Program

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Sunday, January 22
7:00 am - 3:00 pm	Board of Directors Meeting
Short Courses (limited enrollment; pre-registration required) [details here]
2:00 pm - 5:00 pm	Course 1: Dollars and Sense: Adding Economic and Biological Factors to Evaluate Mastitis Treatment
2:00 pm - 9:00 pm	Course 2: Analyzing and Troubleshooting Dairies: See the Forest and Not Just the Trees (this is a two-part course from 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm and 6:30 pm - 9:00 pm)
Committee Meetings
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	International Advisory Committee
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Membership & Marketing Committee
4:00 pm - 6:00 pm	Teat Health Committee
Short Courses (limited enrollment; pre-registration required) [details here]
6:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Course 3: Communicating Beyond the Fence: Tell Your Dairy Story
6:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Course 4: Prototheca Mastitis: An Emerging Environmental Mastitis Threat
6:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Course 5: Dairy Stockmanship - Reconnecting the People with the Cows
Monday, January 23
Continental Breakfast 6:30 am - 7:45 am
Around the World In Milk Quality 6:30 am - 7:30 am This informal session will highlight SCC and milk quality data representing a number of milk producing countries from around the world. Bring your coffee and continental breakfast along with you to the meeting room.
Technology Transfer Session (poster presentations). Posters available for viewing all day. Authors available from 7:30 am - 8:00 am and/or 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Committee Meetings
7:30 am - 9:30 am	Education Committee
7:30 am - 9:30 am	Machine Milking Committee
7:30 am - 9:30 am	Milk Quality Monitoring Committee
Opening Session
10:00 am	Welcome and Introduction to Program Sheila Andrew, University of Connecticut, Storrs, Connecticut
10:15 am	President's Address Eric Hillerton, DairyNZ, Hamilton, New Zealand
General Session I: Milk Quality and Trade - A Global Perspective Moderator: Steve Larson, Hoard's Dairyman, Fort Atkinson, Wisconsin There has been much discussion about milk quality standards in the United States and other countries as they relate to global dairy trade opportunities. This session will update the audience on world dairy export and import activity, and take a look at the role of dairy product quality in enhancing or limiting trade opportunities.
10:30 am	Dairy Trade Players: Past and Future Jay Waldvogel, Dairy Farmers of America, Chippewa Falls, Wisconsin This presentation will focus on a global view of dairy trade. The current status of worldwide trade of dairy products will be discussed, as well as the major players involved.. The role of the United States in the current and future dairy trade picture will be examined in relation to milk quality and trade opportunities. The speaker has more than 20 years experience in the global dairy industry and more than a decade living overseas and working with leading global dairy companies - Campina in Europe and Fonterra Cooperative Group in New Zealand.
11:15 am	Eliminating Roadblocks: Finding Opportunities Matt McKnight, US Dairy Export Council, Arlington, Virginia International trade of dairy products is subject to a variety of regulations that can create both barriers and opportunities. In this presentation, the role of product safety and quality, as well as other specific regulatory barriers and opportunities, will be examined as to how they affect movement of dairy products from the United States, as well as among other exporting and importing countries. Matt McKnight is the person on the US Dairy Export Council staff that exporters turn to for meeting regulatory requirements and expedite shipments. He travels extensively around the globe to assess the needs and priorities of current and future dairy product importers.
Lunch Break (on your own)
Student "Meet and Greet" Lunch 12:30 pm - 1:30 pm Students at the annual meeting are invited to a "meet and greet" lunch. This informal event offers a great opportunity to meet other students as well as some members of the NMC board and committees.
General Session 2: Responsible Antibiotic Use through Innovation in Treatment and Prevention of Mastitis (concurrent session) Moderators: Richard Olde Riekerink, Animal Health Services, Deventer, The Netherlands and Sarne De Vliegher, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium Over the last two decades, the use of antimicrobials in animal agriculture and the emergence of antibiotic resistant bacteria have received worldwide attention. In many countries, antimicrobials are used in food animal production for therapeutic, prophylactic or growth promotion purposes. Innovative treatment and prevention protocols which decrease the use of conventional antimicrobials are needed to be able to tackle the challenges ahead. This session will address the mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance, effective methods for reducing antimicrobial use in livestock, the politics of legislating antimicrobial use in animal agriculture, and the status of potential alternatives for antimicrobials such as bacteriocines and medium chain fatty acids.
