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37 Volume 24 Number News from the Heart of Idaho: Camas, Lincoln, and Gooding County
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Magic Valley Dairy Days This Thursday, Friday, and Saturday, Wendell will celebrate its 25th year of hosting the Magic Valley Dairy Days. Family night at the carnival is 6 to 10 p.m. on Thursday, and while your kids enjoy the rides and games, mom and dad can endulge in a musical treat with Gary & Cindy Braun. On Friday, the music will turn to Rock n’ Roll with the Moon Pies while folks enjoy some great food and other offerings from venders in the park. The Wendell American Legion, VFW, and Woman’s Axillary, are sponsoring a community breakfast on Saturday, June 15th starting at 7 a.m. After breakfast walk around and see the shiny old cars at the Show & Shine Car Show, but don’t forget to find yourself a comfortable seat for the parade which starts at 10:30 a.m. If you want to participate in the parade, contact the Wendell Chamber of Commerce or pre-register at the high school parking lot between 8 and 10 a.m. After the parade, there will be a FREE Dairy Products Give-Away at the City Park. Saturday afternoon there will be something for everyone with dancers from the Uptown Dance Studio, the Portuguese Dancers, and the Magic Valley Square Dancers. FFA will have Cow Patty Bingo (on Main Street at NE end of City Park). And all kinds of music, western humor, and cowboy poets.
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Ballard Family Dairy & Cheese Wins Sustainability Award The Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy® announced the winners of the second annual U.S. Dairy Sustainability Awards on April 23 at a special ceremony in Washington, D.C. The goal of the program is to recognize dairy farms and businesses of all sizes for practices that advance the industry’s commitment to healthy products, healthy communities and a healthy planet. The recipiant of the Outstanding Achievement in Energy Efficiency award is a dairy located just north of Gooding Ballard Family Dairy & Cheese. Energy efficiency is sometimes overlooked, but the Ballards see it as a way to reduce their overhead costs and eliminate propane use. An energy audit and a team of energy management experts helped identify four primary areas of savings, which included using solar thermal power for the hot water system, installing LED lighting, replacing vacuum pumps and adjusting the milk cooling process. The Ballards achieved their goals, saving $23,000 annually and reducing the dairy’s carbon footprint by 121,500 pounds per year, while decreasing its water footprint by 365,000 gallons annually. “The strength of the award winners’ stories illustrates why consumers can be confident about choosing their favorite dairy foods and beverages,” said Barbara O’Brien, president
of the Innovation Center for U.S. Dairy, which was founded by dairy producers. “These and thousands of other actions being taken every day - both large and small - contribute to the industry’s overall commitment to a healthy future for the next generation.” The winners were selected based on results that delivered triple-bottom-line results to advance economic, environmental and social sustainability. An independent panel of judges - which included experts from academic institutions, government, dairy science organizations, nongovernmental organizations and media as well as environmental and dairy industry leaders - also assessed the potential for adoption by others as well as demonstrated learning, innovation and improvement. “This year’s winners include dairy farms and businesses from across the country who took steps to reduce their environmental impact, improve their profitability and increase their contribution to a sustainable 21st century food system,” said Molly Jahn, professor of genetics and agronomy at University of Wisconsin-Madison and a member of the awards’ judges panel.