University of Wisconsin-Madison UW-Madison

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FY22 Hub-funded projects by priority area

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Stewarding land and water resources:

UW-Madison

  • Short-term, high impact projects
    • Cocktail forage mix yield, quality and use in cow rations – Matt Akins, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences, Marshfield Ag Research Station
    • Refining dairy forage rotations with cool season annual grasses – Jason Cavadini, Agricultural Research Stations, Marshfield Ag Research Station
    • Ammonia emissions inventory of different management practices and dairy farm settings – Horacio Aguirre-Villegas, Department of Biological Systems Engineering
  • Equipment
    • Hyperspectral Imaging instrument for precision dairy farming – Zhou Zhang, Department of Biological Systems Engineering
    • Indwelling loggers for high-resolution, continuous monitoring, of rumen physiological data – Michel Wattiaux, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences
    • Mid-infrared spectroscopy platform for rapid assessment of soil, feed and dairy product nutrients for sustainable dairy production across Wisconsin – Alfred Hartemink, Department of Soil Science
  • Grad students
    • Increasing environmental stewardship of dairy forage production systems with cover crops – Francisco Arriaga, Department of Soil Science. Student: Walker Crane
    • Pyrolyzing dairy manure solids to recover manure nutrients – Mentors: Rebecca Larson, Department of Biological Systems Engineering; Joseph Sanford, School of Agriculture, UW-Platteville (collaborative). Student: Olivia Kepner
  • Tenure-track faculty
    • Assistant professor to explore and develop innovative land and water stewardship solutions related to dairy production

UW-Platteville

  • Faculty research fellowships
    • Evaluation of biochar incorporation into manure systems for improving air quality and odor management, Joe Sanford, soil and crop science
    • Wood templated high efficiency and low-cost ceramic membranes for dairy wastewater treatment, Zhezhen Fu and Edoardo Rubino, mechanical and industrial engineering
  • Equipment
    • Greenhouse gas monitoring equipment to expand research capacity – Joe Sanford, soil and crop science
    • Benchtop X-Ray diffractometer for materials analysis – Zhezhen Fu, mechanical and industrial engineering
    • Equipment needs for measurement of dynamic soil properties – Chris Baxter, soil and crop science

UW-River Falls

  • Faculty research fellowships
    • Updating manure excretion values in SNAPplus for better nutrient management planning – Joel Peterson, Department of Agricultural Engineering Technology
  • Equipment
    • Analytical lab construction to house equipment to analyze water for phosphorous, nitrogen, and potassium, with capability for more elements/nutrients – Heather Davis and Holly Dolliver, Department of Plant and Earth Science
    • Plant growth chambers for forage and cover crop research – Veronica Justen, Department of Plant and Earth Science

Growing farm business and community:

UW-Madison

  • Short-term, high impact projects
    • DairyTrader®: An instantaneous cull dairy cow price estimation to help farmer decision-making – Guilherme Rosa, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences
    • A new approach to nutrient management planning on Wisconsin dairy farms – Scott Sturgul, Department of Horticulture; Nutrient and Pest Management Program
    • Dairy and environment online course development – Rebecca Larson, Department of Biological Systems Engineering
  • Equipment
    • Biochemistry Analyzer to test if residues remaining after milk processing can be microbially fermented into valuable products – Timothy Donohue, Department of Bacteriology
  • Grad students
    • Dairy residue bioconversion into designer (D) – Lactic acid – Mentor: Timothy Donohue, Department of Bacteriology. Student: Grace Enzien
    • Assessing maize silage yield and quality using UAV-based hyperspectral imagery and machine learning – Mentor: Zhou Zhang, Department of Biological Systems Engineering. Student: Jiahao Fan
  • Tenure-track faculty
    • Charles Nicholson – associate professor specializing in dairy economics and agribusiness related to the U.S. and Wisconsin dairy supply chain, dairy markets and policy