2:00 pm	Antimicrobial Resistance: Implications for Human and Animal Health on Dairy Farms John Middleton, University of Missouri College of Veterinary Medicine, Columbia, Missouri The presentation will briefly discuss mechanisms of antimicrobial resistance. The remainder of the presentation will use Staphylococcus aureus and Methicillin resistant S. aureus (MRSA) as an example of a human and animal pathogen. The discussion will include interspecies transmission, potential for food-borne transmission and the relative importance of MRSA on the dairy farm.
2:30 pm	Use of Antibiotics in the Netherlands: How to Achieve a Reduction of 50% Tine Van Werven, Utrecht University, Utrecht, The Netherlands Antibiotic use in the Netherlands is frequently and heavily discussed. The government and dairy industry have focused on a more prudent use of antibiotics in order to prevent the development and spread of MRSA and extended-spectrum beta-lactamases (ESBL) in human health. The total use of antibiotics in 2013 should be reduced by 50% compared with the use of 2009. Therefore, a better insight in the total use of antibiotics on dairy farms is necessary but also the distribution over the different usage routes like intramammary (dry cow treatment and mastitis), oral, intrauterine and parenteral.
3:00 pm	The Politics of Legislating Antimicrobial Use in Animal Agriculture Bhushan Jayarao, Penn State University, University Park, Pennsylvania The World Health Organization states that improved management of the use of antimicrobials in food animals is an important step toward preserving the benefits of antimicrobials for people. In several countries, educational programs targeted at professionals (veterinarians and physicians), food animal producers and the public on prudent use of antimicrobials has met with limited success. Several organizations and researchers have focused their efforts on developing alternatives to antibiotics. These include probiotics, prebiotics, bacteriophages, natural products, bacteriocins and antimicrobial peptides. The focus of this presentation is to highlight some of the promising alternatives that could replace use of conventional antimicrobials for prophylaxis and growth promotion purposes in animal agriculture in the near future.
3:30 pm	Break
4:00 pm	On-farm Culture: Use Experience and Impact on Antimicrobial Use Greg Keefe, Atlantic Veterinary College, Charlottetown, Prince Edward Island, Canada Mastitis treatment and prevention programs frequently result in the use of antibiotics in the dairy industry. It is important that antibiotic use be reserved for circumstances where there is evidence of improvement in cure rates or reduction in future disease risk. It is equally important for humane animal care that cows benefiting from antibiotic treatment receive prompt therapy. On-farm culture methods seek to target antibiotic use to provide each cow with an appropriate regimen to optimize health, productivity and welfare.
4:30 pm	Bacteriocins: Applications in Prevention and Treatment of Mastitis Joe Crabb, ImmuCell Corp, Portland, Maine Bacteriocins are antimicrobial peptides or proteins produced by almost every bacterial species and are relatively unique in the microbial defense system arsenal. They comprise an extremely diverse class of molecules, conventionally narrow-spectrum in their activity, and toxic to members of related bacterial species. While bacteriocins have been known for almost a century, few commercial applications have been exploited using these molecules. Lantibiotics, post-translationally modified peptide bacteriocins produced by gram positive bacteria, have the most experience in the dairy industry. Nisin, one of the best known lantibiotics, is in worldwide use as a food preservative, principally in dairy foods. The features of lantibiotics that make them attractive as food preservatives - low toxicity to mammalian cells, high potency against gram positive pathogens, low potential to develop cross resistance to antibiotics used in human medicine, and readily broken down in the GI tract of consumers - also make them attractive as potential agents to combat mastitis in dairy cattle. This presentation will focus on bacteriocins, in general, and lantibiotics, in particular, in mastitis treatment and prevention applications.
5:00 pm	Potential Role of Medium Chain Fatty Acids in Prevention and Control of Mastitis Sofie Piepers, Ghent University, Merelbeke, Belgium Looming restrictions in Europe on the (over)use of antimicrobials in farming animals, as well as the worldwide growing market of organic dairy farming, stimulate the exploration of alternative strategies for the control of mastitis. There is increasing evidence in both human and veterinary medicine that medium chain fatty acids have immunostimulating effects and hence could offer opportunities. This presentation describes the potential role of medium chain fatty acids in the prevention and control of mastitis.
