Program

The National Animal Nutrition Program (NANP) Nutrition Models workshop will use lectures and exercises to illustrate how mathematical models are constructed, evaluated, and applied towards problems in animal nutrition. Several modeling approaches are covered, but particular emphasis is given to dynamic, mechanistic models. The workshop will give attendees a basic fluency in mathematical modeling and, in so doing, advance attendees’ use of models in nutrition research.

Following feedback from past attendees, we will bring new topics to the 2019 workshop. These topics will make up an advanced workshop and target (1) past attendees who want to continue attending our workshops, and (2) students who have some experience with modeling.

Dairy Records Management System (DRMS) has developed reports to aid in analysis of dairy information for daily decision-making by herdspersons and consultants. In addition to these reports, DRMS PCDART herd assessment tools enable managers and advisors to analyze herd performance using either on-farm or downloaded data. This year, two workshops will be offered.—the first (Sunday morning) at a beginner level and the second (Sunday afternoon) at an advanced/expert level only.

The 2019 ADSA Annual Meeting will include a session of late-breaking abstracts of original research that hopes to highlight a broad spectrum of work, including cutting-edge, high-tech research that was completed recently and is important to the species or discipline. Up to eight abstracts will be accepted from those submitted for the session. The authors of these abstracts will present their data at the Late-Breaking Abstract Session from 3:00 to 5:00 pm on Sunday. Authors of accepted abstracts for this session are required to prepare both an oral and a poster presentation. Oral presentations will include the speaker introduction, presentation, and question time in the usual 15-minute time slot. Posters of these presentations will also be available on Sunday (before the start of the oral session) and will remain on display for the duration of the meeting. This session is scheduled early in the program to allow networking with the presenting scientists and to avoid subject-matter conflicts.

This symposium will review the life’s work of Dr. David M. Barbano, currently a professor in the Department of Food Science at Cornell University. Dr. Barbano’s research on the chemistry and processing of dairy foods has shaped our industry immensely for many years. The session will be followed by a reception.

The program for the 34th ADSA Discover Conference “Reexamining Amino Acid and Energy Interactions in the Dairy Cow,” May 29 to June 1, 2018, addressed the following themes: Pre-absorptive interactions—Where protein and energy first interact; Post-absorptive interactions—Where cows get stuff to make milk; Changes in energy and AA interactions over the lactation cycle; Translating dynamic elements of nutrient metabolism into feeding systems; and Research gaps and urgent needs for the dairy industry. A mini symposium planned for Sunday, June 23, 2019 in Cincinnati will (1) summarize the results from the 34th Discover Conference; (2) discuss strategies to implement research findings; and (3) focus ongoing and future research to improve the efficiency of amino acid utilization in dairy production. Discover Conferences, hosted by the American Dairy Science Association, address important contemporary issues in food animal agriculture and are organized to provide unique opportunities for professional interactions that will facilitate development and use of frontier science for the benefit of the global food industries and society. The conferences offer an environment that fosters creativity, emphasizes interaction and open discussion, and focuses on thrusts that will synergize the development and use of science. This mini symposium is an example of conference follow-up to a Discover program.

All ADSA graduate students are encouraged to attend this extremely valuable grant writing workshop. Jodi Williams, PhD, national program leader at USDA-NIFA, will share tips and tricks for successful grant writing. After the presentation, an open discussion will be held between the audience and a panel of academics in the dairy sciences. Topics to be covered will include finding funding, choosing a grant, what goes into a grant proposal, writing clearly and concisely, crafting a compelling first page, and timeline for planning and writing your proposal. This event will be very beneficial to those pursuing a career in academia.

Productive traits (e.g., milk yield) have been widely investigated for years at the morphological, physiological, and even genetic levels. For instance, it is well known that a high number of genes are differentially expressed due to various physiological, management, and environmental factors, such as lactation stage, nutrition, and heat stress. “Omics” is the application of genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics in biological research. Omics studies produce large amounts of data that need appropriate bioinformatic analyses to build up complex regulatory networks. Consequently, the use of omics technologies makes it possible to comprehensively and systematically study the effect of nutrition and other management factors at the levels of DNA, RNA, proteins, and metabolites, and to establish strategies to improve productivity and animal welfare. Omics research is limited in livestock, especially small ruminants. The application of omics in small ruminant studies will help in the discovery of biological markers for different stimuli and help in improving production and performance. Therefore, the objectives of this platform session will be to give examples on the applications and benefits of the use of different omics tools (genomics, transcriptomics, proteomics, and metabolomics) in aspects related to dairy production and health (invited speaker Dr. Juan J. Loor). The current situation and new insights into omics applied to small ruminants will be covered in a second invited presentation (by Dr. Noemi Castro) and in other presentations selected from submitted abstracts.

