Priority Area: Ensuring animal health and welfare
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Mooving Cows: An innovative tool for diverse audiences to learn dairy cow handling practices
Inappropriate handling of dairy cows adversely affects animal welfare, milk production, and public trust in dairy farming. This project is developing an innovative, digital educational game, akin to a flight…
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Deciphering ecological interactions in the ruminant gastrointestinal tract microbiota that affect methane formation and the efficacy of mitigation strategies
This project aims to investigate a pressing question regarding the mechanisms by which methane inhibitors affect individual populations of methane producing bacterium and the overall ruminal fermentation. Mantovani’s lab hypothesizes…
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Intramammary infusion of tannin-chitosan hydrogels for prevention or treatment of bovine mastitis
Bovine mastitis is the leading cause of infections in Wisconsin dairy herds and worldwide. Klebsiella pneumoniae and Streptococcus uberis are pathogens associated with increased incidence of clinical mastitis in Wisconsin dairy cows.…
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Building capacity for dairy nutrition – Equipment to measure in-vitro digestibility and rumen gas production
Lammer’s project will utilize an ANKOM Daisy Incubator System, an ANKOM RF Gas Production System, and a small-scale feed grinder to increase animal nutrition research capacity at UW–Platteville. These pieces…
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Beyond immunoglobulin concentrations: Exploring the potential of fresh colostrum on immune development and health in dairy calves
Calves are born immunologically naïve and depend exclusively on colostrum for transfer of immunity to confer antibody, and cell-mediated protection against environmental pathogens during the first weeks of life and…
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Controlling ruminant methane emissions employing lactic acid bacteria and their metabolites
Lactic acid bacteria (LAB) are natural colonizers of the gastrointestinal tract of young livestock. Several LAB produce antimicrobial peptides (AMPs) and previous research indicated that LAB metabolites can reduce methane…
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Replacement and improvement of video recording systems at the Mann Valley Farm Dairy Learning Center – Phase 2
Vogel’s project is the second in a three–phase approach to replacing and improving the existing Network Video Recording (NVR) system at the Mann Valley Farm Dairy Learning Center. Phase 2…
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Renovation to create research fellow office space in the Agriculture Science Building
Creutzinger’s project aims to create a dedicated office space for UW–River Falls College of Agriculture, Food, and Environment Science (CAFES) research fellows. As the CAFES research program expands, there is…
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Effects of using calf jackets on performance and health of purebred and crossbred dairy calves in different rearing environments
The use of calf jackets for dairy calves is consistently increasing due to industry recommendations — however, research is limited as to their benefits. The objective of this trial is…
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Developing capacity for chromatography techniques at the College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences, UW–River Falls
Hassanpour’s project aims to enhance the capacity for chemical analysis in UW–River Fall’s College of Agriculture, Food and Environmental Sciences by acquiring two chromatography systems, a gas chromatograph and a…
