Real Science Exchange-Dairy

In the Real Science Exchange Legacy Series, we celebrate the pioneers who have shaped the dairy industry. In this episode, we honor Dr. Don Beitz, a distinguished professor at Iowa State University. At the 2025 ADSA Annual Meeting, a symposium was held titled “Donald C. Beitz Recognition Symposium: 50-Plus Years of Dairy Science Research.” The guests on this episode, all former graduate students of Dr. Beitz, were speakers at the event. Join us as we explore Dr. Beitz’s contributions and enduring impact on our industry. 

Panelists introduce themselves and how they met Dr. Beitz. Tricky MS and PhD exa...

This episode features Dr. Glen Broderick and Dr. May Beth Hall, speakers at the 2025 ADSA Ruminant Nutrition Symposium: Anomalies in Analyzed Nutrient Composition of Feedstuffs.

Dr. Broderick’s presentation was titled “Protein analysis methodology.” The high points of his talk include recommendations for nitrogen analysis in feeds, potential improvements in determining protein degradability and undegradability in the rumen, and near-infrared spectroscopy (NIR) analysis of amino acid composition of feedstuffs. (7:57)

Dr. Hall’s presentation was titled “Success and continuing challenges in analyzing nonfiber carbohydrates.” She gives some history of the analysis of non-fiber carbohydrates and talks about starch...

This episode features Dr. Jocelyn Johnson with STgenetics, a speaker at the 2025 ADSA Breeding and Genetics Symposium: Creating Carbon-Friendly Cows and Leveraging Omics to Improve the Sustainability of Dairy Production.

Dr. Johnson’s presentation was titled “Advancing dairy sustainability through feed-efficient genetics and genomics: Research insights and applications.” She gives an overview of her talk, which focused on data STgenetics has collected and how the company has applied that data to help their customers be more sustainable. She goes on to describe some of the residual feed intake research they’ve conducted in dairy cows. (4:20)

STgeneti...

Eve gives an overview of current and future consumer trends where dairy can play a role. Functional foods, health and wellness, high protein foods, fermented and cultured foods, women’s health, brain health, and aging are all part of the mix. (7:26)

The panelists discuss the healthfulness of saturated fats, the resurgence of butter, milk’s bioactive compounds, and how best to reach the public about the health benefits of dairy. (10:41)

Eve talks about marketing to Gen Z consumers, who are motivated by novelty. How do we reimagine a food that’s been here for thousands of yea...

Dr. Lock presented a Real Science Lecture Series webinar on June 3, 2025. This episode takes a deep dive into the current science and applications of feeding high-oleic soybeans in dairy diets. You can find the original webinar at balchem.com/realscience. 

Dr. Lock gives an overview of the evolution of our knowledge of biologically important fatty acids in dairy cows. Much like we think more about amino acids than crude protein these days, we are starting to think about fatty acids rather than crude fat. There are 5 main fatty acids in dairy cow diets: palmitic, stearic, oleic, linoleic, a...

In this episode, we showcase student research at the 2025 ADSA Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. Abstracts can be found here: ADSA 2025 Annual Meeting

Abstract 2186: Effects of feeding alternative forage silages on early lactation performance and gas production in multiparous Holstein cows. (00:15)

Guests: Barbara Dittrich and Dr. Heather White, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Co-Host: Dr. Clay Zimmerman, Balchem

Barbara substituted rye silage, triticale silage, rye-camelina-hairy vetch silage, and triticale-camalina-hairy vetch silage to replace 10% of the alfalfa silage in the control diet for her experimental diets. Dry matter intake and gas production were similar...

This episode features speakers from the 2025 ADSA Opening Session Panel: Designing Dairy 2045—Envisioning the Future of Cows, Dairy Products, and Farms, which explored the long-term future of dairy.

Dr. VandeHaar explains the idea behind creating the panel discussion for the opening session and his selection of the other three podcast guests as panel members. (2:02)

Dr. Baes was the genomics expert on the panel. Her talk focused on what types of data have been collected on dairy cattle in the past and in the future, as well as the collaboration needed among different disciplines to ensure th...

In the Real Science Exchange Legacy Series, we celebrate the pioneers who have shaped the dairy industry. In this episode, we honor Dr. Bill Weiss, professor emeritus at The Ohio State University. This episode was recorded at the 2025 ADSA annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, where Dr. Weiss received the 2025 ADSA Award of Honor. 

Dr. Weiss shares about his early life, schooling, and academic career. (2:29)

Panelists introduce themselves and how they know Bill. Dr. Firkins started at OSU one month before Dr. Weiss, Dr. St. Pierre was in graduate school with Dr. Weiss, and Dr. Tebbe w...

This episode features speakers from the 2025 ADSA Applied Nutrition Symposium, “Milk Pricing Dynamics and Strategies for Enhancing Milk Fat Production.” 

Dr. Lock gave the highlights of his presentation on dietary opportunities for promoting milk fat.  (2:18)

Dr. St. Pierre’s presentation focused on the change we've had in the way milk and its components are priced. (5:25)

Dr. Van Amburgh’s symposium talk covered amino acid supplementation to high producing cows eliciting more of a milk fat response than a milk protein response. (9:31)

Dr. Van Amburgh and Dr. Lock talk about where butyrate fits into...

In this episode, we feature some of the winners of poster and oral presentation competitions at the 2025 ADSA Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. Abstracts can be found here: ADSA 2025 Annual Meeting

MS Oral Presentation, Production

Guests: Trinidad Fernandez-Wallace and Dr. Lautaro Rostoll-Cangiano, University of Wisconsin-Madison

Co-host: Dr. Laura Niehues, Balchem

Abstract 1218: Immunity at the crossroads of cellular metabolism: Navigating T helper shifts in the periparturient period of dairy cows. (0:08)

Trinidad found that T-helper cell metabolism and proliferation were both upregulated after calving, which may impact the effectiveness of immune...

Dr. Dahl presented a Real Science webinar on heat stress on April 1, 2025. You can find the webinar at balchem.com/realscience. This episode of Real Science Exchange further explores the key elements of Dr. Dahl’s webinar.

Dr. Dahl talks about geographical differences in whether farms provide cooling for dry or lactating cows. Cows get heat stressed long before humans. Some farms are concerned that using misters for cooling will add too much water to their manure handling systems. He notes a study comparing conventional misters and fans, no cooling, and smart soakers that only provide mist if...

This episode was recorded in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the 2025 Tri-State Dairy Conference.

