Source: NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY submitted to NRP
PRODUCER DRIVEN DAIRY RESEARCH AND EXTENSION PROJECTS IN NEW MEXICO AND THE SOUTHWEST THROUGH THE SOUTHERN GREAT PLAINS DAIRY CONSORTIUM
Sponsoring Institution
National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Project Status
COMPLETE
Funding Source
SPECIAL GRANT
Reporting Frequency
Annual
Accession No.
0221824
Grant No.
2010-34635-20842
Cumulative Award Amt.
$325,734.00
Proposal No.
2010-02674
Multistate No.
(N/A)
Project Start Date
Jul 1, 2010
Project End Date
Jun 30, 2012
Grant Year
2010
Program Code
[DD-N]- Southern Great Plains Dairy Consortium, NM
Recipient Organization
NEW MEXICO STATE UNIVERSITY
1620 STANDLEY DR ACADEMIC RESH A RM 110
LAS CRUCES,NM 88003-1239
Performing Department
Cooperative Extension
Non Technical Summary
This proposal addresses eight critical Southern Great Plains dairy issues with the receipt of $325,734.00. Within 24 mo. data collected from multi-disciplinary research, education, and extension teams from three university systems and USDA-ARS will enable dairies to proactively anticipate and address possible regulatory actions; identify sound environmental best management practices; and remain economically strong as an industry to continue providing the nation with a safe and healthy food supply. A summary of the research projects and objectives include a: 1) Study of air emissions fluxes to determine methane and ammonia lagoon contributions, emission rates via dispersion modeling and integrated horizontal flux (IHF) analysis; 2) Lagoon seepage study to determine validity of resistivity technology to detect and document seepage from lagoons. 3) Dairy water usage study to quantify the dairy water footprint and validate water usage mitigation strategies; 4) Development of an anaerobic digester decision support model; 5) Dissemination and training program to improve reproductive performance of lactating dairy cows; 6) Dairy herdsman short course to address mastitis and milk quality issues; 7) Holstein blood metabolite profile assessment to validate reference values currently used NRC values; and 8) Dairy employee safety training program to create specialized training tools for specific jobs typical for large SW dairies. These research projects are based on high priority items identified by dairy producers in 2006-2007. The data obtained will fill information gaps and assist the industry to reduce environmental impacts and footprints, improve dairy product quality and train employees to increase performance while reducing accidents.
Animal Health Component
100%
Research Effort Categories
Basic
(N/A)
Applied
100%
Developmental
(N/A)
Classification

Knowledge Area (KA)Subject of Investigation (SOI)Field of Science (FOS)Percent
3073410101020%
1110210205020%
1020199206120%
1410410207020%
6016299301020%
Knowledge Area
601 - Economics of Agricultural Production and Farm Management; 102 - Soil, Plant, Water, Nutrient Relationships; 111 - Conservation and Efficient Use of Water; 141 - Air Resource Protection and Management; 307 - Animal Management Systems;

Subject Of Investigation
0210 - Water resources; 0199 - Soil and land, general; 3410 - Dairy cattle, live animal; 6299 - Marketing, general/other; 0410 - Air;

