DAIRY SCIENCE UPDATE 199 1

by

Roger P. NatzkeDairy Science Department

University of Florid aGainesville, Florid a

In retrospect 1987/88 was a great year financially . Unfortunately we didn' trecognize and appreciate that at the time . It took the 1991 /92 and the projecte d1992/93 budgets to allow us to realize how fortunate we were then. In those fou rshort years the operating, non salary, dollars have decreased by 46% . In addition ,a number of positions have been cut out and others are frozen in anticipation thatmore positions will be eliminated in the next budget year .

Until this year most budget cuts were accommodated by taking a little awa yfrom all programs and try to cope with less resources . We have gone beyond thepoint where across the board cuts will suffice .

IFAS has responded by combining several departments and have asked me t otake on the added responsibility of guiding the Poultry Science Department . Inaddition, each department has been challenged to put together a staffing an dspending plan that will accomodate future cuts . If we are forced to adopt thatplan, we will be different--a lot smaller. The purpose of describing the budge tsituation is not to complain, we will use the support that we have and make th ebest of it . However, when listening to politicians one is led to believe .that they areonly cutting out the fat and it won't affect the programs . That simply is not thesituation . IFAS will be smaller and will be forced to be less responsible to th eneeds of the people in the state .

On the positive side we have many good' things happening. One of our facultymembers, Dr . Peter Hansen, was recognized by the American Dairy ScienceAssociation as the Outstanding Young Research Scientist in the United States . Atthe (oca( (eve( Or. David Beede received the Gamma Sigma Delta outstandingyoung scientist award for IFAS . We are very fortunate to have faculty that winawards like these nearly every year . In addition, one of our graduate students, Dr .Matt Lucy was selected as the outstanding graduate student by the American Dair yScience Association .

At the undergraduate level our numbers are up again . With the very activeyouth program and recruiting effort we will soon meet the student number goal sfor the department .

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The cow colleges, a week long course of in depth study for herdsmen havebeen very successful . The courses are designed to present most of the materia lon a specific area that we would use in an undergraduate course in one week .These stimulating sessions have been filled each time but we wish that we coul dget more new dairies involved. The next college on reproductive management wil lbe April 27 - May 1 . A real high point for the faculty is the competition for the mil kcheck off grants . This year the committee of Bill Bassett, Bart Bongers, Ric kDressel, Dale Eade, Gerald Fieser, James Henderson, Rodney Land, Steve Mattox ,Douglas Moore, Tommy Rucks Jr., Ron Skelton, Ron St .Johns, Marty Trawick ,Kelly Walker, Tommy Watkins selected twenty projects for a total of $279,740 .Following this text is a list of the funded projects . You will note that fewer largerprojects were selected with a real emphasis on manure handling, odor control an dfly control . Projects funded in previous years are in various stages of completio nand reports of a number of them will be presented at this meeting .

The budget cuts made this a very strenuous year but the support an dcooperation which we receive from the dairymen makes it all worthwhile . Thefaculty appreciate those dairymen who are so willing to allow them to use thei rcattle for research, the people who provide support for youth and other program sand to all the dairymen in the state for their support of the milk check-off program .

Milk Check Off Projects 1992

Natzke - Milk Check Off Cost Recovery $

1,000

Bachman - Undergraduate Programs and Scholarships 5,000

Umphrey - Florida Youth Programs 16,000

Umphrey - UF Dairy Judging Team/Jr .Coll . Judging 2,000

Gallaher - Nutrient Composition of Dairy Wastewate rFrom Anaerobic Lagoon and Liquid Manure Handlin gSystems .

20,500

Graetz - Fate and Transport of Nutrients in a DairyLagoon/Land Application System .

24,500

French - Utilization of Dairy Manure Effluent fo rProduction of Corn, Small Grain and Forage Over aRhizoma(Perennial) Peanut Sod Based System .

24,000

Hansen - Alleviating Heat-Stress AssociatedInfertility in Dairy Cows .

26,200

Bray - Environmental Modifications for Reducin gSummer Stress on Florida Dairy Farms and Assessmen tof Available Odor Abatement Technologies for Florid aDairy Farms .

22,000

Milk Check Off Projects 1992

Thatcher - Regulation of Ovarian FollicularDevelopment in Dairy Cattle to Improve Conceptio nRate and Embryo Survival Following Al

12,500

Staples - Maximizing Profitability Throug hMaximizing Forage Intake by Formulating Diets Base don NDF Concentration .

15,000

Wilkie - Treatment of Dairy Wastes at the IFASDairy Research Unit .

15,000

Harris - The Effect of Forage Type on th eUtilization of Whole Cottonseed and Fat in DairyCattle Rations .

15,000

Frank - Investigating New Biocontrol Agents of th eHouse Fly Musca domestica .

10,000

Thatcher - Molecular Mechanisms Controlling OvarianFollicular Dominance and Regulating Estrou sActivity, Fertility, and Development of Cysti cFollicles in Cattle .

12,500

Courtney - Seasonal Transmission of Gastrointestina lNematodes of Dairy Replacement Heifers in Florida .

15,900

Kilmer - A Comparative Analysis to Determine theMost Efficient Milk Procurement Program for Florid aProducers .

10,000

Lincoln - Biological Removal of Nitrogen from Dair yEffluent with Microalgae .

15,500

Risco - Effect of Peroral Calcium Supplementation onSerum Calcium Status, Post Partum Health an dReproduction in Cows Affected with Retained Feta lMembranes .

6,440

Schank - Establishment, Ensiling Characteristics,and Stand Survival of Seeded Elephantgrass-Pearlmillet Hybrid Lines .

10,700

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