Integrating Dairy Science Globally



Make your plans now to attend the most comprehensive dairy science meeting in the world, the 2017 ADSA Annual Meeting. 



Included are invited symposia and special pre- and post-conference events. 


Visit the meeting website http://www.adsa.org/2017/ regularly for the latest information on the meeting.


See you in Pittsburg - The place where the dairy world meets in 2017.

 
New ADSA President Dr. LouArmentano

 
Louis Armentano, Professor of Dairy Science and Nutritional Sciences and previous Chair of Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, assumed the role of president of the American Dairy Science Association® (ADSA®) during the 2016 Joint Annual Meeting (JAM) held July 19 to 23 in Salt Lake City, Utah.  He will serve as president of the association for one year.  Dr. Armentano served as vice president of the organization for the past year and as director from the Production Division of the organization prior to that.


He believes the main priorities of ADSA should be to maintain a spirit of community involvement while doing everything possible to maintain and improve the society as the vital epicenter of new knowledge used in the production of dairy foods and training of future professionals. Our common discipline is a science that has very practical application. Our goal as an organization must be to both foster new science and new discovery as well as to ensure the communication required to guide its direction and apply its results. Graduate training provides an important synergy for conducting new investigations while training new scientists and new practitioners in the industry. These core functions must always take priority in our efforts.

 


Thanks to Peter Studney

 
During the ADSA Awards program Peter Studney, ADSA Executive Director, was recognized and thanked for the faithful and exceptional service he has provided our society for the past 10 years that have helped ADSA achieve its mission and vision.  His many accomplishments were noted, but perhaps the most meaningful were those noted by previous ADSA Presidents recognizing Peter for his character and leadership qualities including:


His extreme devotion to strengthening the financial status of the ADSA.
His efforts to improve the efficiency of operation of the ADSA without compromising its excellence.
His integrity, honest, openness, and cooperation is evident, to the point that he is known at times for his "brutal honesty."
His passion and genuine care about the welfare of the ADSA
Peter's creative ideas, shared with the Board for the greater good of the organization.
His commitment to ADSA is obvious as he works 24/7 to effectively respond to the issues, challenges, and opportunities.
His friendship and devotion to the people of ADSA
Thanks Peter for 10 great years.






During Thursday's American Dairy Science Association-Student Affiliated Division Business Meeting, SAD members elected new officers and advisors for the coming year:

 
President
Conor McCabe, Cornell University
1st Vice President
Kayla Alward, University of Georgia
2nd Vice President
Tony Lopes, Cal Poly
3rd Vice President
Marcy Bartelheimer, Washington State University
Secretary-Treasurer
Aimee Sink, North Carolina State University
Officer at Large
Bailey Basiel, University of New Hampshire
1st Year Advisor
Dr. Leanne Berning, Cal Poly
2nd Year Advisor
Dr. Jillian Fain Bohlen, University of Georgia
3rd Year Advisor
Dr. Cathy Williams, Lousiana State University
 
American Dairy Science Association, Student Affiliated Division, 2016-2017 New Officers and 2016 contest winners:

 
Recognition
Winner
Genevieve Christen Award Winner
Elizabeth Davis, Virginia Tech
Chapter with the most miles traveled
The Pennsylvania State University
1st Place Dairy Quizbowl Team
The Pennsylvania State University
2nd Place Dairy Quizbowl Team
California Polytechnic State University
1st Place Chapter Yearbook
The Pennsylvania State University
2nd Place Chapter Yearbook
Virginia Tech
3rd Place Chapter Yearbook
Iowa State University
1st Place Chapter Scrapbook
The Pennsylvania State University
2nd Place Chapter Scrapbook
Virginia Tech
3rd Place Chapter Scrapbook
Iowa State University
1st Place Website
University of New Hampshire
2nd Place Website
North Carolina State University
3rd Place Website
The Pennsylvania State University
Dairy Foods 1st Place
Joy Nystrom, Virginia Tech
Dairy Foods 2nd Place
Casey Kenny, Louisiana State University
Dairy Foods 3rd Place
Simon P. Itle, Pennsylvania State University
Production 1st Place
Jenna Hardy, Virginia Tech
Production 2nd Place
Kerri Bochantin, University of Kentucky
Production 3rd Place
Amber N. Gabel, Pennsylvania State University
Original Research 1st Place
Kayla J. Alward, University of Georgia
Original Research 2nd Place
Sarah I Pletts, University of Alberta
Original Research 3rd Place
Rachel E Hudson, Texas Tech
Poster: Original Research 1st Place
Allison Hale, University of Idaho
Poster: Original Research 2nd Place
Morgan A. Richard, Louisiana State University
Poster: Original Research 3rd Place
Cara Boothroyd, Pennsylvania State University
Outstanding Advisor Award
Dr. Cathleen Williams, Louisiana State University
Outstanding Student Award
Elizabeth Davis, Virginia Tech
1st Place Chapter Award
The Pennsylvania State University
2nd Place Chapter Award
Louisiana State University
3rd Place Chapter Award
Virginia Tech
Health and welfare of dairy calves explored
By Carissa Truman


