Dairy farmers across the country now have free access to online resources from The Dairyland Initiative, a University of Wisconsin-School of Veterinary Medicine outreach program. Originally, the website was available at no cost to Wisconsin farmers while those outside the state paid a nominal fee. However, a grant from the Dean Foods Foundation will now allow dairy producers nationwide to utilize these web-based resources at no charge for the next two years.

The Dairyland Initiative website includes information, building designs and tools to plan new dairy housing facilities or modify existing buildings to optimize cow comfort and welfare, animal health and milk production. Information is based on the latest dairy research and years of collective field experience in dairy housing. The Dairyland Initiative also offers farm consultations and classroom workshops in calf barn ventilation and transition cow barn planning.

Food animal production medicine professors Nigel Cook and Ken Nordlund launched The Dairyland Initiative in 2010 with a seed grant from University of Wisconsin-Madison's Ira and Ineva Reilly Baldwin Wisconsin Idea Endowment. Today, the program receives financial support from several industry sponsors. The website can be found at http://thedairylandinitiative.vetmed.wisc.edu.