In 2009, genomic evaluations were first implemented in the United States and Canada, followed over time by many other countries. The rapid uptake of genomic selection has had a dramatic impact on the dairy industry. This symposium will highlight the development of this implementation in all dairy breeds and its impact, and will look to new developments and future scenarios.

Over the past decade, the dairy industry has implemented new technologies in dairy production with ability to collect big data. These technologies include the use of automated feeding and sensing technologies that are now common in all new and revamped dairies. Although many of these technologies have been implemented on farms and data are being collected at a faster rate than at any time in history, the implementation of farm- or animal-based decisions using this data remains limited. Failing to take advantage of big data creates a bottleneck between research and practical implementation, which significantly affects farm management. Therefore, the aim of the symposium is to showcase researchers who are using big data to effectively optimize on-farm decision making, thereby improving dairy cow health and performance.

Mycotoxins are molecules that are present in virtually all feedstuffs throughout the world. Poultry and swine producers and nutritionists are well aware of their presence and their effects on animal performance. The knowledge of mycotoxins in field of ruminant nutrition is not as developed as in swine and poultry; except for aflatoxin, there is much to be elucidated regarding effects of mycotoxins in dairy cattle.

Spore-forming bacteria and their spores play an important role in the quality of a variety of dairy products, from fluid milk to dairy powders. They are ubiquitous in nature and can enter the dairy value chain from various sources, including the farm environment, raw milk, or dairy plant equipment. They can also attach to processing equipment and form biofilms. They are highly resistant to heat, desiccation, and disinfectants. Therefore, minimizing spore-forming bacteria and their spores is very important for the US dairy industry so that we can produce safe, high-quality dairy products and ingredients and be competitive both locally and globally. This symposium will highlight recent advances in spore control throughout the dairy value chain, from farm to fork, focusing primarily on the efforts to align US offerings with international product specifications.

Feeding high-quality forages is critical for maximizing milk production, sustaining animal health, and improving the economic sustainability of dairy enterprises, particularly in the current conditions of low milk prices and a growing number of producers exiting the dairy business nationwide. Therefore, optimizing the use of high-forage rations by replacing expensive grain with conserved forage of high nutritive value such as silage has the potential to improve the profitability of dairy farms in the United States and beyond. Silage emerged in the last 50 to 60 years as an alternative method to dry hay. Several contributing reasons for enhanced adoption of silage include increased size of dairies, thus requiring larger amounts of conserved feeds to meet lactational needs; greater diversity of ensiled crops; increased availability of byproducts from food processing industries; improved harvesting methods, packing techniques, and silo types; and improved knowledge of consultants, nutritionists, and producers regarding the basic principles of silage fermentation processes. In the context of dairy nutrition, silage fulfils a unique role as a conserved source of digestible nutrients in diets for high-producing cows to maintain optimal ruminal function, while reducing the risks of conditions such as ruminal acidosis and displaced abomasum. Progress made in the production of silage over the past 50 years can be highlighted by the introduction of several technologies such as improved hybrids of corn, forage harvester, big baler, polyethylene covering for horizontal silos, stretch-wrap film for bales, and novel additives and inoculants designed to improve the fermentation and aerobic stability of silage. This symposium will feature university, government, and industry researchers who will update the audience about new and emerging technologies for improving silage quality and utilization covering from the basic principles of additives and inoculant use on silage fermentation processes to the effects of silage utilization and management and double-cropped corn on animal production, environmental impact, farm profitability, and soil health.

Much research has been done in the past with feed additives that are designed to improve gut health, in both ruminants and pre-ruminants. Recent studies have illustrated the basic mechanisms by which these additives are effective, how they impact the gut microbiome, and affect the intestinal structures. This is a topic where nutrition and animal health are tightly linked and provides a natural opportunity to collaborate across disciplines.

Early embryo development, establishment of pregnancy, and pregnancy failure are topics of interest to all scientists in the reproduction community. A large amount of research has been conducted by this symposium’s speakers during the last 5 to 10 years, and their presentations will provide an update on current thinking.

The advent of genomics has created an opportunity to focus on and select for expensive traits that was not feasible with traditional selection. This symposium will illustrate various examples of national and international initiatives to pool data across countries or organizations in order to exploit the potential of accurate genomic evaluation for novel and expensive traits.

University teaching faculty are often not sure whether students are achieving their specific learning goals for a course. Class evaluations and observations may provide excellent feedback about student satisfaction and teaching style, but they do not provide the important detail of student learning. Changing the way we assess student learning could dramatically improve teaching effectiveness, because it would provide immediate feedback on what works and what doesn’t. This symposium will provide information on student learning and strategies for assessing our effectiveness in the classroom.

