October 2023 issue

A Grand Reopening

The fog cleared up in time to make it a beautiful day for a grand reopening celebration! Many members of the Wuethrich family were on hand October 20 as Tayt and Trevor Wuethrich cut the ribbon on the Wuethrich Family – Grassland Dairy Center of Excellence. The project is truly a partnership with the dairy industry. Nearly two dozen organizations contributed $5.2M to the project, an unprecedented amount of private funding for UW-River Falls. John Umhoefer, President of the Wisconsin Cheese Makers Association called the renovated dairy plant the "new jewel of the University." With all the new stainless steel equipment and piping it certainly does shine. There are a few more connections to make, then relicensing and testing before production begins next semester.

Read more about the Grand Reopening

Annual CAFES Giving Day

A message from Dean of CAFES, Mike Orth

One of the many things that attracted me to UWRF and specifically the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences was the emphasis on co-curricular and extracurricular activities that are available for our students. Whether a club or a competitive team, students get the opportunity to further develop their interpersonal skills and to network with people in their field of study. Many of the activities cost a significant amount of money which is why the Annual CAFES Giving Day on November 2 is so important. I am guessing many of you benefited from activities like being on a judging team or serving in one of the clubs. I encourage you to consider making a gift in support of our students, no matter the amount. With the network of alumni and stakeholders we have, if everyone participates at some level we should be able to go a long way toward helping our students engage in activities that will benefit them in their future careers.

Use the button below to check out the matching gift challenges and prizes

for Giving Day and to make a donation.

Support CAFES Giving Day

Community partners

On a beautiful fall evening earlier this month the Resource Management and Environmental Sustainability Clubs helped the River Falls School District by installing trail markers at their school forest. The forest is a pristine 70A parcel along the Kinnickinnic River that the district has owned since 1947, but was landlocked, only becoming accessible in 2021 thanks to the Kinnickinnic River Land Trust.

Falcon FETCH

This fall our Animal Science – companion animal program kicked off Falcon FETCH – Fostering Education Through Campus Hosting – a collaboration with Can Do Canines of Minnesota. After some preparation time the student teams met their 4 legged companions for the first time in mid-September and took them to their new homes in Stratton Hall. Amore, Anton, Arlo, Auggie, Breen, Capri, CJ, Cooper, Dash and Pretzel are in their final stage of general training before going into one of the five assisted specializations offered by Can Do Canines: mobility, hearing, diabetes, seizure and autism. Most of the FETCH students are in the companion animal option but the program attracts students from social work and psychology too.

New location. New vision. Same goal.

Meet the inaugural class of the Farm and Industry Short Course at UW-River Falls...and program director, Steve Kelm! After more than 100 years the residential program has moved from UW-Madison to UW-River Falls. For their first morning in class the group spent some time on the basic anatomy of the cow, including the lameness scoring rubric and went out to the barn to do some observation. The afternoon was focused on nutrition. Most of the group is housed in their own learning community in Stratton Hall, two are commuting. All are able to take advantage of all the other amenities the campus has to offer. We're excited to have them join the UWRF family!

UW-River Falls College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences | Website

A Grand Reopening

Use the button below to check out the matching gift challenges and prizes

﻿for Giving Day and to make a donation.

Community partners

Falcon FETCH

for Giving Day and to make a donation.