Dr. Fessenden gives an overview of his presentation which covered both research and field information on automated milking systems. He recommends going back to basics and formulating a rumen-friendly PMR with a complementary palatable feed that encourages the cows into the robot system. (5:57)

The panel discusses ideas for driving cows to the robot on different types of PMRs, management of transition and late lactation cows in automated milking systems, and the use of custom pellets versus other supplemental feeds in the robot. (9:04)<...

This episode was recorded in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the 2025 Tri-State Dairy Conference.

Dr. Schwanke begins by describing how we can shape cattle personalities through handling and management and adapting our strategies to accommodate different personality traits so as to not cause undue stress. Personality traits are consistent across time and context, which is nuanced by the other animals in a particular group. There are five generally recognized personality traits: boldness, exploration, activity, sociability and aggressiveness. Some debate exists as to whether dominance should be considered a sixth trait or if it’s just an outcome of th...

This episode was recorded in Reno, Nevada, during the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference.

Dr. Hutjens’ presentation focused on herds producing seven pounds of milk fat and milk protein per cow per day, and the genetics, on-farm management and nutrition to make that happen. The panel discusses where components could top out, how added dietary fat has influenced components and the importance of high quality forage to de novo fat synthesis. (4:09)

The panel explores how well nutritionists are keeping up with rapid genetic change in milk component production and how farmers respond to recommendations for things li...

This episode was recorded in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the 2025 Tri-State Dairy Conference.

Dr. Firkins’ presentation covers key aspects of how to improve digestibility of different diet components: fiber, starch, fat and total diet. (4:31)

The negative relationship between starch in the diet and fiber digestion has been well known for more than 50 years. A recent meta-analysis showed the depression in fiber digestibility starts at very low starch concentrations. Dr. Weiss points out this can’t be due to low rumen pH at that starch level. Dr. Firkins agrees pH is probably only about half of the...

This episode was recorded in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the 2025 Tri-State Dairy Conference.

Dr. Boerman notes we know cows experience a negative metabolizable protein balance in early lactation, which means they’re mobilizing skeletal muscle to make up for that. Dr. Boerman and her group have been interested in strategies to measure how much muscle they’re mobilizing, when they’re losing it and when they gain it back.  (3:51)

Cows are ultrasounded during the dry period to determine longissimus dorsi muscle reserves, then divided into low vs high muscle groups. Weekly ultrasounds follow them through lactati...

Balchem’s Bourbon & Brainiacs event took place at the Frazier History Museum during the 2025 ADSA annual meetings in Louisville, Kentucky. 

After introductions, Dr. Lucy shares about the ADSA monthly podcast, Dairy Digressions, which he hosts. He discusses listener demographics, the diverse paths to becoming a dairy scientist and inspiring young people to pursue a career in dairy science. The panel goes on to discuss the camaraderie and friendships developed and nurtured at ADSA meetings. (2:44)

Dr. Kononoff asks the panel their thoughts on how to protect students, given the current and potential future funding concerns for sci...

This episode was recorded in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the 2025 Tri-State Dairy Conference.

Dr. Carpenter gives an overview of her presentation. She summarizes an Extension risk management project regarding heifer development, assisting dairies in benchmarking their heifer growth and development. Key focus points include reducing morbidity and mortality and timely breeding to achieve goals for age at first calving. Dr. Carpenter also emphasized heat detection and conception, as well as recordkeeping as important considerations for success. (4:10)

Dr. Carpenter shares findings from a beef-on-dairy feeding experiment where any calf that had two or more lifetime respiratory...

Guests: Dr. José Santos, University of Florida; Dr. Jeff Firkins, The Ohio State University; Dr. Bill Weiss, Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University; Dr. Jimena Laporta, University of Wisconsin; Dr. Jim Aldrich, CSA Animal Nutrition; Dr. Tom Overton, Cornell University; Dr. Mark Hanigan, Virginia Tech University; Martin Bengtsson, Balchem; Dr. Barry Bradford, Michigan State University; Dr. Turner Swartz, South Dakota State University; Dr. Adam Lock, Michigan State University; Dr. Goeff Dahl, University of Florida

Balchem’s Bourbon & Brainiacs event took place at the Frazier History Museum during the 2025 ADSA annual meetings in Louisville, Kentucky. This bonus episode fea...

This episode was recorded in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the 2025 Tri-State Dairy Conference.

Dr. Jaborek gives an overview of his presentation including sire selection, how beef on dairy crosses compare, feedlot performance, liver abscesses and red meat yield. (6:21)

Beef sire availability and quality have changed over time with the development of selection indexes and selection criteria. Calving ease, growth, ribeye area,and quality grade are important traits. (10:03)

The panel discusses if milk replacer feeding protocols differ for beef on dairy calves. More research in this area is needed. The group then talks about...

Balchem’s Bourbon & Brainiacs event took place at the Frazier History Museum during the 2025 ADSA annual meetings in Louisville, Kentucky. This bonus episode takes a deep dive into bourbon tasting!

After introductions, Steve leads off in his role as the bourbon steward and describes the two bourbons and a rye whiskey for the tasting. (2:14)

Steve gives some instructions on the best way to taste bourbon like an expert, including determining your dominant nostril, the “Kentucky Chew,” the “Kentucky Hug,” and moving from lowest to highest proof. (4:48)

Steve leads the guests through tasting Buffalo Trace and...

In the Real Science Exchange Legacy Series, we celebrate the pioneers who have shaped the dairy industry. In this episode, we honor Dr. Charlie Staples, a distinguished professor at the University of Florida, whose groundbreaking work in dairy nutrition and mentorship touched countless lives. From his 35 years of research mentoring 23 graduate students to earning the American Dairy Science Association's Fellow Award, Dr. Staple's legacy continues to inspire. Join us as we explore his contributions and enduring impact on our industry.

Guests introduce themselves and how they knew Dr. Staples. (1:05)

Dr. Grummer shares when he and...

Dr. Hristov gave a webinar titled “Histidine: a limiting amino acid for dairy cows” on March 4, 2025, and joins the podcast in this episode for a deeper dive into the topic. 

Panelists introduce themselves and give some background on their interest in histidine (00:52)

Dr. Hristov gives an overview of his webinar presentation, touching on some of the first research projects that showed lower protein diets resulted in no change in plasma methionine, but a decrease in plasma histidine. When dietary protein decreases, the cow relies more on microbial protein to meet her needs. Histidine content is about...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference in Reno, Nevada.

