LEXINGTON, Ky. — The University of Kentucky (UK) College of Agriculture’s Coldstream Dairy Research Farm has been on the forefront of dairy research and development for more than four decades. The facility has supported the Department of Animal & Food Sciences’ teaching, research and extension activities in dairy science since the early 1960s.

But its location at the corner of interstates 64 and 75 at Newtown Pike, once nearly all farmland, has seen marked development around it over the years. Nancy Cox, associate dean for research and director of the Kentucky Agricultural Experiment Station, said the Coldstream property was once assigned to the College of Agriculture and was home to dairy cow, beef, sheep, equine, swine and poultry research.

But ownership was transferred to another part of the university and most of the animals were taken to a UK-owned farm in Woodford County. The dairy stayed because of a lack of funds from the state legislature to relocate that part of the farm.

“The dairy stayed on the Coldstream property with kind of a gentlemen’s agreement that the dairy farm could stay there until the property was developed,” said Cox.

With a development plan now in place, the time to move is near. The economy may dictate how much longer it will take to actually make that move, but options are being looked at and Cox said a best-guess date has been proposed.

“We had given a date of 2014 to ourselves, internally, to try and make sure we planned for a successor site for the dairy,” she said. “When you’re in a situation like this, there’s not an absolute that you know of, but you try to give yourself appropriate time to plan.”

One of those plans is to merge the program with Eastern Kentucky University’s dairy, which is more of a teaching facility. “We have initiated an agreement with EKU to go together and have one dairy between us, and have that located on their property in Richmond,” Cox said.

Anticipating the need to relocate, she added the plan has been in place for a number of years and received some funding from the General Assembly to develop an idea for the site. While remaining optimistic about securing full funding, Cox said that just hasn’t happened yet.

Dr. John Settmi, who chairs EKU’s Agriculture Department, said the Richmond facility is more than large enough to accommodate such a merger and as the proposed deadline approaches, interest in the move has increased. If the whole deal depends on the amount of money needed to complete the project, EKU may be the best game in town.

Settimi feels a merger with EKU would be the most cost-effective way to relocate the operation at Coldstream. “What we’re proposing is actually a pretty inexpensive route to take,” he said.

“Other institutions such as the University of Tennessee just put in a new dairy, and I think it cost something like $25 million. Cornell University is putting one in at $41 million. We’re looking at something like $6 million. I think value-wise, this is really a good deal for the state.”

That funding would have to be appropriated by the state legislature, which will begin its budget session in January, and any revenue for this project would most likely have to occur in this session, according to Settimi. The process of discussing funding has begun with ag committee chairs in Frankfort, with more meetings planned.

Maury Cox, executive director of the Kentucky Dairy Development Council, said the issue of relocating the research farm is extremely important to the state’s dairy industry.

“We’ve had many dairy farmers voice that it’s important that our bellwether university have a research center to provide research and information, studies and teaching not only for dairy students, but for the population of close to 900 dairy farmers out in the state,” he said. “Whether that is a merger with EKU or whether that is potentially a site elsewhere, we’re after continuation of the dairy farm with UK.”

He added a merger with EKU seems to be the best option at this point, noting EKU already has a good facility in place. He also said this needs to be a higher priority for the universities, asserting that dairy is not dead in Kentucky.

That fact is evident in the latest cash receipt report from the USDA. Last year’s official numbers came out recently, showing a 23 percent increase ($204 million) for Kentucky dairy products over 2009 levels.

Nancy Cox feels a merger with the EKU program would be a win-win situation for both institutions. “We have a very harmonious relationship with Eastern’s agriculture department. We’re very optimistic about the relationship and about the potential for us to work together if that is the way this ends up,” she said.

Regardless of where the UK facility goes, the important thing agreed upon by all stakeholders is that research continue, something Nancy Cox said is a given.

“We really have a responsibility to the dairy industry. It’s not the largest ag industry, but it has potential to grow, in our opinion, so we do want to be in a position to evaluate best practices and conduct research that will help our industry be strong,” she said.