What is The Babcock Institute?

The Babcock Institute is the leader in international dairy research, development, and education. Founded in 1991, our mission is to link the dairy industry of Wisconsin  and the United States with dairy industries around the world to improve the quality of life and foster market development. We seek to transform emerging dairy industries and strengthen the US dairy industry through international partnership, training, and research.

Sharing US Dairy Expertise

The Babcock Institute designs and implements customized training for dairy leaders, educators, and producers from around the world identify. We draw upon the depth and breadth of expertise in Wisconsin's dairy industry, collaborating with a host of dairy-related programs, institutes, and centers including the University of Wisconsin. Learn more.

Building Lasting Partnerships Through Research Collaboration and Exchange

The Babcock Institute fosters research collaborations and exchanges with industry leaders, educational institutes, research institutes, etc. in many countries.

Co-funded by a subgrant from the Babcock Institute and the U.S. Department of Agriculture, International Science and Education Competitive Grants Program (USDA-ISE),The University of Wisconsin-Madison is working with the Universidad de Guadalajara's Centro Universitario de Los Altos (CUAltos) and the Universidad Autonoma de Estado de Mexico (UAEM) on a four-year, interdisciplinary research project to analyze and assess the sustainability of diverse dairy systems in Mexico and Wisconsin. Click here to learn more.

The Babcock Institute also partners with China Agriculture University, Beijing. A joint Sino-US Dairy Research Center was established in 2004. This cooperative effort brings together research collaborators, and fosters faculty and student exchange. Learn more.

Multilingual Publications

The Babcock Institute works closely with the University of Wisconsin's Department of Dairy Science, Extension, and the UW Dairy Team to develop and translate new publications in both print form and CD formats.  We plan to distribute more of our current and new publications via electronic download, allowing users to access publications locally and from remote parts of the world.

Babcock publications are available in as many as seven languages at a number of different levels.  Practical Dairy Essentials and Technical Dairy Guides are available on CD and in print and the Dairy Essentials are also available online.  Dairy Updates report recent faculty research findings with practical application.  The Electronic Dairy Herd Management Short Course is a collection of lectures from the Institute's short courses, available on CD with slides and audio. Institute Discussion Papers provide dairy industry leaders with international dairy market and trade developments. The Dairy Worker Training Modules provide detailed instruction with narration and video for fundamental animal care procedures.

Electronic Outreach

The Institute launched its first multilingual dairy site on the internet in 1996,. The site was redesigned to be trilingual (English and Spanish and Mandarin Chinese) in 2000. A revised and updated version was then launched in 2009. The site provides technical dairy information in English, Spanish, Chinese, French, Russian, and Portugese. Many multilingual dairy-related publications are available at no cost on the web site — they appear in PDF and HTML formats.

International Short Courses and Consulting Services

The Babcock Institute’s training programs cover all aspects of dairy management, milk production, processing, and marketing. Programs are conducted at the University of Wisconsin-Madison campus, on surrounding dairy farms, and in processing facilities. Training is tailored to the specific needs of attendees and content is translated by native speakers with advanced technical dairy expertise. Attendees participate in lectures, on-farm and in-lab workshops, and meetings with industry leaders. These customized programs are also available on-site at international locations. To date, the Babcock Institute has conducted more than 150 courses with 6552 participants from over 79 countries.

Conferences and Workshops

The Babcock Institute brings global best practices to the domestic industry through international conferences and workshops, in which experts from around the world share knowledge on best practices for dairy production. View a list of conferences.