After a bleak period for farmers, Wisconsin's dairy industry is on the rise.
Ben Brancel, secretary of the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection said the state's $27 billion dairy industry has been in recovery mode lately.
The trend of Wisconsin losing thousands of dairy farms a year also has slowed. As of Dec. 1, Wisconsin had 11,786 licensed milk cow herds — down 681 from December 2010. That's less of a decline than in previous years when farm-milk prices plummeted and farmers liquidated their herds and shut down their businesses.
But more people are now showing an interest in dairy farming as exports bolster the industry's growth.
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