Dr. Cantor gives an overview of her presentation at the conference, focusing on data from accelerometers and robotic feeders to predict calf sickness. While the correlations are there and we know calves change activity, behavior and feeding behavior before they get sick, there is more work to be done before the technology is ready for wide implementation. When data from both accelerometers and robotic feeders were used, Dr. Cantor’s group was able to find respiratory disease with a 96% accuracy six days before clinical sy...

Earlier this year, Balchem and Progressive Dairy Magazine partnered to create a new webinar series, The Real Producer Exchange. In this podcast episode, Scott and Walt reflect on the first webinar in the series, where Clare Alderink from Brian Ryzebol Dairy was the featured producer. Walt gives an overview of the premise and setup of the webinar series along with a brief overview of Clare’s background and current operation. Walt and Scott go on to share some excerpts from the webinar. (0:33)

Clare talks about the dairy’s experience incorporating high oleic soybeans into their rations, including pitf...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference in Reno, Nevada.

Stan begins with an overview of the dairy checkoff since its inception in 1983. At that time, dairy farmers were producing 139 billion pounds of milk, but only 122 million pounds were being consumed. Dairy promotion has evolved to focus on research and education about nutrition, crisis management and even partnerships with Domino’s, Taco Bell and McDonald’s. (3:02)

Stan and Marty detail some of the national and regional partnerships around dairy menu options. Walt notes that the grilled cheese burrito from Taco Bell is one...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference in Reno, Nevada.

Mike gives an overview of his three presentations at the conference regarding heifer supply. The panel discusses how the industry went from too many heifers to not enough heifers. (3:46)

Clay asks Dan about his breeding philosophy from a semen standpoint right now as a purebred Holstein breeder. He suggests skating to where the puck’s going versus where it’s been, and focusing on yield and protein after such a large emphasis on fat. He also emphasizes health traits, particularly because the indu...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference in Reno, Nevada.

Dr. Lock begins with an overview of his presentation, discussing nutrition and genomics impacts on the speed of progress in milk fat production. He also talks about historic differences in milk fat production in Europe compared to the US. With the reduction in generation interval that genomics provides, a more complete understanding of rumen and mammary metabolism will continue to be imperative. How do we supply the nutrients she needs to meet her genetic potential? (3:34)

Can we feed too much 16:0? The panel...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference in Reno, Nevada.

Dr. Kononoff begins with some renewable fuels history. Since the renewable fuels standard in 2007, corn production for ethanol has increased to around 50% of the crop going to ethanol production. With the subsequent increase in fuel has come an increase in distillers grains and the industry has learned how to use them to feed cattle better. Later, the government created additional policy for next-stage renewable fuels, which has spurred biodiesel production. Currently, just under 50% of the soybean crop goes to fuel production. Soybean meal availability...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference in Reno, Nevada.

Dr. DeVries gives an overview of his presentation on the economics of feeding more than one ration to lactating cows, with special consideration for additional costs (beyond increased feed costs) such as delivering additional loads of TMR, labor cost and mixing errors. He notes that producer surveys indicate that simplicity and not making mistakes are reasons given for not feeding an increased number of different rations. The surveys suggest there is some real money to be made if appropriate rations are used. Diminishing marginal...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Petfood Forum in Kansas City, Missouri. 

Austin begins with an overview of the Association of American Feed Control Officials (AAFCO). Their membership consists of all government officials in the US and other countries who are charged by law to regulate animal feed, including pet food, in their jurisdictions. Canada, Costa Rica, and the US all participate in AAFCO. In the US, animal feed regulation is an integrated food safety system with a partnership between state and federal regulators as well as FDA. AAFCO’s ultimate goal is to harmonize anim...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium. 

Dr. Baumgard begins with an overview of his presentation, “Importance of gut health to drive animal performance and health.” He notes the metabolic and inflammatory fingerprint of all stressors is essentially the same, indicating they likely all emanate from the gut. Overall, we’re gaining a better understanding of how typical on-farm stressors negatively influence gut barrier function. He thinks the most likely mechanism of leaky gut is the immune cell known as a mast cell. When an animal or human is stressed, the enteric nervous...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium. 

Dr. Bach gives an overview of his presentation, highlighting that buffers make the rumen resistant to a decrease in pH while alkalizers immediately increase rumen pH. He prefers magnesium oxide, an alkalizer, over sodium bicarbonate, a buffer. Both are effective, but sodium bicarbonate requires a larger amount, thus taking up more room in the diet. The magnesium oxide must be of high quality and soluble in the rumen. (3:40)

Dr. Richards asks if we should use magnesium oxide more as a first line of defense against a...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium. 

Microbial protein has always been Dr. Frikins’ main interest. It’s the most important and consistent source of protein for the cow, with a very high amino acid content. Histidine is the only exception, but bypass protein sources high in histidine complement microbial protein well. Our assessment of microbial protein is all based on prediction models. In his presentation, Dr. Firkins talked about what we can do to have consistently high microbial protein production and how to make the best use of the models. He touched on starc...

This episode was recorded in Reno, Nevada, during the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference. 

Dr. Hemme begins with a demonstration of three different-sized glasses of milk representing the daily average dairy consumption in China, Europe, and the world as a whole. He explains that when you make predictions, it’s good to identify the two main drivers of uncertainty in your industry. In the case of dairy, he cites whether or not people like dairy and whether or not they can afford it. He goes on to describe the four scenarios that can be created from those main dri...

Dr. Nicholson details the high points of his presentation, including a milk price outlook, implications of changes to milk and milk component pricing that will take place in June, and changes in butterfat value over time. As a result of the pricing changes, milk component values are expected to decrease. (3:15)

Net impacts on milk prices for a dairy will depend mostly on where they’re located, but also a little bit on how their milk is currently priced. Dr. Nicholson expects a decrease of around $0.32/cwt for dairies in his area. The panel discusses how a dairy mi...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Petfood Forum in Kansas City, Missouri.

In 2020, the Institute for Feed Education and Research (IFEEDER), American Feed Industry Association (AFIA), North American Renderers Association (NARA) and Pet Food Institute (PFI) collaborated to publish the Pet Food Consumption Report. The organizations collaborated again to publish a second edition in 2025, which Lara presented at Petfood Forum. Data sets from both brick-and-mortar sales and Amazon sales were used to create the report. (6:16)

Lara explains that data analysts reverse-engineered product labels from dog and cat food and treats in the dataset to identify...

This episode was recorded in Reno, Nevada, during the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference. 

