover crops. Further down the road was a line of farm implements with children and adults stopping to jump into the seats of tractors and loaders, and on the other side of a patch of lawn was the petting zoo with baby cows, rabbits, goats, and horses.
If anyone wanted dessert after their breakfast, elsewhere there were free cups of ice cream in another barn with many other stands with information about farming, ag business, and the environment.
At the entrance, even as another line of rain arrived, vehicles were lined up to the the road coming in, to be directed to a spot in the makeshift parking log, where they could catch a tractor wagon shuttle to the farm. Despite all there was to see, Langrehr did not have any strict instructions of the right way to take it in.
“Obviously they would park out in the hayfield and come down,” she said. “And I would eat first and get a good meal and then make your way around. It’s good to meander sometimes.”
As is life on the farm, everyone was up early and hard at work for the 45th Dane County Breakfast on the Farm.
Thousands came to take in that life at Blue Star Dairy Farms in DeForest on June 8.
“It’s going well, obviously it was a little before 7 a.m. and we had a little bit of rain and I got a little scared, but it is holding off for now, and we’re hoping for a good crowd today,” said Jenna Langrehr, public relations coordinator with the Dane County Dairy Promotion Committee. In her first year with the organization, she was tasked with getting word out about the event.
Originally from a smaller La Crosse area dairy farm, Langrehr said that in Dane County, with the combination of rural agriculturally focused communities and more urban areas, like Madison, events like this are important for “bridging the gap” between county residents.
“We should have close to 200 volunteers,” said Langrehr, standing at the edge of the cooking tent, where volunteers were cranking out hundreds of pancakes at a time, gallons of scrambled eggs and tubs of sausage. “Obviously it takes a village and these people came out around 6 a.m. and were firing up the griddles and we’ll have a switch around 9:30.”
At the Blue Star Dairy, she said the the wide spread of the farm made things appear a little misleading at times, as she briefly was struck by a lack of foot traffic: “I was over there and was like, ‘There’s hardly anyone over here!’ and then I came over here and everybody’s eating.”
Visitors took plates through the line for breakfast and into a barn filled with picnic tables and seating for well over 300 people at a time. In total they would expect between 5,000 and 6,000 visitors. After breakfast, she hoped they would make their way through the different sights and demonstrations throughout the farm.
“There are parts of the farm that are blocked off, so the cows can still give milk and they can go get fed, and things like that, but [visitors] can explore a good majority of the farm,” she said.
Nearby the Land and Water Resources Department had a trailer with samples of different soils and cover crops. Further down the road was a line of farm implements with children and adults stopping to jump into the seats of tractors and loaders, and on the other side of a patch of lawn was the petting zoo with baby cows, rabbits, goats, and horses.
If anyone wanted dessert after their breakfast, elsewhere there were free cups of ice cream in another barn with many other stands with information about farming, ag business, and the environment.
At the entrance, even as another line of rain arrived, vehicles were lined up to the the road coming in, to be directed to a spot in the makeshift parking log, where they could catch a tractor wagon shuttle to the farm. Despite all there was to see, Langrehr did not have any strict instructions of the right way to take it in.
“Obviously they would park out in the hayfield and come down,” she said. “And I would eat first and get a good meal and then make your way around. It’s good to meander sometimes.”
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