Educational Programs for Commercial Dairymen

The number of large dairy herds is increasing. Large herds include more audience groups than do traditional familyowned and operated herds. Every audience group or skill level requires a different educational package; developing these packages may require a different kind of research support that is customarily available. Working on specific problems of large herds is a prerequisite for developing educational programs. It also can add to academic ability to deal with emerging problems, provide training for students and current examples for teaching, in-" crease access to firmqevel data, and may afford an opportunity for additional funds. In this paper some innovate educational efforts by different professionals are reviewed; the changing character of Extension work is discussed; and some vehicles for doing user-funded work are compared, with special reference to problems associated with direct consulting.