5:30 pm	Adjourn
Research and Development Summaries Session (concurrent session) 2:00 pm - 5:00 pm Oral presentation of selected posters from the Technology Transfer Session. This session runs concurrently with the General Session. The format is a 12 minute presentation with a 3 minute question and answer period for each paper. [Note: presentation titles will be posted in December.]
Reception and "Team Trivia" Benefit for the National Mastitis Research Foundation 6:00 pm - 7:30 pm Join us during the reception and play Team Trivia! Back this year with a different twist, trivia questions will include topics such as science, pop culture, history, sports, and more.Sign up to play and support the National Mastitis Research Foundation. [more information]
Tuesday, January 24
Continental Breakfast 7:00 am - 8:00 am
Technology Transfer Session (poster presentations). Posters available for viewing all day. Authors available from 7:30 am - 8:00 am and/or 5:00 pm - 6:00 pm
Committee Meetings
7:30 am - 9:30 am	Research Committee
7:30 am - 9:30 am	Long Range Planning Committee
7:30 am - 9:30 am	Residue Avoidance Committee
General Session 3: Communicating the Mastitis Control Message Moderator: Ian Ohnstad, The Dairy Group, Taunton, Somerset, United Kingdom Despite many decades of high quality mastitis research and established mastitis control extension programs around the world, mastitis and milk quality continue to pose a significant challenge. The method of communicating the milk quality message to the industry is often highlighted as a weakness and this session will attempt to provide some practical answers to the challenge and introduce several national programs that will attempt to turn the tide.
10:00 am	Introduction Ian Ohnstad, The Dairy Group, Taunton, Somerset, United Kingdom
10:05 am	Motivating Farmers to Change Theo Lam, Dutch Udder Health Centre, Deventer, The Netherlands This presentation is a practical application of theoretical knowledge on communication gathered over recent years as part of the Dutch Udder Health Project. The presentation will be reinforced with recent experiences from the field.
10:25 am	The Acceptance of a United Kingdom Mastitis Control Plan Andrew Bradley, Quality Milk Management Services Ltd, Somerset, United Kingdom More than 830 farms in the United Kingdom have signed up and participated in a UK-wide national mastitis control initiative over the last two years. Using data from this initiative, this presentation will consider the interaction between acceptance of recommendations and achievement of results.
10:45 am	The Euromilk & CellCheck Mastitis Control Plans in Ireland and Acceptance by Farmers Finola McCoy, CellCheck, Carlow, Ireland Although Ireland only accounts for 1% of world dairy production, there is a significant commitment within the country to ensure that milk produced within the country is of a high quality. This presentation describes some of the challenges and techniques used in Ireland to improve milk qualit
11:05 am	The History of Mastitis Control Extension in Florida David Bray, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida Since Florida has always been a milk deficit state, historically around 20% of milk consumed is imported. No hard cheese is made in Florida and processors do not pay premiums for milk quality. Thus, there has never been much incentive to improve milk quality. This presentation will cover how a Mastitis Control and Milk Quality Extension program was conducted in a state that worried more about water quality than milk quality.
11:20 am	Taking Advice and Putting it into Action Eric Diepersloot, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida All the advice in the world does no good until it is processed and refined for a particular dairy. There are a lot of different ideas on how to put advice into action. This presentation will explain what has worked for the team at the University of Florida Dairy Unit and how the dairy became a Top Quality Milk Producer.
11:50 am	Questions and Discussion
12:00 pm	Adjourn general session 3
Luncheon and Program Presentation of the National Dairy Quality Awards, the NMC Award of Excellence for Mastitis Prevention and Control, and the NMC Scholars 12:05 pm - 1:30 pm
Featured Symposium: Using Precision Dairy to Improve Milk Quality Moderators: Jason Koerth, Ecolab, Portage, Michigan and Jeff Reneau, University of Minnesota, St. Paul, Minnesota Solid advances allow good control of mastitis on farm by those applying understanding with diligence. However, the problems evolve and new science will always be necessary. The application of understanding from genetics and immunology are not only good science but bring promise for a new era in mastitis management.