UW-Platteville

  • Faculty research fellowships
    • Decision making using DAIRI (Data Automation Interface and Real-time Interaction) – a platform for connecting farmers to their data – Austin Polebitski, civil engineering and Arghya Das, computer science
    • Performing a risk assessment for the dairy farm – Joshua Yue, computer science and software engineering, Ryan Pralle, animal and dairy science and Yanwei Wu, computer science and software engineering
    • Design of a microgrid for the future dairy plant at UW-Platteville – Gholamreza Dehnavi, Mehdi Roopaei and Xiaoguang Ma, electrical and computer engineering
  • Equipment
    • Selective laser sintering 3D printer acquisition for dairy protein-based composite materials development – John Obielodan, mechanical engineering and Joseph Wu, chemistry
    • Software and hardware to perform dairy farm risk assessment – Yanwei Wu, computer science and software engineering

UW-River Falls

  • Faculty research fellowships
    • Preliminary comparison of carcass composition, average daily gain and feed efficiency of HolSim Cattle vs. Angus x Holstein Cattle – Arquimides Reyes and Steve Kelm, Department of Animal and Food Science
    • Understanding the impact of dairy farm changes on social capital in rural Wisconsin – Christopher Holtkamp, Department of Plant and Earth Science
  • Tenure-track faculty
    • Luis Peña-Lévano – assistant professor specializing in community economic development. In this position, he will establish a research and outreach program that will support Wisconsin dairy farmers, agriculture start-ups, rural entrepreneurs, and regional partnerships

Ensuring animal health and welfare:

UW-Madison

  • Short-term, high impact projects
    • Innovative solutions for a sustainable improvement of dairy cow fertility – Francisco Peñagaricano, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences
    • Innovative methods to detect and protect against heat stress in Wisconsin dairy calves in a hutch environment – Jimena Laporta Sanchis, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences
    • Dietary fiber and starch digestibility effects on feeding behavior and lactation performance – Luiz Ferraretto, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences
  • Equipment
    • Gas chromatograph and mass spectrometer for analysis of compounds found in forages, rumen fluid and gases, and blood/milk samples – Luiz Ferraretto, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences
    • A centralized histology and microscopy software resource to disentangle gene-environmental interactions that drive fetal programming and nutrient partitioning in the dairy cow – Vanessa Leone, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences
  • Grad students
    • Improving the performance of dairy heifer operations by understanding maternal and management stressors impacting heifer growth and feed efficiency – Mentors: Kent Weigel, Department of Animal and Dairy Sciences; Melkaye Melka, Department of Animal and Food Science, UW-River Falls (collaborative). Student: Kaylee Riesgraf
  • Tenure-track faculty
    • Assistant professor specializing in rumen microbial physiology as it relates to animal biology and advancing sustainability of animal sourced food systems.

UW-Platteville

  • Faculty research fellowships
    • Leveraging automated milking systems to employ targeted saturated fatty acid supplementation strategies to early lactation dairy cows – Ryan Pralle and Peter Lammers, animal and dairy science
  • Equipment
    • Individual feed intake monitoring system for cross-disciplinary dairy production research – Ryan Pralle, animal and dairy science
    • Refrigerated centrifuge for feed, manure and tissue sample processing and assays – Jim Hampton and Ryan Pralle, animal and dairy science
    • Bale processor to improve feed efficiency and consistency at Pioneer Farm and provide teaching and outreach opportunities – Chuck Steiner and Justin Dougherty, Pioneer Farm

UW-River Falls

  • Faculty research fellowships
    • Evaluation of effectiveness and pain behaviors between two caustic paste brands when disbudding calves – Sylvia Kehoe and Kate Creutzinger, Department of Animal and Food Science
  • Equipment
    • Cal-Meter for cowside determination of subclinical hypocalciemia in mature dairy cattle – Steve Kelm, Department of Animal and Food Science
    • Handheld, portable blood gas machine – Sylvia Kehoe, Department of Animal and Food Science
  • Tenure-track faculty
    • Kate Creutzinger – assistant professor specializing in dairy animal welfare. In this role, she will establish a research and outreach program that will support Wisconsin dairy farmers and service providers through projects focused on dairy animal welfare.

