Wisconsin Ag Connection - Tauscher Inspires PDPW with Stories of Adversity, Success

Wisconsin Ag News Headlines

Tauscher Inspires PDPW with Stories of Adversity, Success
Wisconsin Ag Connection - 03/15/2018

Being a superstar for your state's very own college and professional football teams didn't come without its share of hardships along the way. On Wednesday, former Wisconsin Badger and Green Bay Packer defensive tackle Mark Tauscher told members of the Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin that he was a slow reader in elementary school, but was motivated by teachers to keep trying to become a better student. During the group's annual meeting in Madison, the Auburndale native explained that this 'push to do better' eventually propelled him to be part of his high school's state-bound basketball team, an eventual starter for the Badgers, and then finally a seasoned veteran in the NFL.

"Like many of you, I grew up on a small dairy farm where you had to do the chores seven days a week," Tauscher reminisced. "My dad said the cows don't care if it's your birthday or even if it was Christmas, they needed to be fed and milked. That was ultimately the very first team experience I had during my youth--being part of a family farm."

Tauscher said much of his success had more to do with being at the right place at the right time. He said he was recruited by UW-Madison's football program for being a good high school basketball player. And he realized later in life that the Packers were originally impressed with him after then-General Manager Ron Wolf observed him playing hacky-sack on the sidewalk with friends.

"It's been such an amazing journey," he said. "But it came with its share of adversity. I blew out my knee twice while playing football. Fortunately, I was able to recover from both injuries and went on to have a great career."

He also announced to the crowd that he would be giving a personal financial donation to the Professional Dairy Producers Foundation.

Also on Wednesday, producers had an opportunity to hear a keynote address by Dr. Mike Boehlje, an ag finance professor with the Center for Commercial Agriculture at Purdue University. He discussed ways to identify financial weaknesses on the farm and learn steps to increase income, lower costs and fortify your operation's financial resiliency.

"There are key principals that dairy managers should follow if they want to remain solid in challenging times," Boehlje said. "These practices will help you both survive and thrive in today's volatile market."

Among those principles were creating value for the customer by enhancing your product.

"Farmers often don't consider the needs of their customers because they don't work with each other one-on-one, but believe me, they do dictate the future of your business," he pointed out. "How do you think organic dairy products came about, or almond milk? When consumers demand certain products, the market has to respond to the buyer."

And attendees heard from University of Illinois Dairy Extension Specialist Dr. Mike Hutjens, who shared key benchmarks to follow when feeding dairy cows for optimum production.

The PDPW conference wraps up on Thursday with the election of new board members and addresses by Ag Economist Dan Basse and motivational speaker Liz Murray.

Other Wisconsin Headlines