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!