The consequences of subclinical hypocalcemia on health and productivity (e.g., incidences of postpartum diseases, decreased fertility) have become apparent in recent years. Strategies for improved treatment and prevention have gained significant interest (>30 publications related to transition cow hypocalcemia in PubMed since 2016). This symposium will focus on recent advances in our understanding of calcium homeostasis, effects on transition cow physiology, and strategies for treatment and prevention of hypocalcemia. It should be of interest to dairy production scientists and allied industries.

Dairy farmers have embraced technological innovations and procured vast amounts of permanent data streams, but they have not been able to integrate this information to improve whole-farm management and decision-making. It is imperative to develop systems that can collect, integrate, manage, and analyze on-farm and off-farm data in real time for practical and relevant actions. Dairy farms can substantially improve their performance by developing and adopting integrated data-based analytics, expert systems, and artificial intelligence contained in whole-farm decision-support tools. Artificial intelligence can “learn” as it goes by applying complex machine learning pipelines and exploiting the interdependencies of the complex integrated biological, physical, and informational dimensions of dairy farm systems. Data integration and analyses facilitate optimal and objective decisions and for the algorithms to learn from these decisions. This will provide groundbreaking knowledge for the next generation of researchers. This symposium will discuss the knowledge available about the use of artificial intelligence and the integration of big databases in dairy production systems.

Milk processing and dairy products are under fire for perceived issues surrounding sustainability in production, the health benefits of milk and dairy products, and competition from plant-based protein alternatives. These topics will be addressed in this proposed symposium. The first talk will be an introduction to the expression of milk proteins, including transgenic expression, with a focus on milk with increased levels of therapeutic proteins, genetic selection, and the use of microbes and animals as bioreactors. The second talk will focus on sustainability of manufacture on a protein basis, including feeding cows with food that humans cannot digest. The differences between human and bovine milk used in infant milk formula has introduced a new research area on the humanization of cow milk. This will be addressed from a protein nutritional perspective in the third talk. The fourth talk will address the processing conditions commonly used in commercial environments, and the impact on protein functionality. These processing effects may cause differences in flavor, texture, and digestibility of dairy products. The final talk will address protein functionality, bioactivity, and the structure of proteins derived from plant-based sources compared with milk proteins.

Preventing foodborne illness is a critical mission of the dairy community, not only to protect our consumers, but also the broad consumer trust that dairy enjoys today. The purpose of this session is to share recent dairy specific food safety research results. The session will feature findings from the National Dairy Council (NDC) Listeria Research Consortium as well as other relevant dairy advances.

The transition period is a major challenge for the dairy cow. As a continuation of the morning session in Animal Health (Transition Cow Calcium Homeostasis—Health Impacts of Hypocalcemia and Strategies for Prevention), this platform session will include three invited talks on a wide ranging set of topics, and will be supplemented with five 15-min general session submissions that are complementary.

The United States is home to 51,500 dairy farms and 9 million dairy cows. The profitability and sustainability of dairy farming depends on efficient management practices that result in maximizing milk production at a minimum monetary and environmental cost. Therefore, the focus of the NC-2042 group is to provide for collaborative research leading to dairy management strategies and systems to facilitate sustainable and profitable decisions by managers of milking cow and heifer enterprises. The group has more than a decade of research information and data exchanging from different perspectives brought from several regions in the United States. This symposium will discuss ways to (1) optimize calf and heifer performance through increased understanding of feeding strategies, management systems, well-being, productivity and environmental impact for productivity and profitability; (2) improve dairy cow management decisions through nutrient utilization, well-being and profitability; and (3) analyze whole-farm system components and integrate information into decision-support tools to improve efficiency, enhance profitability, and environmental sustainability. Dairy farming is a highly integrated decision intensive system. It must rely on a systems approach to define options to maintain a profitable business, accountable to consumers for environmental impacts, product quality, and animal well-being. Profitable decisions cannot be made without useful support systems.

Dairy cattle longevity has, for decades, averaged less than three years after first calving, despite improvements in genetics and cow comfort. Some consider this short longevity a result of forced culling and a welfare issue. This short longevity is also driven by an abundance of replacement dairy heifers through the use of sexed semen and good reproduction. Younger herds capitalize on genetic progress but have fewer efficient mature cows and greater replacement costs. There is also a growing interest in the use of beef semen in dairy cattle, which does not add to the supply of dairy heifers. The dairy community should reevaluate how many dairy heifers are needed, which animals should be the dams, and what to do with animals that do not need to supply replacements. These topics are interdependent and will drive future dairy cattle longevity.