Field Of Science
2070 - Meteorology and climatology; 2050 - Hydrology; 1010 - Nutrition and metabolism; 2061 - Pedology; 3010 - Economics;
Goals / Objectives
The Air Emissions Study will be done to: 1) confirm and validate previous estimates of emission fluxes of selected air pollutants from an open-lot dairy and estimates of lagoon contributions to the whole-facility fluxes of methane and ammonia; and 2) estimate emission rates via upwind/downwind air and wind monitoring coupled with dispersion modeling and integrated horizontal flux (IHF) analysis. The Lagoon Seepage Study will evaluate electromagnetic resistivity surveying as a means of detecting seepage from dairy lagoons and runoff holding ponds. The objectives of Dairy Water Use project are to: a) auantify the overall fresh water usage by the dairy facility; b) quantify the water volume reused on the land; c) quantify the water volume captured from runoff and available for irrigation; and c) investigate selected internal facility water usage to quantify use and to investigate the potential for water usage mitigation strategies. The decison support tool will allow educators, agribusiness personnel, AD designers and equipment suppliers to conduct feasibility analysis for a dairy digester based upon multiple factors impacting AD adoption decisions. Extension component: Dissemination of information on improving reproductive performance of lactating dairy cows during warm summer months in the Southern Great Plains through the 1) training and education of extension personnel and producers, 2) the development and distribution of educational materials, slide sets and websites, and 3) training of graduate students in NM, AZ and TX. Texas AgriLife and NM Extension dairy specialists will design and deliver educational programs for herdsmen and employees to support the dairy industry's needs as well as their goal of improved animal care. We will reassess and validate reference values currently being used for blood metabolic profiles in transition Holstein dairy cows. We will create specific and specialized training and educational tools geared towards the highly specific jobs typical for large SW dairies with the goal to empower employees with a better understanding of animals and animal behavior, as well as equipment and equipment safety, all in order to reduce and better manage the risk factors as identified in earlier research.
Project Methods
Project investigators (PIs) have divided SGPDC dairy impact needs into eight uniquely identified sub-projects for purposes of clarification and description of this project's objectives. Principal investigator, Dr. Hagevoort, will oversee completion of all eight projects and oversee some portions of the sub-projects. Co-PIs will be in charge of carrying out one or more portions of the sub-projects. All sub-projects are anticipated to be completed within 24 months; however, publication of results may extend beyond the 24 month period depending on publication cycles. Details are in the proposal outline.

Progress 07/01/10 to 06/30/12

Outputs
Target Audience: Dariy producers were the target audience. Changes/Problems: Nothing Reported What opportunities for training and professional development has the project provided? In total, about 25 scientists, researchers, and professionals dedicated time and expertise to the projects covered by this grant, and at least five people were trained to obtain advanced degrees. To date, at least 15 presentations (abstracts and proceedings) were written and presented at professional association meetings, both national and international, one peer reviewed publication was published, and countless producer meetings and training sessions were held during the duration of this three-year research project. How have the results been disseminated to communities of interest? Training workshops, extension publications, scholarly prublications. What do you plan to do during the next reporting period to accomplish the goals? Nothing Reported

Impacts
What was accomplished under these goals? In summary, eight different projects were identified as pertinent and performed with the allocated grant funds. Projects were based on topics and issues identified by the dairy industry in the Southwest, either through specially held production forums or directly through producer meetings. Budgets were obtained and grant money allocated to the different universities and researchers involved in the research. In many instances equipment, expertise, personnel, and lab facilities were leveraged with other ongoing research projects or scheduled in between sampling events of other research, which was a key and strategic advantage of the SGPDC's multi-state, multi-institutional and multi-disciplinary approach to prevent duplication of research, large capital outlays for purchases of research and analytical equipment, and to maximize the ROI of equipment. The scope of the projects ranged from direct extension-related projects involving dairymen, mid-level managers and dairy employees focusing on food safety issues, reproductive management, safety training, animal handling and animal well-being issues, to applied research projects trying to obtain a better understanding and add to the growing body of knowledge related to air quality and water quality/availability issues in dairy livestock operations typical to the southwest, to fundamental research aiming to evaluate old technologies with newer more sensitive equipment to monitor natural processes such as the movement of nutrients through a soil profile.