The panel discusses their individual experiences with outbreaks in different states. Beth talks about her group’s microbial surveillance technology they used to compare rectal swabs from positive and non-positive herds. They noted elevations in specific virulent E. coli, Salmonella spp., and Clostridium perfringens in the HPAI-positive herds. Enrique noted that in California, the outbreak began in the South Valley during periods of heat stress, which exacerbated symptoms. He also felt that some dairies panicked a little and moved cows too much, which did not...

This episode was recorded in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the 2025 Tri-State Dairy Conference. 

Dr. Laporta gives an overview of her presentation, focusing on the impact of heat stress during the dry period on the cow, her daughters and her granddaughters. She covers heat stress impacts on mammary gland involution, as well as fetal programming effects on the daughter and granddaughter. (3:37)

Daughters of heat-stressed cows have fewer sweat glands located deeper in the skin, thicker skin and more sebaceous glands. This was observed at birth, weaning and puberty. They sweat more than heifers who weren’t hea...

This episode was recorded in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the 2025 Tri-State Dairy Conference. 

Dr. Grant gives an overview of his presentation at the conference, highlighting cow time budgets and the importance of natural cow behavior to health, welfare and productivity. The impacts of overcrowding, including rumen pH and de novo fatty acid synthesis, are a key component of his message. (7:07)

Eating, resting and ruminating are the big three behaviors we’ve studied for decades. In addition to their obvious importance to cow welfare, they have a real health and performance effect. Dr. Grant suggests the rec...

This episode was recorded in Reno, Nevada, during the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference. The panel is reviewing a presentation given by Dr. Rick Grant, who was unable to be on the podcast. 

The presentation was based on the idea that crowding is a subclinical presence. If you manage it with people and resources, a dairy can do very well. But if something happens in that crowded situation, like a disease or heat stress, it can tip performance over the edge. Evaluating time budgets for cows can allow for the identification of places to improve. Beds are vitally i...

This episode was recorded in Reno, Nevada for the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference. 

Dr. Shabtai gives an overview of her presentation. Afimilk has a new technology that includes a feed efficiency sensor to determine eating, rumination, heat stress monitoring and more. The Feed Efficiency Service combined with the AfiCollar can estimate dry matter intake, which, when combined with Afimilk’s milk meter data, yields an efficiency value of milk income over feed cost for each cow. She details how the algorithm works to predict intake and some of the challenges faced during the development of this technology. The...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference in Reno, Nevada. 

Dr. Sabine Mann, Cornell University; Dr. Will Mustas, Progressive Dairy Solutions; Dr. Don Niles, Dairy Dreams LLC; and Joey Airosa, Airosa Dairy Farms, introduce themselves. (0:48)

Dr. Mann outlines the high points of her presentation. Giving an adequate amount of high-quality colostrum quickly after birth is essential to equip the calf with the best chances to stay healthy. Colostrum is more than a solution of water and immunoglobulins, and we are continuing to learn more about other nutrients and growth factors that colostrum c...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Western Dairy Management Conference in Reno, Nevada. 

Gregg Doud, National Milk Producers Federation, begins with an overview of his talk regarding recent and ongoing investments in the dairy industry. Dan Siemers, Siemers Holsteins, notes they were able to build a new dairy and find a new milk market because Agropur built a new plant in their area. Corey Geiger, CoBank, describes that the US is approaching $9 billion of new investment in dairy plants coming online through 2027, over half of that in cheese. High-quality whey protein isolates are in equal demand as c...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium. Panelists Dr. John Goeser or Rock River Laboratory, Inc.; Dr. Bob Kozlowski, PAS of Dairy NExT, LLC and Dr. Tom Overton of Cornell University introduce themselves and give an overview of their backgrounds. (0:10)

Dr. Goeser begins with three different ways to define forage quality: energetic potential, particle size as an interaction factor, and anti-nutritional components. He asks Dr. Kozlowski if these are the hot topics for his consulting clients. (6:53)

When evaluating the energy potential in feed, Dr. Goeser states there’s nothing new as far as...

Dr. Drackley begins with an overview of his presentation at the 2025 Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium, focusing on the NASEM requirements for pre-weaned calves. He mentions some differences in energy and protein requirement calculations compared to the NRC system, as well as increased vitamin E recommendations and a more biologically based factorial approach to calculating mineral requirements. (5:59)

Dr. Overton notes that milk replacements can be formulated differently to account for changes in mineral or vitamin requirements. In herds that feed whole milk, is there any reason to think about supplementing those calves? Dr. Drackley suggests that Mother Nature...

Dr. Hansen’s lab conducted several in vitro experiments where choline chloride was supplemented to beef embryo culture media for the first seven days of embryonic development. Calves resulting from the choline-supplemented embryos were consistently 17-20 kilograms heavier at weaning. In the feeding experiment presented at the Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium, Dr. Sagheer fed rumen-protected choline to beef cows one day before AI through seven days post-AI, spanning ovulation, fertilization, and the first seven days of embryo development. In contrast to the in vitro studies, calves born to cows supplemented with choline during the peri-conception period were lighter at weaning th...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium. 

Dr. DeVries’ research focuses on farm-level decisions and modeling. The University of Florida dairy has implemented the use of beef semen. Dr. DeVries describes some of the factors that go into a partial budget for this system as well as details some of the factors involved in implementing beef on dairy. The UF dairy genomically tests all their cows and the panel discusses some differences in beef and dairy selection based on genomics. (5:58)

Dr. Felix asks how the beef sires are selected for the UF dai...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium. Dr. Johnson and Dr. Felix begin with brief descriptions of their background. (1:26)

Dr. Johnson’s presentation at the symposium focuses on beef quality aspects of using beef sires on dairy cows. Using the same Angus semen, his research model compared Angus-sired beef calves raised in a conventional cow-calf system, Angus x Holstein calves, Angus x Jersey calves, and Angus-sired IVF beef embryos transplanted into Holstein and Jersey cows. The model evaluated how the management impacted feedlot performance and carcass quality. (6:37)

Dairy-influenced beef is tender and hi...

This episode was recorded at the 2025 Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium. Dr. Felix and Dr. Johnson begin with brief descriptions of their background and interest in beef on dairy research. (3:15)

Dr. Felix’s first study in this area compared dairy calves with beef on dairy calves of unknown origin. They were placed in the feedlot and fed and implanted the same. Beef on dairy calves grew faster, but they ate more, so there was no difference in feed efficiency. They also had larger ribeye areas and slightly heavier carcass weights. In subsequent studies, calf growers indicated that beef on...

