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Before a gallon of milk or a cut of
beef winds up on your table, dairy farmers and cattle ranchers must meet a
myriad of challenges to produce healthy animals with desirable consumer traits.
At the same time, they have to run a profitable business.
Stories in this issue of Agricultural Research highlight research at two
long-running ARS laboratories that help
producers reach their goals.
The U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center in Madison, Wisconsin, celebrates its
20th anniversary this month. Researchers there aim to improve digestibility and
nutrition in forage crops like alfalfa and corn silage (see story on page 14).
They also develop value-added products from forage legumes and manure to help
the environment and the farmer's bottom line.
The Fort Keogh Livestock and Range Research Laboratory in Miles City, Montana,
was transferred from the military to the U.S. Department of Agriculture in
1924. Today, researchers at the 55,000-acre laboratory develop technology for
sustainable rangeland beef cattle operations. Among their accomplishments are
establishing techniques for genetic evaluation of beef cattle—including
developing Line 1 Herefords—and identifying birth weight as the primary
factor in calving difficulty.
While dairy and beef cattle are usually raised in very different environments,
both share a need for good nutrition and successful calving.
Both industries also rely on forage plants to supply their animals with
adequate fiber and nutrition. But forage plants are incompletely digested. Up
to 40 percent of the plant cell walls in legumes like alfalfa pass through the
animals undigested, reducing their nutritional value and increasing the amount
of waste produced. It is estimated that increasing the digestibility of the
cell walls of forages consumed by American dairy cows by only 10 percent would
result in $350 million in increased milk and meat production, with 2.8 million
fewer tons of manure solids.
Madison scientists have contributed significantly to the understanding of cell
walls, including a new method for analyzing lignin. Their techniques, which
have been widely adopted, may help geneticists and breeders develop forages
with modified cell walls that would allow animals to extract more nutrition
from the plants.
Nutrition is the costliest component in beef and dairy production—but of
course, one of the most crucial as well. Optimal nutrition increases milk
production. Miles City researchers have also found it plays a key role in
helping heifers grow quickly during their first 2 years, so they are better
able to deliver their first calves easily. Proper supplementation with fat may
also help newborn calves withstand cold temperatures out on the range.
Although adequate nutrition is essential, scientists at Ft. Keogh have found
that calving difficulty, rebreeding, and calf survival depend on many factors
(see story on page 4). A recent study found that low pregnancy rates cost $198
million in lower production efficiency annually. Calving difficulty, or
dystocia, costs more than $400 million overall to the dairy and beef
industries.
So far, studies illustrating the role of birth weight, sire selection, and
nutrition have helped producers reduce calf deaths by up to 55 percent and
heifer deaths by 80 percent through proper management.
Nutrition research can also benefit the environment. Researchers at the Madison
laboratory provide cutting-edge science that enables dairy farmers to better
manage nutrients so that excess phosphorus and nitrogen don't wind up in
groundwater, lakes, and rivers. For example, they demonstrated that farmers
were providing too much phosphorus in dairy cattle diets--excess that could
contaminate nearby soil and water.
Feeding dairy cattle according to new requirements set by the National Research
Council can save dairy farmers $100 million annually while reducing phosphorus
levels in manure by up to 30 percent. And that doesn't sacrifice milk
production or animal health.
As with most agricultural research endeavors, new tools are allowing
researchers to expand their studies into never-before-imagined arenas. For
example, biotechnology has allowed Madison scientists to define precise
biochemical pathways of lignin production. That's giving scientists a clearer
understanding of the processes involved in building cell walls. Miles City
researchers are examining the inner workings of processes involved in calf
development, by homing in on the genetic regions that influence birth weight.
Today's dairy and beef industries—and all the nation's
consumers—benefit from past accomplishments at these labs. New information
gained through genetics and molecular biology promises to continue these
benefits well into the future.
Lewis W. Smith
ARS National Program Leader
Animal Nutrition
Beltsville, Maryland |
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