The Production, Management, and the Environment: Health and Welfare Symposium's main theme was dairy calf health. While other areas of health and welfare were also covered, such as ketosis prevalence within Canadian dairy herds, feeding strategies for varying herd sizes, and fly control, this summary will focus on the presentations discussing the health and welfare of dairy calves.


Multiple presentations were given involving data from the USDA National Animal Health Monitoring System (NAHMS) project, which also involved Colorado State University. The presentations were given by Jason Lombard and Natalie Urie. This study occurred for 12 months and farms were located in 13 states across the United States. From birth to weaning producers were asked to record information from calf health events, such as birth weight, dystocia, growth data, disease, vaccines, feeding practices, and more. Biological samples were taken of the calves as well, including samples for Bovine Viral Diarrhea, colostrum IgG, serum IgG, and Cryptosporidium.


One portion of the study looked at the factors related to average daily gain (ADG) in heifer calves. The dam lactation number significantly affected the ADG of the heifers, with calves born from 1st lactation cows gaining less than those born to 2nd or 3rd lactation cows. As expected, disease infected calves, twin calves, and calves provided a lower protein diet had a lower ADG than their counterparts. They also found that bedding type had a significant effect on heifer ADG, with calves provided no bedding or sand bedding having a lower ADG than those provided straw, hay, shavings, or a mixture bedding.


This same study looked at the factors associated with morbidity in dairy calves. The average calf mortality of the farms in the study was 5%, calves dead within 24 hours were excluded which could potentially have affected this percentage. Around 28% of calves experienced one disease event prior to weaning, with digestive disease being the main occurrence, 44.2% of the cases. They found the average age of mortality was 24.4 days of age, with digestive disease cases mainly occurring around 2 weeks and respiratory around 5 weeks. Yet, still 25% of the mortality cases were unknown in their origin, being an area of possible improvement in calf health management.


Another factor looked at within the study was colostrum quality. They found that 77.4% of the samples being fed to calves were considered excellent quality, IgG levels >50 g/L. Third lactation cows were found to provide significantly better quality colostrum than 1st and 2nd lactation cows or commercial milk replacer. While only 7% of herds used heat treatment, it was found to significantly increase serum IgG levels. Heat treating colostrum could be an opportunity for producers to provide higher serum IgG counts, as well as testing colostrum being fed to calves, to ensure calves are receiving excellent quality colostrum.
 
Carissa Truman is originally from Lynchburg, Ohio. She earned her Bachelor's degree from the University of Kentucky, where she stayed to pursue her Master's degree focusing on decision support economics and body condition scoring.
Genomics changing cattle breeding?


Genomic selection offers considerable flexibility to increase genetic trends in dairy cattle breeding through a decrease in generation interval, an increase in selection intensity and an increase in reliability for female heritability traits. It is also an opportunity for more sustainable breeding, in terms of breeding goal and genetic variability.



In an abstract written for the 2016 JAM, D. Boichard of GABI, INRA, AgroParisTech, Universite Paris Saclay, Jouy-en-Josas, France, explained that with a shorter generation interval, there is a big risk of increasing inbreeding if semen dissemination policy of elite bulls is not changed. It was noted that using a large number of young bulls both as service bulls and bull sires is a simple solution for both maximizing genetic trend while reducing inbreeding trend.



Boichard said female genotyping is a key challenge for within herd selection and, simultaneously, for replacing current reference populations based on progeny tested bulls, assembling new ones in breeds of more limited size, and for selection of newly recorded traits. At a reasonable price and coupled with use of sexed semen, female genotyping is profitable for the farmers and is becoming a routine practice in an increasing number of herds. New applications are generated, such as renovated mating plans, efficient management of genetic defects, prediction of cows' future career and optimization of culling policy. With more diverse bulls on the market and with female genotyping, genomic selection also opens new avenues for more customized breeding across herds or production systems. A big challenge is to reduce the dependency of genomic predictions on relationship between candidates and the reference population.



