Still Stronger Together

Minnesota Dairy Growth Alliance SummitJune 22, 2017

S. Godden, E. Royster, G. Cramer,

T. Goldsmith, J. Schefers, S. Wells, T. Ames

Land Grant Mission of Ensuring:

Healthier Animals, Healthier Economy and Healthier Minnesotans

Dairy Cattle (MDA, 2016)

• No. 6 dairy state in number of cows

• 3,470 farms; 460,000 dairy cows; 9.5 billion lbs milk/year

Economy

• Dairy is 2nd largest livestock sector after hogs

• 12% of the state’s agricultural cash receipts

• 8th largest exporter of dairy products among U.S. states

Minnesotans

• Assuring a safe food supply

• Preventing zoonotic diseases

• Farm worker safety

• Increasing quality of life

College of Veterinary Medicine

We do this through:

i) our graduates

ii) research

iii) outreach

iv) service

College of Veterinary Medicine

DVM Training400 DVM students (100/year)

15 DVM/MPH and 5 DVM/PhD combined degree students

Pre Clinical

Curriculum yrs

1-3

Clinical

Rotations yr 4

Veterinary practitioners who directly join the work force must

be practice ready and bring value to employers!

Additional Training (~35% internships, residencies, grad school)– Specialty Practice

– Veterinary Public Health

– Pharmaceutical and Biomedical Device Industry

– Government Agencies

– Higher Education

Pre-vet

Requirements

3-4 years

Veterinary College

4th Year Clinical Rotations

Many 4th year rotations to

select from with 5 major tracks

– Food Animal (dairy, swine, beef,

poultry)

– Equine

– Small Animal

– Mixed Animal

– Public Health, Research, Industry

Tracking produces

practice ready graduates!

Topics Covered in depth in 4th Year

Dairy Rotations at UMN

• Clinical skills in diagnosis,

treatment and surgery

• Reproductive diseases,

techniques and management

• Mastitis and milking system

evaluation

• Animal housing systems and

environmental management

• Disease control programs

• Proper drug use, protocols and

drug management

• Animal stockmanship and welfare

• Transition cow management

• Lameness and hoof care

• Nutrition

• Record systems, epidemiology,

herd investigation and evaluation

• Calf health and management

• Heifer health, reproduction, and

management

• Dairy applied economic decision

making

• Post-harvest food systems, food

safety and security

• Communication skills (including

Spanish), personal development,

and presentation skills

Dairy Veterinary Education Center

A private / public partnership

Bovine Faculty at the CVM

• Faculty devoted to dairy research, education, service and

outreach at the CVM• Gerard Cramer DVM DVSc- lameness and animal welfare, transition cow

management

• Tim Goldsmith DVM MPH, DACVPM - production systems, judicious antibiotic use,

emergency preparedness

• Erin Royster DVM MSc- mastitis, udder health laboratory and milking equipment

• Sandra Godden DVM DVSc- calf health and wellbeing, milk quality and mastitis

prevention, and Johne's disease control, antibiotic use

• Jeremy Schefers DVM PhD- ruminant diseases and diagnostics

• Scott Wells DVM PhD, DACVPM - Control of infectious pathogens of cattle (e.g. TB)

• Reproductive specialist TBD

• Welfare/behavior specialist TBD

• Numerous other faculty in pathology(4), microbiology(5), food safety(3), large animal

medicine(3) and large animal surgery(2) have some effort focusing on dairy student

teaching, research

Research at the CVM• External and internal funding mechanisms: e.g. USDA, industry,

Agriculture Experiment Station, Rapid Agriculture Response Funds and

MnDrive Global Food Funds, MN DHIA.

• Research is both basic and applied

• Field research sites:

• The Dairy Education Center: 10,000 calvings and 6,000 heifer

calves born per year

• Other commercial dairies: Over one dozen MN dairies currently

participating in various research projects

• There are currently 4 graduate students, 1 post doc student, and

multiple summer scholars projects (7 DVM students) involved in

summer research projects.