Dr. Hansen’s lab conducted several in vitro experiments where choline chloride was supplemented to beef embryo culture media for the first seven days of embryonic development. Calves resulting from the choline-supplemented embryos were consistently 17-20 kilograms heavier at weaning. In the feeding experiment presented at the Florida Ruminant Nutrition Symposium, Dr. Sagheer fed rumen-protected choline to beef cows one day before AI through seven days post-AI, spanning ovulation, fertilization, and the first seven days of embryo development. In contrast to the in vitro studies, calves born to cows supplemented with choline during the peri-conception period were lighter at weaning th...

This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series. You can find it at balchem.com/realscience.

Dr. Baumgard begins with an overview of the structure and function of the gastrointestinal tract. More than 75% of an animal’s immune system resides in the gut. The focus of this webinar is how heat stress initiates leaky gut, how that leaky gut then influences the immune and hormonal systems, and ultimately, how that reduces productivity. (0:22)

Dr. Baumgard compares the metabolism of a cow 200 days in milk to a cow...

In times of limited forage, dairy producers may need to feed diets lower in forage than is typical but would like to maintain milk production. In this study, two diets similar in neutral detergent fiber (NDF), starch, and crude protein with different amounts of forage were fed to 32 mid-lactation Holstein cows in a crossover design. The control diet (CON) contained high forage (55.5% of diet dry matter) with no supplemental fatty acids or amino acids. The low-forage diet (LF) contained 36.6% forage along with supplemental fat and rumen-protected methionine and lysine. As forage was removed from the LF diet, it was...

This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series. You can find it at balchem.com/realscience.

Dr. Santos begins with a timeline of events that occur during the cow’s transition from the dry period to her exit from the fresh pen. He suggests that cows should be dried off at around 230 days of gestation, then moved to a closeup group at 250-255 days gestation which is around three to three-and-a-half weeks before calving. Dr. Santos recommends keeping multiparous cows separate from primiparous cows and feedi...

In this episode, we honor and celebrate the remarkable career and contributions of Dr. Jim Drackley from the University of Illinois, a pioneer in dairy science and animal nutrition. Jim’s work has reshaped our understanding of dairy cow health, metabolism and nutrition. Dr. Cardoso, Dr. Overton, and co-host Dr. Jeff Elliott are former coworkers or graduate students of Dr. Drackley’s. (0:11)

Dr. Drackley begins by telling the audience about his background and how he became a dairy scientist. He talks about several of his mentors during his schooling. (9:20)

Speaking of mentors, Scott asks Dr. Elli...

This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series. You can find it at balchem.com/realscience.

How can we increase milk protein and capture that income opportunity? Dr. Van Amburgh describes the seasonal drop in milk protein observed in the summer months. Heat stress may play a role in altering insulin sensitivity and how the cow partitions nutrients. What can we do to avoid that seasonal decline in milk protein?  (0:01)

Simple things like cooling, fans, and sprinklers can reduce heat stress and increase cow comfort. Dr...

In this study, two basal diets were fed, one low-fat and one high-fat. The low-fat diet contained cottonseed meal and cottonseed hulls and the high-fat diet contained whole cottonseed. This balanced fiber and protein to try and make the difference between the basal diets and just the fatty acids. Basal diets were supplemented with two different fat supplements that had different ratios of palmitic and oleic acids. The applied question at hand was “Does fat need to be supplemented to a high-fat basal diet?” (5:32)

The low-fat diet contained 1.93% fatty acids and the high-fat diet contained 3.15% fatty acids. Fatt...

This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series. You can find it at balchem.com/realscience.

Feeding rumen-protected choline in early lactation has consistently increased milk yield and energy-corrected milk yield, which is more pronounced when cows are fed diets low in metabolizable methionine. Choline feeding also increases milk fat and protein yield, minimizes body condition loss in early lactation, and reduces postpartum disease incidence. Dr. McFadden presents three topics about choline biology in the dairy cow. (01:45)

Dr. Hernandez recently presented a Real Science Lecture series webinar on this topic. You can find the link at balchem.com/realscience.

Dr. Hernandez begins with an overview of how she came to study calcium metabolism in the mammary gland. Over the past number of years, she has worked on research to manipulate what’s happening in the mammary gland in the prepartum period to ensure adequate endocrine, nutritional, reproductive, and immunological status. (5:55)

The panelists discuss how “normal” has changed when it comes to transition cow health. Dr. Overton reminds listeners that 25 years ago, 6-8% of fre...

Please note the recording was before the new NASEM model was released. However, there is still a lot of good information from Dr. Weiss beyond those recommendations. This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series. You can find it at balchem.com/realscience.

Most ration formulation software uses the 2001 NRC mineral equations. The basic concept of the 2001 NRC mineral requirements is to feed enough absorbable minerals to maintain adequate labile body stores and fluid concentrations. Minerals are lost each day via excretion in feces and urine, milk pr...

This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series. You can find it at balchem.com/realscience.

Feeding behavior of dairy cows is inherently tied to their dry matter intake (DMI) which is tied to milk production. If we want to change a cow’s DMI, it must be mediated by changing her feeding behavior. (00:23)

In a multi-variable analysis, Dr. DeVries found that DMI was most associated with feeding time and meal frequency. It’s important to allow the cow to maximize the amount of time she ca...

Dr. Weiss and Dr. St-Pierre co-authored this episode’s journal club paper in Applied Animal Science (ARPAS Journal). Bill and Normand share a career-long interest in how feedstuffs and diet variation impact cows. (6:31)

Bill and Normand discuss sources of variation, which they divide into true variation and observer variation. True variation means the feed has changed: a different field, change during storage, etc. Observer variation includes sampling variation and analytical variation. Some feeds may exhibit a lot of true variation and others may exhibit a lot of observer variation. And some feeds are high in both types of...

This Real Science Exchange episode was recorded during a webinar, which was part of a series. Watch all the presentations from this series here: https://balchem.com/animal-nutrition-health/resources-categories/real-science-lecture-series/previous-lectures/page/10/

Early in lactation, the cow is incapable of eating enough to meet her dramatically increased requirements. As the cow’s intake decreases near calving, there are fewer nutrient contributions from dry matter intake and she must alter nutrient partitioning to meet her increased needs by mobilizing fat and muscle stores. (1:18)

Triglycerides from fat stores are broken down into non-esterified fatty acids (NEFA) and gl...

In part two of a two-part series, the Balchem technical team selected industry research of interest from the 2024 American Dairy Science Association meetings to feature on this episode of the Real Science Exchange. 

