College of Agriculture & Natural Resources Department of Animal Science

Research: Dairy Cattle Metabolic Physiology

Our aims are to better understand the metabolic physiology of dairy cattle to identify strategies that will improve the economic and environmental sustainability of dairy production. We focus on three primary areas of interest.

Dairy Metabolism Group website

 The video below provides an overview of broad topics of interest and comes from a presentation Dr. Bradford did while a faculty member at Kansas State University.

Extension program

With a 50% Extension appointment, Dr. Bradford collaborates with dairy producers and their advisors to address questions around dairy farm management. Although his core expertise is dairy cattle nutrition, Bradford has a longstanding interest in data analysis and its use in making decisions that impact dairy farms on a daily basis. For example, previous research with collated data from thousands of dairy farms demonstrated that first-lactation cows giving birth to a heifer calf produce more milk for multiple lactations thereafter, influencing decisions on the use of sexed semen.

We look to develop two-way learning opportunities with dairy management teams to explore how to improve and streamline dairy decision making. Data generated on-farm is often not used to its full potential, and very few farms carry out their own studies to directly test the impact of management changes within their own environment. With the help of MSU expertise, dairy managers can develop more evidence-based decision-making.

Publications

NCBI