Some Udder Thoughts

Introduction.

A small bonus of getting multiple degrees and working at an academic institution is enjoying college sports! Nebraska and Ohio State rolled over their opponents; the Spartans won in overtime. Best of all, my first love, the South Dakota State Jackrabbits won a huge road game against Montana State! It is so much fun to be part of these communities…more on that later.

What’s new in dairy science?

In my opinion, an important ongoing effort of applied nutritionists, in any species discipline, is understanding how different nutrients or feed strategies interact with each other. Dr. Ferraretto’s team at UW-Madison did just that by investigating how dietary starch concentrations may interact with the supplementation of a direct fed microbial (DFM; Bacillus spp.).

The study used 64 multiparous cows in early lactation. The dietary starch concentrations were 21 or 27% of diet DM. Starch was reduced in the diet by removing high moisture corn and increasing soybean hulls which is a common approach in these research experiments.

Feeding greater starch reduced milk fat concentration, which happens often when replacing soybean hulls with starch. This is especially true for more degradable starch sources like high moisture corn. Increasing starch also reduced milk fat yield by 40 to 110 g/d. One thing I found interesting in this experiment is that BW change was similar. We generally expect feeding starch in place of fiber to result in more BW gain, but both groups gained similar BW in this experiment. The reduced starch diet-fed cows tended to eat more feed which probably explains the similar BW gain. A few other notable responses to keep in mind are that increasing starch reduced fiber digestibility, providing the DFM increased fiber digestibility, and increasing starch reduced enteric methane production.

What I like about this study is that it included eating behavior. Increasing starch increased meal frequency, reduced meal length, and reduced meal sizes. The DFM also increased meal length which is an interesting response.

Remember, that nutrition and animal behavior are intertwined. These are important considerations in competitive feedbunk scenarios that are common on commercial dairy farms.

Read the entire article here: https://doi.org/10.3168/jds.2025-26694

Leadership, growth, and development.

Make time for people and build communities with people.

Shortly after I started my new position, I paused and thought that something was missing. When I started on faculty, I jumped in with grant writing, finishing papers, and looking to hire team members. Amidst the hustle and bustle something wasn’t quite right. I was hyper focused on doing my work which is what I spent 5.5 years in graduate school for, right? I was short sighted and it took a mentor to point that out.

I realized that I was missing interacting with and chatting with friends and colleagues. Once I realized that I needed more community I was trying to think about how to build it, which I think has been especially challenging in a post-covid world of digital connections and hybrid work. I was racking my brain about how to find more connection or build more community.

My mentor reminded me that a pot of coffee and some chairs goes a long way. So, I bought a coffee pot, blocked time on my calendar, and made sure there was some space available. Now, every Monday morning at 8:30 am, whomever wants to join, can come join us for a cup of coffee and some chit-chat. Sometimes we chat about work, usually we discuss our families or our friends and the weekend’s activities. This space gives us each a chance to start the week slowly, feel seen or heard if we need it, or organize some things for work if needed. This one hour on Monday mornings is one of my favorite weekly routines and our team is better for it.

So – buy a coffee pot, some good tasting coffee, and make the time – you won’t regret it!

Final Thoughts.

Build a community in your life or contribute to the communities that your part of. 1 in 3

Americans report loneliness – that is too many. Help reduce that by engaging with people around you!