Some Udder Thoughts

Introduction.

What a week it has been! I checked off a bucket-list item by going to a Ryder Cup and I was able to go see family in Colorado while enjoying a beautiful wedding. It was a lot of travel and my wife and I were tired but its always worth it. It also recharged the batteries and has me excited to get back to work!

What’s new in dairy science?

In general, there has been a ton of great research coming out of American Dairy Science Association Journals (ADSA). I highly recommend you sign up for their email alerts – it will be some great reading!

Today – we’ll walk through some work that a great friend of mine, Quinn Kolar, led while we were at Michigan State together. The goal of the research was twofold; the first goal was to find ways to improve animal health through nutrition with the tangential goal of reducing antimicrobial usage on farms.

She conducted a large and complex mastitis challenge experiment to determine if a yeast fermentation feed product (“SCFP”) may improve a dairy cow’s response to mastitis. Disease challenge studies are difficult because the animal responses are noisy but we did our best to address an important question. We challenged 37 cows with Strep. Uberis while feeding half of them SCFP and half of them received nothing. We monitored both clinical whole animal mastitis outcomes and some more physiological outcomes.

In terms of disease response, there were no significant responses because of treatment but all the data did seem to lean the same direction. Time to clinical mastitis was 3.9 d for control cows and 4.8 for SCFP, the mean days to bacteriological cure was 26 for CON and 23 for SCFP, bacterial CFU in milk was numerically less each day post-challenge and prior to antibiotic administration for SCFP compared to control. We mustn’t over-interpret these data, though. In general, our data suggest that SCFP wasn’t helpful in fighting mastitis but it has shown promise in other disease models. So, perhaps, there are subtle effects that need teasing out.

The most intriguing response we observed was that providing SCFP to BLV positive cows seemed to improve their production. Precision nutrition approaches based on health status, like BLV, could be an interesting research avenue in the future.

Read the entire article here: https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2025-26541

Leadership, growth, and development.

It feels only fitting, after some time away, to relay the criticality of taking time and space for the people and things that bring you joy.

In general, I don’t really advocate for “work-life balance” as a motto because I don’t think anything in life has such dichotomy. We bring our whole selves to work and our whole selves home each day. We should make both those environments as great as we can, but the importance of making space to do things you enjoy is important.

Why is taking some time away so important? Taking time off does not remove the challenges that you will face in your professional or personal life. Taking time away does not remove your insecurities, fears, or concerns. What does it do for you then, beyond distracting you from these challenges? It gives you space, time, and perhaps some energy to think and process. I find that some distance from the daily grind can provide you with a new perspective on what ails you. A new perspective reminds you that some annoyances are beyond your control, so don’t worry about them. A new perspective also energizes you about what you can control. Then you come back ready to get to it, refocused on what is most important!

Finally, and most importantly, that time with the most important people in your life is irreplaceable. Oddly enough, the thing that will stick with me most from this trip was sleeping on the floor of an airport with Sydney before our next flight. Marriage really is through thick and thin…and hard, cold airport floors. It really is the little things that you take with you so appreciate those precious moments.

Final Thoughts.

Dairy scientists continue doing great work –make sure you’re plugged in and paying attention. Science moves quickly and you don’t want to be left behind! And remember to do the things that you enjoy with the people that matter to you, as often as you can.