11/07/08 New National Dairy Board chair

When more than one thousand producers and dairy industry representatives met in Nashville last week among other business items on the agenda they elected a new National Dairy Board chairman. Northern Californian Kimberly Clauss has a family jersey operation providing milk for cheese. CLAUSS "I think we always need more partners, because if we have more partners that's just going to lead to more benefits and hopefully more sales in the long run. I think if we can reach more schoolchildren through the Child Nutrition and Fitness Initiative. Increasing exports, that's always one of my favorites because in the long run that helps our domestic market. And lastly, having dairy farmers understand the checkoff and realize all the great things that it's doing." Clauss is also sold on a new dairy checkoff program called 'Telling Your Story', which trains and equips producers to help them speak up about what they do. CLAUSS "I grew up on a dairy farm and I just couldn't think of a better way of growing up. But we don't always tell our neighbors that. Neighbors may drive by our farms, but we don't explain to them all the great things we're doing  that our cows have personal beds, that they have soakers, or about our nutrient management programs. We need to let our neighbors know, we need to let our communities know." She says dairy farmers need to tell their story because it's a great story. Voice of Idaho Agriculture Bill Scott