Publications

  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2015 Citation: Todd, R.W., N.A. Cole, G.R. Hagevoort, K.D Casey, B.W. Auvermann. (2015). Ammonia losses and nitrogen partitioning at a southern High Plains open lot dairy. Atmospheric Environment (2015), pp. 75-83 DOI information: 10.1016/j.atmosenv.2015.02.069
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Hagevoort G.R., D.I. Douphrate, S.J. Reynolds. (2013). A Review of Health and Safety Leadership and Managerial Practices on Modern Dairy Farms. J. of Agromed. 18(3): 265-273. C. Lindahl, P. Lundqvist, G.R. Hagevoort, C. Lunner Kolstrup, D. I. Douphrate, S. Pinzke, T. Grandin. 2013 Occupational Health and Safety Aspects of Animal Handling in Dairy Production. J. of Agromed. 18(3): 274-283.
  • Type: Journal Articles Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Todd R.W., N.A. Cole, K.D. Casey, R. Hagevoort, B.W. Auvermann. (2011). Methane Emissions from Southern High Plains Dairy Wastewater Lagoons in the summer. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 166-167(2011), 575-580.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Casey, K.D., L.A. McDonald, G.R. Hagevoort, D.B. Parker. (2011). Water Use at an Open-Corral Dairy in the Texas High Plains. ASABE 2011 Annual International Meeting August 7-10. Louisville, KY.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Hagevoort, G.R. (2012). Development of a Comprehensive Dairy Safety Training Program. High Plains Dairy Conference 2012 Proceedings (pp. 21-26).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2014 Citation: Hagevoort, G.R. (2014). Update on Dairy HR Training and Safety Programs. Proceedings of the High Plains Dairy Conference, 2014 (pp. 27-29).
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Hagevoort, R., D. Douphrate and J. Rosecrance. (2012). Changes in the US Dairy Industry require development of comprehensive employee and training programs. International Conference Ragusa SWHA 2012, Sept. 3-6, 2012, Ragusa, Italy. Safety Health and Welfare in Agriculture and Agro-food Systems.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Hagevoort, G.R., D. Douphrate and J. Rosecrance. (2012). Changes in the US dairy industry require development of comprehensive employee training and safety programs. In Peter Lundqvist (Ed.), Health and Safety in Agriculture - Nordic and worldwide perspectives (vol. Rapport 2012:16, pp. 49). Alnarp: Sveriges lantbruksuniversitet Fakulteten f�r landskapsplanering, jordbruksveten skap.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2012 Citation: Lager, K.J., and E.R. Jordan. (2012). The metabolic profile for the modern transition dairy cow. In: Mid-South Ruminant Nutrition Conference proceedings, Grapevine, TX, pp. 9-16.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2013 Citation: Reynolds, S.J., D. Douphrate, R. Hagevoort, B. Brazile and K. Root. (2013). Managing Worker Safety, Productivity, and Regulatory Issues. Proceedings of the Western Dairy Management Conference, 2013.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2010 Citation: Todd, R.W., N.A. Cole, and K.D. Casey. (2010). Methane emissions from a southern High Plains dairy wastewater lagoon. In McGeough, E.J. and S.M. McGinn (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Greenhouse Gases and Animal Agriculture, Banff, Canada, October 3-8, 2010.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2010 Citation: Todd R.W., N.A. Cole, K.D. Casey, R. Hagevoort, B.W. Auvermann. (2010). Methane Emissions From A New Mexico Dairy Lagoon System. International Symposium for Air Quality and Manure Management for Agriculture. September 13-16, 2010. Dallas, TX.
  • Type: Conference Papers and Presentations Status: Published Year Published: 2011 Citation: Todd R.W., N.A. Cole, K.D. Casey, R. Hagevoort, B.W. Auvermann. (2011). Methane Emissions from New Mexico Dairy Lagoons. WSDPTAs 2011 Western Dairy Air Quality Symposium.
  • Type: Other Status: Submitted Year Published: 2015 Citation: Hagevoort G. Robert, and J. Armando Garcia. Water for Dairy Cattle. NM Extension Bulletin.
  • Type: Other Status: Published Year Published: 2010 Citation: Lazarus J., G.R. Hagevoort and C.D. Ratcliff. Dairy Technical Guidance Manual for New Mexico. NM Extension Circular 639. (2010).


