MSUE Provides Evidence-based Dairy Management and Advancements in Dairy Center

Michigan State University Extension (MSUE) is embarking on an initiative to aid dairy farmers in analyzing operational strategies to boost efficiency. Barry Bradford, MSU Chair for Dairy Management, elaborated on the program's potential during an interview with Brownfield Ag News.

Research Assessments for Tailored Outreach

Bradford highlighted that the new on-farm research assessments will enable MSUE to customize its outreach approaches. "We think our biggest value comes at the end where we can take herd management offloads, feeding software offloads if that's appropriate, and sort of dig in and clean up the data as much as possible and do a little more advanced statistics," Bradford explained. These collaborations aim to empower dairies to test management questions and refine their practices based on specific farm data.

Progress at the Dairy Cattle Teaching and Research Center

Bradford is also overseeing the construction of the university's ambitious $75 million Dairy Cattle Teaching and Research Center, which is nearing completion. "Most of the structure is now up," he shared. "There's a bit of concrete left to be poured, but the vast majority of that is done and we're starting to see equipment come in. I think there's a couple of robots sitting out at the site now and crates waiting to be installed."

Due to concerns regarding the highly pathogenic avian influenza, the center's public opening will be delayed. Nevertheless, plans are in place to move cows into the facility by the summer. Bradford's updates followed his address at the recent Great Lakes Regional Dairy Conference.