Smart Cows, Smart Farms: Unleashing the Potential of Artificial Intelligence in the Dairy Sector 

Guest: Dr. Jeffrey Bewley, Holstein Association USA (1:58)

Dr. Bewley is the Dairy Analytics and Innovation Scientist at Holstein Association USA, where part of his role is collaborating with Western Kentucky University at the WKU Smart Holstein Lab. The group works with more than 30 technologies, including wearable, ca...

Nutritionists are often blamed for transition cow problems like high NEFAs, clinical and subclinical ketosis, and subclinical hypocalcemia. Dr. Baumgard suggests these symptoms are a result of one of two situations: 1. These are highly productive, healthy, and profitable cows; or 2. The symptoms are the metabolic reflection of immune activation, likely stemming from metritis, mastitis, pneumonia, or GI tract inflammation. In the first scenario, the nutritionist deserves a raise; in the second, these are mostly management issues not caused by nutrition. (1:26) 

If listeners are interested in more detail on this topic, Dr. Baumgard suggests reading this 2021 review in t...

The Balchem technical team selected abstracts of interest from the 2024 American Dairy Science Association meetings to feature on this episode of the Real Science Exchange. 

Whole Cottonseed and Fatty Acid Supplementation Affect Production Responses During the Immediate Postpartum in Multiparous Dairy Cows

Guests: Jair Parales-Giron and Dr. Adam Lock, Michigan State University (0:58)

The experiment had four treatment groups: no fat supplement, 10% of the diet from whole cottonseed, a 60:30 mix of calcium salts of palmitic and oleic acid at 1.5% of the diet dry matter, and a combination of both whole cottonseed and fatty acid s...

This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series. 

Shakespeare wrote, “The eyes are the windows of the soul.” Dr. Ollivett believes the lungs are the window to calf health management. The lungs are an indicator organ: respiratory disease is a symptom of management failure. Failure of passive transfer, diarrhea, septicemia, poor nutrition, a dirty environment, and heat or cold stress can all negatively impact the lungs. Often, this can manifest as subclinical pneumonia, where the lungs are abnormal but the calf externally appears completely normal. (3:51)

Dr. Oll...

Dr. Nydam and Dr. LeBlanc recently presented a Real Science Lecture series webinar on August 7, 2024. You can find the link at balchem.com/realscience.

Dr. Nydam begins with a brief overview of the concepts from the webinar, all based on understanding and applying information from different types of studies on dairy cow health and performance. Dr. LeBlanc adds that their goal was for the webinar to be useful for people with a practical interest in feeding and managing dairy cows. (4:12)

Dr. Nydam discusses different kinds of bias in research. All studies have some bias in...

This Real Science Exchange podcast episode was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series. 

The primary goal of a replacement program is to raise the highest quality heifer that can maximize profits when she enters the lactating herd. She carries no limitations that would detract from her ability to produce milk under the farm’s management system. Ideally, one would wish to optimize profits by obtaining the highest quality heifer at the lowest possible cost, usually in the least amount of time. Dr. Van Amburgh presents a snapshot evaluation of benchmarks to assess the p...

Dr. Mitloehner recently presented a Real Science Lecture series webinar on September 11, 2024. You can find the link at balchem.com/realscience.

Dr. Mitloehner begins by sharing about the Clarity and Leadership for Environmental Awareness and Research (CLEAR) Center at UC Davis. He established this research and communications center to combat misinformation about sustainability in animal agriculture. One unique aspect of the center is a diverse communications department composed of journalists, filmmakers, and social media experts to help scientists communicate with the public. (6:04)

In his webinar, Dr. Mitloehner focused on animal agriculture’s impact on the cl...

Dr. Arshad begins by reviewing the inclusion criteria in the meta-analysis he conducted. He wished only to look at studies where lysine was supplemented in a rumen-protected form. The meta-analysis did not include studies that infused lysine into the abomasum or intestine. In addition, only completely randomized design or randomized complete block design studies were included. Feed ingredients and chemical composition of diets for each experiment were run through NASEM to predict the metabolizable lysine content using the same model so all studies were on the same scale. (6:04)

The bioavailability of the different rumen-protected lysine products used...

This episode of the Real Science Exchange podcast was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series. 

Choline was discovered in 1862 in pig and ox bile (“chole” in Greek). It is a simple nutrient containing five carbons and a nitrogen. Choline is considered a quasi-vitamin since its requirements and de novo synthesis are both higher than the B vitamins it’s similar to. Pigs can synthesize more choline than chickens. Choline is considered to be a conditionally essential nutrient depending on the physiological stage and choline production ability of the species being considered. (3:29)

Choline...

Dr. Kononoff’s lab evaluated retrospective feed mixing records collected from eight commercial dairy farms. Data was divided into 28-day periods. Daily TMR nutrient deviation was automatically calculated from feed mixer data as the actual amount of a nutrient fed minus the target amount from the original diet formulation, divided by the target amount. (5:43)

Crude protein, NDF, fat, and starch were the nutrients evaluated in the study. (13:40)

Variation was positive for every nutrient on the vast majority of days. Dr. Kononoff attributes that to more feed being delivered than the diet formulation predicted animals would co...

Balchem sponsored several abstracts presented at the 2024 ADSA Annual Meeting. This episode consists of five segments, each focused on an abstract.

Segment 1: Evaluating the total mixed ration stability of rumen-protected lysine products.

Guests: Kari Estes, Balchem; Dr. Mark Hanigan, Virginia Tech

This research compared the TMR stability of a Balchem prototype, several commercially available rumen-protected lysine products and a positive control of unprotected lysine. (3:39)

A sample of TMR and the equivalent of one gram of lysine from each product were mixed and placed in a  plastic zip bag for 0, 6, 12, or 24 hours. A...

This episode of the Real Science Exchange podcast was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series.

Throughout the last 30 years, the dairy industry has moved to producing highly concentrated versions of milk proteins. In cows’ milk, about 80% of the protein is casein and 20% is in the serum or whey phase. These ratios vary by species. There are three major caseins in cows’ milk: alpha-S-casein, beta-casein, and kappa-casein. The first two are rich in phosphate for calcium binding. Kappa-casein is critical in a micellar structure that allows these structures to stay suspended in the milk...

Dr. Overton presented on this topic in a Real Science Lecture series webinar on July 10, 2024. You can find it at www.balchem.com/realscience. This episode takes a deeper dive into the conversation.

