Dairy farmers from Wisconsin have joined the fight for immigration reform in order to save their businesses, which are heavily dependent on immigrant labor.

Studies show that immigrants, especially undocumented workers, make up a large percentage of the hired help on dairy farms across the country. Without their help, many farmers would be forced to shut down since there is a dearth of American-born citizens who are willing to do such toiling work.

According to Erich Straub, a Milwaukee immigration lawyer, many dairy operations are "overwhelmingly staffed" with immigrant labor. "The reality is that probably 75 percent or more of that labor is undocumented," he said, according to the Milwaukee Journal Sentinel.

Farmers say that less people are opting to do farm work for a living, even if they live in a rural area and grew up on a farm, or if the job offers significantly more than minimum wage.

"Society has changed, and not everybody enjoys working with animals like we do," said Shelly Mayer, a dairy farmer and executive director of Professional Dairy Producers of Wisconsin.

As a result, Wisconsin dairy farmers are calling for a federal labor policy that would guarantee they will have enough employees to sustain and expand their businesses.

"If our immigrants left, we would have to dispense of everything, I guess," said John Rosenow, a dairy farmer who employees from Mexico.

Members of the Dairy Business Association also recently traveled to Washington, D.C., to push lawmakers to act on immigration law reform.

"I felt it was important to attend because the immigration issue is so critical to our industry, and really to the entire country," said Paul R. Fetzer a dairy farmer and member of the board of directors for the Wisconsin-based Dairy Business Association, reports the Dairy Herd.

One industry proposal would grant immigrant workers a year-round visa specifically to work on dairy farms.

"Dairy farmers need a new dairy labor policy to guarantee that they will have the available labor force they need to maintain and grow their businesses," said Laurie Fischer, president of the American Dairy Coalition.

"We are looking for a program that would be run through the USDA."

However, Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker, who is running for the Republican nomination in the 2016 presidential election, opposes the idea of giving undocumented workers a pathway to citizenship until there is greater border security and tougher enforcement of immigration laws. He is also part of the coalition of Republican governors blocking President Obama's executive order to protect up to 5 million undocumented residents from deportation.