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City girl ends up expert in Ohio dairy management

 

By DOUG GRAVES
Ohio Correspondent 

COLUMBUS, Ohio — She may have started as a city girl from Columbus, but Ohio State University extension dairy field specialist Dianne Shoemaker is now one of the state’s most respected voices in dairy farm management.

And when she’s not teaching groups or individual farmers, she’s helping manage the 150-head dairy farm she and her husband, Steve, own in Mahoning County.

"I learned about the dairy industry by just getting my feet wet with it," Shoemaker said. "And if I had it to do all over again, I’d go into dairy."

Shoemaker was raised in Worthington, Ohio, daughter to parents raised in dairy-rich Racine County, Wis. Even her grandfather milked cows. A visit to OSU’s ag college while she was still in high school led to her decision to major in dairy science. During her first year there, Shoemaker was hired as a student worker in the OSU dairy barns. She held that post until she graduated in 1982.

"What shaped my career was getting that job at college in those dairy barns, getting my hands on cows," she explained. "Now, I realize it’s been a real gift to be able to make a career at something I love doing. It makes all the difference."

Upon graduation she held a six-month internship on a dairy farm in Switzerland, where she milked Simmentals. There she also learned about intensive grazing management practices.

"I just love cows, so I guess I have dairy disease," she said, laughing, referring to her "obsession." Firsthand experience always seemed to find Shoemaker. After college, she took a job managing a 60-head dairy near Hillsboro, Ohio. She was just 21 at the time.

Not long after that Shoemaker was employed as a milk tester and area supervisor with the state Dairy Herd Improvement Assoc. in Logan and Champaign counties. While working alongside a few county extension agents the idea of becoming such an educator crossed her mind.

In 1984 she started a master’s degree, combing dairy science and agricultural economics. That same year she married Steve and the couple had two sons, Austen and Ben. Her career as an ag agent, or ag educator, began in Columbiana County in 1986. She served in the same post in the counties of Mahoning, Trumbull and Stark.

As her experience grew so did her territory, and she was named district dairy specialist in 1999, covering 18 counties in northeastern Ohio. With experience came more titles and in 2003 she became an extension dairy specialist with statewide duties.

Focusing on the family farm business was of keen interest to Shoemaker. She is among those who helped create the state’s Dairy Excel program in response to Ohio’s lack of competitiveness and profitability. She was engaged in helping farm families with mission statements, business plans and profitability.

She taught in the classroom as well. She regularly teaches dairy management classes at OSU, with emphasis on dairy finances. To this day she focuses on farm business management and analysis … but isn’t too far from her daily farm chores, whether it’s milking, tending to calves or driving a tractor.

"For the most part, Steve manages the farm and I oversee the calf operation," she said. "Nothing is real easy. The real challenge is finding enough time to do everything and feeling I’ve done it as well as I can. There is simply not enough hours in a day."

6/17/2015