2:00 pm	Precision Dairy: Milk Quality and Beyond? Jeffrey Bewley, University of Kentucky, Lexington, Kentucky Many precision dairy farming technologies, including daily milk yield recording, milk component monitoring (for example, fat, protein and SCC), accelerometers, milk conductivity indicators, rumination monitors, automatic estrus detection monitors and daily body weight measurements, are already being used by dairy producers. Yet, we have only seen the beginning of the introduction of sophisticated technologies in monitoring dairy cows. Because of the number of options available to dairy producers, the decision-making process for adoption of these technologies is complex. The economic, technical and social advantages and disadvantages of these technologies must be considered carefully.
2:45 pm	Milk Sensor Systems: How can we Use the Data? Albert De Vries, University of Florida, Gainesville, Florida New technologies exist that record milk component data on individual cows at each milking time. These data can be used to identify animals at risk for disease prior to clinical onset. This presentation will provide an overview of recently published research that has examined the use of data for disease detection.
3:00 pm	Animal Activity: Ways to Monitor Activity for Disease Christina Petersson-Wolfe, Virginia Tech, Blacksburg, Virginia Animal activity is a powerful tool that has the potential to aid producers in disease detection. Recent research has examined the use of animal activity to detect disease and findings suggest that animals will alter behavior around the onset of clinical signs. The scope of this technology extends beyond mastitis and can include other diseases, including those that occur in the peripartum period.
3:15 pm	Break
3:25 pm	Using Monitoring Technology to Reduce Bacterial Counts in Milk Kristy Campbell, Dairy Cheq, Charleston, Tennessee Monitoring technology in agriculture is continually advancing. Data gathered from processes, such as milk cooling, tank washing and pipeline washing, can be used proactively to prevent chronic and major equipment failures, which often lead to milk quality issues.
3:50 pm	The Impact of Robotic Milking on Milk Quality, Cow Comfort and Labor Issues Jack Rodenberg, Ontario Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Rural Affairs, Woodstock, Ontario, Canada Robotic milking results in a different interaction between the producer, the cow and the barn and equipment. Success, in terms of producing profitable volumes of quality milk with less labor, will be strongly influenced by both the barn environment and the way labour is organized. This presentation will focus on what producers operating robotic dairies are learning about the management protocols and facilities design criteria that lead to success.
4:20 pm	Panel Discussion: The Use of Robotic Milkers in the Real World Doug Heintz, Badger Valley Dairy, Caledonia, Minnesota, Brad Kremer, Hillcrest Dairy Farms, Pittsville, Wisconsin, and Ben Smink, Lely USA, Inc., Middleton, Wisconsin This panel will offer their experience in using automated milking systems as well as answer questions on how they see this technology fitting into the dairy industry. The Heintzes expanded their 60-cow tie-stall dairy to a 120-cow sand freestall dairy with two Lely robots in late 2008. The herd has adapted to the robotic milking system very well with a 2011 rolling herd average of more than 27,000 pounds (12,150 kilograms) of milk and an average Dairy Herd Improvement SCC of 214,000. Doug, Julie and their son Dayne are strong advocates of the robotic milking system and see it as a good way for smaller dairies to expand while increasing cow comfort and productivity, as well as improving family lifestyle. The Kremers began milking with two DeLaval voluntary milking system (VMS) robots in March 2011. They are currently milking 120 cows in the VMS system and an additional 60 cows in the existing tie-stall facility. Brad made the investment in robots because it was the most logical expansion method from a business standpoint. This move was also part of his family's long-term strategic planning. On a daily basis Ben Smink trains and helps producers using Lely automated milking systems problem solve and maximize the utility of these milking systems. As a result Ben has a has a unique perspective on the issues of greatest concerns, challenges as well as the benefits for producers in using automated milking systems.
5:00 pm	Adjourn symposium
Dinner break (on your own) 5:30 pm - 6:30 pm
Short Courses (limited enrollment; preregistration required) [details here]
6:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Course 6: Milking System Evaluation: Where Do I Start?
6:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Course 7: Dynamic Milking System Analysis - Everyday Observations and Testing Protocols
6:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Course 8: Learn How to Monitor Udder Health Using PCDART Tools
6:30 pm - 9:30 pm	Course 9: Klebsiella Mastitis: "Killer Bugs" in Your Herd
Wednesday, January 25
Board of Directors Meeting 7:00 am - 12:00 pm
note: there are no educational sessions on Wednesday