News

An introduction to cow-centered housing will be the topic of the next session of the Technology Tuesdays webinar series offered by the Penn State Extension Dairy Team. The webinar will be held Oct. 11 from 8:30 to 10 a.m., Eastern Time, and is free of charge.

“If you are making your living from the dairy cow, then she should be central to a lot of your decisions,” notes Dr. Robert Graves, agricultural engineer, Penn State Department of Agricultural and Biological Engineering. “A cow-centered housing system starts with a cow-centered owner, managers and workers. While each has responsibilities and concerns that include more than the cow, they must be rooted in the firm foundation of ‘what’s good for the cow is good for the dairy!’”

It isn’t every day that students get to work out with professional football players, but students representing 34 Michigan schools will have this once-in-a-lifetime opportunity on Sept. 27 during this year’s Fuel Up to Play 60 Kick Off to School Health at Ford Field in Detroit. Students will learn a number of fun and easy-to-implement “plays” that can be incorporated into their nutrition and physical activity programs, inspiring students, schools and communities to create healthier school environments.

The third annual Kickoff event is presented by the Detroit Lions, Michigan Department of Education (MDE), Michigan Department of Community Health (MDCH) and United Dairy Industry of Michigan (UDIM). The day’s “game plan” includes music, motivational talks, practicing football training camp-style skills with Detroit Lions players and trainers, and tasty food.

The 18th Annual Accelerated Genetics Intercollegiate Dairy Cattle Judging Contest was held Sept. 18 in Viroqua, Wisconsin, with the University of Wisconsin – Madison taking top honors in reasons and overall. The University of Wisconsin – Madison team, coached by Chad Wethal and Brian Kelroy, included team members: Abbey Wethal, Mitch Kappelman, Ryan O’Leary and Genevieve Dryak. They took home the coveted Brown Swiss Canton III Traveling Trophy.

Placing second overall at this year’s contest was the University of Wisconsin – River Falls, coached by Sandra Sawall and Steve Kelm. Team members: Ami Cooper, Sara Larson, Labecca Johnson and Nathan Laska. Rounding out the top three teams was the University of Minnesota in third place, coached by Les Hansen, Scott Ellinghuysen and Alicia Thurk. Team members: David Hanson, Jacob Achen, Jayne Esch and Isaac Salfer.

Dairymaster, an Ireland-based manufacturer and supplier of advanced automated milking, feeding, cooling, slurry and heat detection equipment to dairy farms worldwide, announced that it has tripled its U.S. footprint by moving to a new facility in Cincinnati.

The additional space equips the company to meet growing demand from U.S. dairy producers for its high-performance equipment. Fueling the growth is widespread adoption of Dairymaster’s Select Detect product by dairy producers in the U.S. and Canada. Select Detect is a detection and fertility monitoring system that is sold exclusively in the U.S. by Select Sires Inc., the largest A.I. company in North America. Today, Select Detect systems are installed in 22 states and four provinces, covering herds that range in size from 80 cows to more than 3,000.

Producers and veterinarians looking to make more informed decisions to advance genetic progress in their herds have a new educational resource from Pfizer Animal Genetics. “Using Genetics to Optimize Cattle Performance” is the first of three free e-learning sessions to be made available at www.learncattlegenetics.com to help beef and dairy producers, veterinarians and anyone involved in the cattle industry understand how to use genetic testing to accelerate genetic improvement and mitigate risk.