Progress 07/01/10 to 06/30/11

Outputs
OUTPUTS: A 3,400 cow capacity, open corral dairy was instrumented and had its water usage monitored for 19 months. Open corral dairies are the predominant form of dairy facilities found on the Texas High Plains. Total water use was 234 L hd-1 d-1, while the average drinking water consumption was 76 L hd-1 d-1. This data is consistent with values used in recent water planning exercises in the Texas High Plains Region. Of the total water drawn from the Ogallala Aquifer and used in the dairy facility, approximately 27% was reused for crop production. Additional funding from the Ogallala Aquifer Program (OAP) has been obtained to continue the research efforts and to determine whether the fraction of Ogallala Aquifer water used by dairies and subsequently reused for crop irrigation can be economically increased by implementing more water efficient practices in the milking parlors and/or reducing losses from the waste treatment system. Software has been adopted and made available at http://farmware.tamu.edu. The decision model itself as a tool for producers to make management decisions is still somewhat simplistic and does not include certain user-defined inputs such as co-digestion substrates, interest rates, debt/equity ratio and other financial parameters. To obtain a fully equipped model that includes other options such as user selected inputs in different sections to meet the needs of the Southwestern producers, additional funding in the vicinity of $195,000 will be required. in conjunction with the Foreign Animal and Zoonotic Disease (FAZD) Center at TAMU, three educational modules for Hispanic workers were developed and evaluated to train the dairy work force in biosecurity measures. Educational workshops were held in Texas (Aug., Sept. & Nov. 2010) and NM (spring and summer 2011), in which the following topics were addressed: Understanding the Importance of Animal Welfare, Basic Physiology of Lactation in Dairy Cow, Efficiency through Leadership in Your Milking Barn, Understanding Mastitis in Dairy Cows, Anatomy of Mammary Gland Diseases, and Pathologies of Mammary Gland. In addition to biosecurity, the focus of the workshops in NM was prevention of antibiotic residues in meat and milk in light of the increased scrutiny from FDA on this topic. By request from producers, 4 additional workshops are currently being planned in New Mexico in the spring of 2012. PARTICIPANTS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. TARGET AUDIENCES: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period. PROJECT MODIFICATIONS: Nothing significant to report during this reporting period.

Impacts
Extension dairy specialists will design and deliver educational programs for herdsmen and employees to support the dairy industry's needs as well as their goal of improved animal care. We will reassess and validate reference values currently being used for blood metabolic profiles in transition Holstein dairy cows. We will create specific and specialized training and educational tools geared towards the highly specific jobs typical for large SW dairies with the goal to empower employees with a better understanding of animals and animal behavior, as well as equipment and equipment safety, all in order to reduce and better manage the risk factors as identified in earlier research.

Publications

  • Todd, Richard W., N. Andy Cole, and K.D. Casey. 2010. Methane emissions from a southern High Plains dairy wastewater lagoon. In McGeough, E.J. and S.M. McGinn (Eds.), Proceedings of the 4th International Conference on Greenhouse Gases and Animal Agriculture, Banff, Canada, October 3-8, 2010.
  • Todd R.W., N.A. Cole, K.D. Casey, R. Hagevoort, B.W. Auvermann. 2010. Methane Emissions From A New Mexico Dairy Lagoon System. International Symposium for Air Quality and Manure Management for Agriculture. September 13-16, 2010. Dallas, TX. http://asae.frymulti.com/abstract.aspaid=32618&t=2
  • Auvermann, B.W. 2011. Texas/New Mexico open lot Research. WSDPTA's 2011 Western Dairy Air Quality Symposium. http://westerndairies.org/2011symposium/03Auvermann.pdf
  • Todd R.W., N.A. Cole, K.D. Casey, B.W. Auvermann, R. Hagevoort. 2011. Methane Emissions from New Mexico Dairy Lagoons. WSDPTA's 2011 Western Dairy Air Quality Symposium. http://westerndairies.org/2011symposium/07Todd.pdf
  • Todd R.W., N.A. Cole, K.D. Casey, R. Hagevoort, B.W. Auvermann. 2011. Methane and Ammonia Emissions from Southern High Plains Dairy Wastewater lagoons in the Summer. Animal Feed Science and Technology, 166-167(2011) 575-580.
  • Lager, K. J., E. R. Jordan, D. R. Topliff. 2011. Summer assessment and validation of metabolic profile reference values for transition Holstein dairy cattle. J. Dairy Sci. 94(Suppl. 1):181 (Abstr.).