Dr. Overton begins by reminding listeners of the vast number of changes occurring in the fresh cow during the first two to three weeks after calving. Body fat and protein mobilization, some systemic inflammation, the potential for elevated NEFAs and ketones, and calcium dynamics all play a role in how the fresh cow starts her lactation period. (7:31)

When consulting with clients, Dr...

Dr. Callaway presented on this topic in a Real Science Lecture series webinar on June 4, 2024. You can find it at www.balchem.com/realscience. The following podcast takes a deeper dive into the conversation.

For years, probiotics were known as direct-fed microbials (DFMs) in livestock and probiotics in humans. Terminology has been updated to reflect different modes of action and composition. (9:07)

A probiotic is defined as a living microorganism that will be beneficial to the health and/or performance of the host. Prebiotics are fermentable substrates that the host can’t use, but the microbes ca...

This episode of the Real Science Exchange podcast was recorded during a webinar from Balchem’s Real Science Lecture Series.

Dr. Goff sees three main challenges for transition cows: negative energy and protein balance, immune suppression, and hypocalcemia. About half of all older cows experience hypocalcemia, and around 3% will experience milk fever. Cows develop hypocalcemia if they are unable to replace the calcium lost in milk from either their bone or diet. Compared to the day before calving, a cow needs around 32 extra grams of protein the day of calving to meet her increased requirements. (2:00)

Dr...

Dr. DeVries presented a Real Science Lecture webinar on May 8, 2024, titled “Lessons Learned in Research on Nutritional Management of Robot Milked Cows.” You can find the webinar recording at balchem.com/realscience.  

Dr. DeVries begins with an overview of how his robotic milking research has evolved. In Canada, around 20%-plus of farms are using robotic milkers. He describes survey research in the US and Canada as to why producers choose to implement robotic milkers. (9:19)

In Trevor’s webinar, he discussed the large amount of variation in nutritional management of robot-milked cows across Canada. Some of his rese...

Dr. Cannas presented a Real Science Lecture webinar on October 17, 2023, titled “Diets of Productive Sheep & Goats: Performance & Health.” You can find the webinar recording at balchem.com/realscience.  

Dr. Cannas outlines the topics he covered in his webinar, including nutritional requirement differences between small and large ruminants, particularly in late gestation. Small ruminants have a shorter gestation and are more prolific than cattle, for example, and this means they have more nutritional challenges in late gestation. Dr. Cannas covered supplementation, basal diet quality, and sorting ewes or does by number of fetuses. He also discussed how high milk-p...

Dr. Zimmerman presented a Real Science Lecture webinar on December 12th, 2023, titled “Not All Rumen-Protected Products Are Created Equal.” You can find the webinar recording at balchem.com/realscience.  

Clay outlines four attributes of a good rumen-encapsulated product. They are feed and TMR stable, ruminal stable, nutrient bioavailability, and good efficacy biologically in the animal.  (6:21)

Kari describes a TMR stability test that Balchem has been perfecting based on a paper published in 2016. One to two grams of a rumen-protected product (based on the nutrient composition) is mixed with a half pound of TMR in a Ziploc...

This episode comes to you from the “New Developments in Transition Cow Nutrition” seminar in Stoke-on-Trent, England. Dr. Santos, Dr. Reynolds and Dr. Zimmerman spoke at the seminar. Each speaker gives a brief overview of their seminar presentation, and then the panel takes questions from the audience.

In his presentation, Dr. Santos discussed some of the latest research using rumen-protected choline in transition cows. There is substantial evidence that choline plays an important role in transition cow nutrition, particularly because of its consistent positive effect on the yield of energy-corrected milk and benefits that extend beyond the supp...

Dr. Harvatine gave a presentation on the Real Science Lecture series on April 2nd titled “High Oleic Soybeans, Where Do They Fit Into Dairy Diets?” Access the recording at balchem.com/real science.

As Dr. Harvatine thinks back over his 15 years at Penn State, he didn’t think he’d do much fat supplement work. But we keep getting new questions, new products, and new challenges. One of these is high oleic soybeans, which could be an opportunity to grow some of our own fat on the farm. (6:35)

High oleic soybeans have been around for about se...

This journal club episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. The paper is “Assessing Transition Cow Health: Integrating Traditional and Novel Biomarkers” from the conference proceedings with Dr. Andres Contreras of Michigan State University.

What is a biomarker, and what makes a good biomarker? Dr. Contreras defines anything that can help assess a physiological response or pathological state. Two examples would be BHBA (beta-hydroxybutyrate) and NEFA (non-esterified fatty acids), both fat mobilization measures. (2:56)

Dr. Contreras structured the paper in three sections of biomarkers: (3:54)

This journal club episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. The paper is “Major Accomplishments in Calf Nutrition and Growth” from the conference proceedings.

Accelerated milk feeding of calves results in about a thousand-pound first lactation production increase. The mechanism is unclear: it could be isolated to the mammary gland or related to the functional ability of the digestive tract and liver to support lactation. Economic analyses have shown an advantage of $205 per calf. (6:04)

Regarding amino acid requirements of dairy calves, whey-based milk replacers require additional methionine; lysine is also common. Threonine can...

This journal club episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. The paper is “Practical Aspects of Reducing Carbon Footprint by Dairy Farms Through Feeding” from the conference proceedings.

In the U.S., livestock competes with oil and gas for the top source of methane emissions. While “carbon-neutral” agriculture may be easy for modelers to show, Dr. Hristov feels this is misleading and probably impossible in practical dairy farming. However, mitigation can be addressed in several directions, and nutrition can have perhaps the largest impact. Management practices, genetic selection, and manure management can be added to achie...

This journal club episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference. The paper is “Methane in the context of circular dairy farming” from the conference proceedings.

What is circular dairy farming? The concept is that instead of extracting or using natural resources and then discarding the wastes in a linear kind of fashion, economies should try to be increasingly circular. This would include the concepts of reusing, recycling, upgrading, upcycling, etc. Traditionally, the focus on methane was about the inefficiency and leakage of energy and finding a way to minimize that from the perspective of ener...

This episode comes to you from the 2024 Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference, where Balchem sponsored a Real Science symposium titled “New Discussions in Amino Acid Nutrition.” Each of our guests presented at the symposium, and their presentations can be found at balchem.com/realsciencemedia

Dr. Van Amburgh presented “Amino Acid Nutrition for Maximizing Milk Component Yield.” When considering nitrogen efficiency, we generally compare intake nitrogen, which includes non-protein nitrogen, against milk nitrogen. In high producing cows, aggregate amino acid values are running about 70 to 73% efficiency. But when we work that up to total intake nitrogen, then we're down to 30 to...