A Few Research Highlights

• Lameness - Dr. Cramer

– Prevention strategies

– Improved hoof trimming techniques:

How and how often should we trim feet?

• Mastitis Control – Drs. Godden and Royster

– Multi-herd study (188 herds in 19 states) to describe:

• Relationship between bedding bacteria counts and udder health

• Desired bedding characteristics and bedding management

practices to improve udder health

• Calf Health – Drs. Godden and Knauer

– Randomized trial in 5 MN herds / 1,264 calves

– Describe effect of offering ‘full milk allowance’

from day 1 (versus traditional ramp-up program)

on calf health & growth

0

4

8

12

1 6 11 16 21 26 31 36 41 46 51 56

Qu

arts

per

Day

Days of Life

Service

Minnesota Veterinary Diagnostic Laboratory:

• Mission is providing disease surveillance to the livestock industry

and protecting the food system including dairy, egg and meat

products

• Bovine submissions to the VDL in 2016 (mostly dairy)

– 184,826 procedures performed (132,086 in 2014)

Udder Health Lab:

• 113,173 tests (milk, bedding, towels)

Herd Investigations:

• Mastitis/milk quality – 12; Dr. Royster

• Youngstock/Cow health – 12+; Drs. Schefers/Godden/Cramer

• 12+-

Extension/Continuing Education

• Programs supported by UMN Extension and other sponsors.

• Minnesota Dairy Health Conference - Annual conference for dairy

veterinarians, producers and industry professionals highlighting the latest

developments in dairy health management

• CE for Dairy Veterinarians and Dairy Professionals at the DEC- The DEC is

unique in the nation; providing housing, classroom, laboratory, and on-dairy

experiences

• Public Tours of the DEC

• Provide general education to improve the public’s understanding and

acceptance of current best practices on dairy farms.

• Support the public’s positive perception of the dairy industry, promoting

milk and dairy products, and preserving the social license to operate

• Producer training example

– E.g. Adoption of Rapid On-Farm Culture systems to

guide mastitis treatment decisions

– Can reduce antibiotic use by 50% while maintaining

future udder health/performance

(Lago et al., JDSci. 2011)

• Producer trainings in Midwest:

– 2015: 1

– 2016: 4

– 2017: 7

• Numerous extension talks, extension articles

Extension/Continuing

Education (con’t)

MN EasyTM Culture System

Center for Animal Health and Food Safety

National Center for Food Protection and Defense

Upper Midwest Safety and Health Center

Centers

The Raptor Center

- Key role in protecting people from animal disease and food-borne illness.

- Develop response plan for FMD outbreak ; Surveillance strategies (e.g. TB)

- Address vulnerability of nation’s food system to attack through intentional

contamination with biological or chemical agents

- One of 9 centers of excellence dedicated to control of zoonotic disease,

farm injury and cattle handling research, education and prevention.

As we look into the future…

Opportunities for CVM and UMN

to Continue to Support

the Minnesota Dairy Industry

Produce Graduates that:

• Provide service to dairies: clinical, routine health management services,

regulatory services, management team member

• Serve as source of information and support in technology adoption

• Can advise on animal care and conduct welfare certification

• Develop treatment protocols and provide oversight of drug use, residue

avoidance, “best practices” certification

• Are capable of assuming management of larger dairies

• Perform non-clinical service roles in the dairy industry and food industry

• Provide community service: 4H, FFA, other local service and volunteer

participation

Opportunities for CVM and UMN

to Continue to Support

the Minnesota Dairy Industry (Con’t)

• Provide state and regional level resources to deal

with infectious diseases including:

o Diagnostic service to dairy farms

o Respond to infectious disease outbreaks including research, test

development, vaccine development, and control strategy development

(e.g. new Veterinary Isolation Facility)

o Support efforts for business continuity and convene industry government

agency planning (Center for Animal Health and Food Safety)

o Provide information to dairy industry

• Serve as spokespeople for dairy industry

• Help policy makers interpret science (Food Policy Research Center)

• Conduct research to support productivity, ensure health, define and promote

welfare, enhance feed/food safety

• Help industry certify supply chains (farm to table)

Thank you!