A strong effort is presently dedicated to integrating genome sequence information into predictions, to improve their accuracy and persistency. Boichard said that to increase the accuracy, within and especially across breeds, causal variants or very close proxies should be identified and included in the predictions, while discarding or limiting the weight of many other variants generating noise.



In the longer term, further customization of selection will be possible by accounting for GxE interactions. Important developments are also necessary to decrease loss of favorable alleles through genetic drift, said Boichard.
Occurrence of mycotoxins in 2015 corn crop surveyed


Mycotoxins are toxic metabolites produced by filamentous fungi which commonly contaminate feedstuffs harvested for both human and livestock consumption. Although the different types of mycotoxins have variable effects on different livestock species, exposure to mycotoxins can impair health and adversely affect animal performance.



During the 2016 JAM, study results were presented that evaluated the occurrence of mycotoxins in the 2015 corn crop in the United States and assessed the potential risk to livestock species.



Lead author on the study was P.N. Gott of Biomin America Inc., San Antonio, Texas.



From September 2015 to January 2016, 381 corn samples were collected from 20 states as part of the annual Biomin Mycotoxin Survey. Samples were analyzed either by high performance liquid chromatography (HPLC) or liquid chromatography tandem mass spectrometry (LC-MS/MS) techniques, which are highly sensitive in detecting very low mycotoxin concentrations. The major mycotoxin groups analyzed were aflatoxins (Afla), zearalenone (ZEN), trichothecenes including deoxynivalenol (DON) and T-2 toxin (T-2), fumonisins (FUM), and ochratoxin A (OTA).



Mycotoxins were detected in 94% of the corn samples tested and 50% of the positive samples contained more than one mycotoxin. Co-occurrence of mycotoxins may lead to synergism and enhanced toxicity in animals which consume contaminated feed. The percentage of positive samples, mean of positives (ppb), maximum of positives (ppb), and risk threshold (ppb) for the six major mycotoxins were presented. The occurrence of Afla, T-2, and OTA were minimal in relation to ZEN, DON, and FUM in these samples. The highest threat in the corn samples was posed by DON due to its high prevalence and number of samples above the recommended level. As a result of their common co-occurrence, ZEN also presented a major threat.



In terms of occurrence, FUM ranks second among the six major mycotoxins analyzed in these samples.

It was concluded that with the increased occurrence and co-occurrence levels in 2015 compared with the previous year, DON, FUM, and ZEN pose a higher risk to livestock production in 2016. 
Thanks to our Corporate Sustaining Members

                                 We appreciate your ongoing support of ADSA and the Journal of Dairy Science®.
Ag Processing Inc.

Arm & Hammer Animal Nutrition

BioZyme Incorporated

Darling International Research

Diamond V Mills

DuPont Pioneer

Elanco Animal Health

GEA Farm Technologies

Global Agri-Trade Corporation

Grande Cheese Company

Kent Nutrition Group

Kraft Foods

Lallemand Animal Nutrition

Masters Choice

Papillon Agricultural Company

Quali Tech, Inc.

Renaissance Nutrition Inc.

SoyPLUS, SoyChlor (West Central)

Zinpro

Zoetis

Zook Nutrition & Management Inc. 
ADSA Membership Benefits                                 

                                           
Did you know that your ADSA Professional Membership provides you with:

*        Electronic access to the Journal of Dairy Science®

*        Joint Annual Meeting at member rates

*        Discover Conferences at member rates

*        S-PAC: Free access to JAM and ADSA divisional abstracts

*        S-PAC subscription at member rates

*        Access to recorded symposia library                                                                       

*        ADSA News (association newsletter)

*        ADSA Dair e-news (ADSA industry newsletter)

*        Access to member directory

*        Peer recognition through ADSA and Foundation Award Program

*        Discounted page charges in Journal of Dairy Science®

*        A strong voice of advocacy for the animal sciences, animal agriculture and agriculture research

*        Broad author recognition through ADSA/Elsevier press release program

*        Linked In and You Tube sites for ADSA

*        Quality networking with academic and industry professionals

*        Travel awards for all graduate students attending Discover Conferences

*        Opportunity to serve peers via committee and officer positions

 
For more information on your benefits please visit: http://www.adsa.org/join.asp
To join now and gain these member benefits, visit: http://www.adsa.org/join.asp
American Dairy Science Association

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Email: adsa@assochg.org


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