Enriching human health and nutrition:

UW-Madison

  • Short-term, high impact projects
    • Strategies to inhibit development of biogenic amines and associated defects in ripened cheeses – Mark Johnson, Center for Dairy Research
    • In situ real-time soil nitrate leaching sensing for sustainable dairy production – Jingyi Huang, Department of Soil Science
    • Determining consumer preferences for health and other product attributes of dairy milk – Beth Olson, Department of Nutritional Sciences
    • Whey protein-polyphenol nanocomplexes to reduce fat in whipped cream – Audrey Girard, Department of Food Science
  • Equipment
    • High-speed refrigerated floor centrifuge dedicated to understanding antibiotic resistance in Listeria monocytogenes isolates from dairy cattle and dairy farms (Biological Safety Level-2) – Tu Anh Huynh, Department of Food Science
  • Grad Students
    • Manufacturing natural cheeses containing bioactive peptides with improved antihypertensive properties – Mentor: Rodrigo Ibanez Alfaro, Center for Dairy Research. Student: Ben Iesalnieks.
  • Tenure-track faculty
    • Assistant professor specializing in human health and nutrition to focus on the novel links between milk components and human health leading to new dairy product(s) for individuals across the human life cycle consistent with “personalized nutrition”.

UW-Platteville

  • Tenure track-faculty
    • Zifan Wan – assistant professor at UW-Platteville, specializing in dairy food science and management. She will develop a research program focused on dairy food science and management, with particular interest in dairy food product development for the enrichment of human health and nutrition and the increased economic sustainability of dairy farms and communities in south-west Wisconsin.

UW-River Falls

  • Equipment
    • Dairy processing laboratory to support new faculty research and outreach program – Peter Rayne, Department of Animal and Food Science
  • Tenure-track faculty
    • Grace Lewis – assistant professor specializing in dairy processing. She will develop a research and outreach program that supports Wisconsin dairy processors, entrepreneurs, farmers and service providers by generating research focused on technology, product development and processing systems in the dairy foods space

Cross-discipline capital infrastructure funded to date:

UW-Madison

  • FY 21
    • Insentec roughage intake gates (Arlington), allow for individual control of what the cow is eating and how much. Like a dinner plate, they work by allowing a cow to use specific areas of bunk space. Certain headlock gates will open for certain cows or stay shut so she cannot eat from that space. The gates allow for more research on an individual cow basis. 
    • Lab renovations for new faculty members

UW-Platteville

  • FY 21
    • Lely A5 Astronaut robotic milkers – Pioneer Farm is now home to two new state-of-the-art robotic milkers, enabling more opportunities for research and engagement across campus and the tri-state region. Funded through the Dairy Innovation Hub, the two Lely A5 Astronaut robotic milkers were installed in June 2021 and introduced to the nearly 200-cow herd at Pioneer Farm shortly thereafter. UW-Platteville is currently the only UW System school to operate robotic milkers

UW-River Falls

  • FY 21
    • Fencing project to split milking herd barn from single group to two groups to allow research – Larry Baumann, Department of Animal and Food Science; Greg Zwald, UWRF Mann Valley Farm Manager
    • Large capacity chilled centrifuge for blood sample preparation – Larry Baumann, Department of Animal and Food Science; Sylvia Kehoe, Department of Animal and Food Science
    • Ultracold freezer for long-term storage of blood and tissue samples – Larry Baumann, Department of Animal and Food Science; Sylvia Kehoe, Department of Animal and Food Science; Young Dal Jang, Department of Animal and Food Science
  • FY 22
    • Calf barn expansion and related monitoring equipment for added research capacity – Greg Zwald, UWRF Mann Valley Farm Manager
    • Individual calf pens for added treatment group capacity – Greg Zwald, UWRF Mann Valley Farm Manager
    • Multi-purpose benchtop research space at Mann Valley Farm – Greg Zwald, UWRF Mann Valley Farm Manager
    • Weaned calf structure to support additional calves and increased research capacity – Greg Zwald, UWRF Mann Valley Farm Manager
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