Society's expectations towards the dairy industry have been dramatically changing in the past few decades. Consumers not only demand that the products have high quality, but they also want to know that they are produced in an appropriate and respectful way towards the animals. As the dairy...
The rumen is probably the most important machinery that drives cows’ production and health, yet there remains a lot that is unknown of how the rumen actually works. Mimicking the rumen environment in in vitro systems has been an important tool to understand rumen microbiology. Dr....
The standard method for assessing fertility involves counting the sperm penetration holes in the inner perivitelline layer or measuring sperm mobility. However, little is known about the proteins involved in either assessment. Nutrition is also an important aspect of poultry reproduction, and...
As we all know, pigs, just like humans, are susceptible to stress. Too much stress on a pig can cause it to grow poorly and have more health complications. In today’s episode, I talk with Andrea Lutman about her work measuring stress factors in piglets at weaning, and working to...
Efficiency in dairy production depends on reproduction. One of dairy producers' biggest challenges today is overcoming poor reproductive performance. We know that dairy cow reproduction is affected by a variety of factors including nutrition, milk production, housing, and heat stress, to list a...
Collecting poultry data is essential to improve production. That’s even more important when discussing quantitative genetics and genomics of complex traits. This research allows us to apply and develop efficient statistical learning methods for analyzing genomic data. We can integrate this...
As the old saying goes, it is better to be safe than sorry. That applies to ASF spread in the US too. Being prepared for ASF introduction and having the best possible plan in place to eliminate its spread is critical for our swine infrastructure. Hopefully we can do a better job at controlling it...
Dairy nutrition has come a long way in terms of manipulating diets to feed the cows. Besides that, producing more efficient animals is essential to economically succeed and better reduce the environmental impacts of dairy systems. This issue is precisely Dr. Sebastian Apelo's focus in his...
How does a university research feed mill work? As far as the routine goes, feed mill researchers conduct experiments, facilitate the manufacture of research diets to meet internal or external demands, and deal with day-to-day operations associated with budgeting, maintenance, and human resources,...
It’s always a good idea to keep an eye on what is going on in the egg world. In order to keep producing in the most efficient manner, we must understand the current economic situation. People might think understanding the egg economy is not a big priority, but we do need to know a bit...
Over the years, a lot of research has been done in the agriculture industry. The purpose is to help producers with new ways to produce more efficiently and sustainably. In today’s episode, Dr. Mark McGuire explains how an ag research facility operates. He focuses on a new facility in Idaho,...
All of us have worked with people, so we know that not one person is the same as another. Each individual learns and implements their skills differently in their career – and workers in the swine industry are no exception. In today’s episode, I talk with Dr. Sarah Probst Miller about...