While Dr. Jardon only had milk in his glass for this pubcast, he did share about his bottle of “wheyskey” (whiskey made from whey) from Wheyward Spirit Distillery in California (https://www.wheywardspirit.com/). Iowa State Dairy Extension is offering a webinar, “Fermentation and Distillation of Whey to Produce Spirits at Copper Crow,” on May 15 at noon Central. Curtis Basina of Copper Crow Distillery in Bayfield, WI, will be the speaker. You can sign up for the webinar at https://go.iastate.edu/WHEY (4:13)

Dr. Dhuyvetter presented a March 5 webinar on dairy economics, which can be found at balch...

Dr. Penner describes two primary factors of gut health to be absorption and barrier function or permeability. His lab’s work on permeability is suggesting that intestinal regions really drive total gut permeability to a much greater extent than ruminal permeability in dairy cows. (7:06)

Ms. Bertens is Dr. Penner’s Ph.D. student and explains some new methodologies she developed for measuring gut permeability using chromium EDTA and cobalt EDTA. It’s common to use an oral dose of chromium EDTA as a marker to measure total tract permeability. Claire’s work, using cannulated cows, used a ruminal...

Guests: Dr. Bill Weiss, The Ohio State University; Dr. Marcia Endres, University of Minnesota

Dr. Endres begins with a description of a dataset she collected containing individual body weights from 34 robotic milking herds. Weights were collected for every cow; every time that she came into the robotic milking station. Dr. Endres’ team was interested in the relationship between the amount of body weight change in the first 21 days of lactation and subsequent production. (7:34)

The team chose to use the first 90 days of production as their production measurement to make sure they had as many cows as...

This episode is from a webinar presented by Dr. Clay Zimmerman, Director of Technical Services at Balchem. To view the full webinar and access the slides referenced during this podcast, visit balchem.com/realscience and scroll down to the webinar presented on December 12th, 2023.

Dr. Zimmerman begins with an overview of Balchem’s microencapsulation technologies in both human nutrition and health and animal nutrition and health businesses. (0:31)

Encapsulation is a generic term, and huge differences can exist between products that protect the same compound. Balchem’s microencapsulation technology consists of packaging a substance in a lipi...

This episode is from a webinar presented by Dr. Sandra Godden from the University of Minnesota Department of Veterinary Population Medicine. To view the full webinar and access the slides referenced during this podcast, visit balchem.com/real science and scroll down to the webinar presented on November 8, 2023.

Dr. Godden begins with the reminder that despite decades of research and definite advances in colostrum management, there's still a lot to learn and research. Her goal is to give an update on new findings that can be utilized in your colostrum management program. (0:21)

Promoting calf health...

Dr. Räisänen completed this research during her Ph.D. at Penn State. The meta-analysis included 17 different studies published between 1999 and 2022 investigating supplemental histidine for lactating dairy cows. They divided the type of supplemental histidine between infused histidine and rumen-protected histidine and the basal diets between corn silage-based and grass silage-based. (4:34)

Primary response variables measured in the meta-analysis included dry matter intake, milk production, milk composition, and milk component yields. The researchers also calculated the efficiency of utilization of histidine and other amino acids supplied to the cow by the diets. Lastly, they calculated marginal recovery of...

Dr. Hristov started working with canola meal after he commissioned a review paper comparing canola and soybean meal when he was editor of the Canadian Journal of Animal Science. In that review, most of the studies used solvent-extracted soybean meal. Because canola has a higher oil content, it is always mechanically extruded to remove oil before solvent extraction. This paper is a more fair comparison because both meals were extruded and thus exposed to heat. (7:02)

There were 24 cows per treatment, and it was a continuous study rather than a Latin Square design. No differences were observed in...

Dr. Godden opens this episode with a 30,000-foot view of colostrum management. Colostrum management has been a hot topic for decades, and herds still have opportunities to improve. Researchers continue to learn how to advance colostrum management. The basics include the three Qs: quality, quantity, and quickness. Other critical factors are cleanliness and feeding clean colostrum. Dr. Godden also briefly discusses important monitoring measures to assess a colostrum program. Research continues on the value of post-closure feeding of colostrum after the first 24 hours when the gut can no longer absorb antibodies. Several studies have demonstrated improved health, reduced scours...

Today’s episode was filmed at the Future Directions in Choline Symposium put on by the University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute.

Our day two episode opens with Dr. Eric Ciappio and Dr. Jonathan Bortz of Balchem, summarizing day one’s focus on pregnancy and early life and previewing day two’s focus on the latest choline research targeting adult nutrition. (1:03)

The next guest on our roster is Dr. Mark Manary, a professor of pediatrics at the Washington University School of Medicine. Mark’s symposium talk discusses choline and food aid. Food aid products are spec...

Co-host: Tom Druke, Balchem Corporation & Dr. Eric Ciappio, Balchem Corporation

Guests: Dr. Stephen Hursting & Dr. Susan Smith, University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute; Dr. Steven Zeisel, University of North Carolina; Dr. Kevin Klatt, University of California, Berkeley; Dr. Richard Canfield, Cornell University; Dr. Colin Carter, Columbia University; Dr. Joe McFadden, Cornell University

Today’s episode was filmed at the Future Directions in Choline Symposium put on by the University of North Carolina Nutrition Research Institute.

Our first guests are Dr. Stephen Hursting and Dr. Susan Smith, the director and deputy director of th...

Kirby begins with a description of the mechanism of amylase-enhanced corn. The amylase is located in the kernel and, once activated by temperature change, works to increase the digestibility of the starch. A small amount of activation is thought to occur during silage fermentation, with further activation once it reaches the rumen. This paper evaluated digestibility and milk production in cows fed corn silage made from a hybrid with the amylase-enhanced gene compared to the same hybrid without the genomic enhancement. (4:51)

The experiment was designed as a factorial with four treatments combining the two different types of...

Guests: Dr. Paul Fricke and PhD Candidate Megan Lauber, the University of Wisconsin-Madison

Dr. Fricke starts this episode by describing the long-term negative trend for reproductive performance in dairy cows that took place from the mid-1950s to around 2000. 

The reversal of this trend is due to the use of genomics to select for fertility and the use of synchronization and fertility programs in dairy cows. (6:07)

Dr. Fricke explains the high fertility cycle starts with a change in body condition. Observations from the late 1980s and early 1990s showed that cows who calved a...