By MICHELE F. MIHALJEVICH
Indiana Correspondent FORT WAYNE, Ind. — While next week’s annual Tri-State Dairy Nutrition Conference will continue to focus on animal health, more emphasis this year is being put on better feeding efficiency, an organizer said.
“The cost of milk production today is rising, as prices for just about everything from fuel to utilities are increasing,” said Maurice Eastridge, a professor of animal sciences at The Ohio State University. “And the largest input to cost is feed.”
The 17th annual conference is April 22-23 in Fort Wayne. It is designed for feed industry personnel, veterinarians, county extension officials, dairy producers and anyone interested in the dairy industry. The conference is cosponsored by OSU extension, Michigan State University and Purdue University.
A presentation on managing feed costs is scheduled for 10:30 a.m. Wednesday. The speech is part of a larger block of topics covering efficiency and nutrient management.
“We knew we had to address this issue at the conference,” Eastridge said. “We always spend a great deal of time sharing new or updated research information, and we’re still doing that. But we looked at it this year and knew we had to provide some information to help farmers. Costs are outrageous.”
Another block of presentations on Wednesday morning focuses on heifer management. Topics include feeding preweaned and weaned heifers, and acute bloat syndrome in calves.
“All the presentations are keeping the cost of production in mind,” he said. “The driving force is the cost of animal production.”
Tuesday’s presentations focus on nutrition and animal health, and include topics such as nutrition and reproduction, optimizing transition cow diets and phosphorus homeostasis.
Eastridge expects 450-500 people for this year’s conference. Last year, more than 470 attended.
“The conference is for those who provide nutritional information to producers,” he said. “We want to give them useful information to take back to producers so they can try to keep costs under control.”
The conference begins at noon on Tuesday, with presentations ending at about 5:30 p.m. It starts again the next day at 7 a.m. with breakfast, and concludes at about 12:30 p.m. The conference is in the Grand Wayne Center downtown.
The early registration period has ended, but registrations will be accepted at the door. Cost is $180, which includes refreshments, breakfast and a copy of the proceedings. For information, call 614-292-7374, or to see a complete agenda online, go to http://tristatedairy.osu.edu
This farm news was published in the April 16, 2008 issue of the Farm World, serving Indiana, Ohio, Illinois, Kentucky, Michigan and Tennessee. |