It is well established that exposure to environmental stress such as hyperthermia can have a marked effect on the development and health of the offspring. Such fetal programming can have a dramatic effect on the efficiency of production in livestock animals; paradoxically, gestating animals are often the most neglected in a management program, because they are not actively producing when pregnant. What additional maternal factors have been identified to influence the neonate? What are the associated mechanisms? And what are the implications for animal feeding and management? The objective of this platform session is to review and discuss recent insights into stressors or other interventions that—when imposed on the mother—affect neonatal development, health, and lifetime production.

This symposium will highlight cutting-edge research in new areas (beyond cheese science) that are of great interest to ADSA members. This first session in this full-day symposium (Wednesday morning) will focus on the impact of animal diet on quality attributes of dairy products. The second session (Wednesday afternoon) will highlight advances in dairy foods nutrition and health. The symposium includes a luncheon and coffee breaks.

Forages are the base of the dairy diet and although a great deal of knowledge has been generated throughout the years, novel techniques for rapid analyses are now becoming available. Remote sensing in the field can yield valuable data to estimate nutrient content and yield. Such technology includes near infrared (NIR) equipment mounted on harvesters, portable NIR, artificial intelligence for gas fingerprinting, and DNA sequencing to explore silage microbiome.

The 35th ADSA Discover Conference “Effects of Stress on Health and Production in Dairy Cows,” was held October 29 to November 1, 2018. The conference concentrated on the activators and consequences of immune activation. This Platform Session will explore that topic in more detail.

Management and housing conditions can have a profound effect on the health and welfare of animals and affect the performance of the animals. Environmental issues are increasingly linked to housing. This is the background for recent interest in animal friendly and environmentally and economically sound housing systems, delivering manure of good quality. Innovative developments like the bedded pack barn, cow garden, new types of floors (e.g., artificial floor) and roofs (e.g., horticulture foil construction), beddings in cubicles, and ventilation require scientific discussion and consideration. Housing concepts such as cow gardens and floating farm systems are under construction. Sharing of this information is essential. This symposium will discuss the knowledge that has developed over the last years concerning these systems, emissions, ventilation, animal welfare and economics, and the management and utilization of manure. Furthermore, this symposium will identify positive and negative effects of current and innovative housing systems, as well as the gaps in knowledge.

Dairy cattle transitioning from gestation to lactation develop fatty liver disease and associated maladies. The development of fatty liver disease may involve an inadequate supply of dietary methyl donors such as choline and methionine. The limited bioavailability of methyl donors because of their inadequate supply in feeds or extensive rumen degradation may compromise hepatic phosphatidylcholine synthesis and secretion of triacylglycerol within very low density lipoproteins to promote hepatic lipid accumulation. The dietary supplementation of rumen-protected methyl donors is a potential means to increase hepatic phosphatidylcholine synthesis and lipid disposal. To target these mechanisms, a large body of work has investigated the efficacy of dietary rumen-protected methyl donors including choline, L-methionine, and betaine to alleviate fatty liver disease in transition dairy cows. Moreover, research has focused on the ability of methyl donor supplementation to reduce hepatic inflammation and improve milk production performance, health, and fertility.

As part of Feed the Future, the US government’s global food security and hunger initiative, the Livestock Systems Innovation Lab (LSIL) was established at the University of Florida with a $49 million grant from the US Agency for International Development (USAID). The vision of the LSIL is to sustainably intensify livestock production in its eight focal countries (Nepal, Cambodia, Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Rwanda, Burkina Faso, and Niger) in order to improve the nutrition, health incomes, and livelihoods of the poor. These countries were chosen because of their high rates of childhood undernutrition or stunting, which causes about 45% of child deaths globally. They were also chosen because they have substantial livestock resources that can help to reverse stunting and improve the growth, cognitive development, and lifetime productivity of the children. During initial multi-stakeholder consultations in each LSIL focal country, low production levels, adulteration, and poor quality and safety of milk were highlighted as major constraints to consumption of milk. Consequently, LSIL is funding research for development projects that are aimed at improving the level of production, quality, and safety of dairy products in these countries. The symposium will highlight the importance of milk for preventing stunting, which causes almost irreversible brain damage when it occurs in the first thousand days of a child’s life. It will also characterize the risk, health, and economic impacts of food-borne pathogens and aflatoxins in milk in developing countries. Finally, it will describe successful research-based interventions that have been used in LISL focal countries to improve milk production, reduce milk rejection, and increase milk consumption.

The 2019 Mixed Models workshop marks the 12th offering at an annual FASS meeting since 1999. The workshop was most recently offered in Pittsburgh (2017 ADSA meeting). The Mixed Models workshop provides a comprehensive exposition of proper statistical data analysis and power determinations of commonly used experimental designs in the animal sciences; our approach is example-driven and primarily based on the various mixed model analysis procedures available in SAS software. The Mixed Models workshop is delivered under the umbrella of the NCCC-170 committee on "Research Advances in Agricultural Statistics".