Methane Emissions, Animal Handling and Cover Crops

Earn Dairy AdvanCE continuing education credits and join interactive conversations with leading experts

This week’s episodes of The Dairy Signal® from Professional Dairy Producers® (PDP) will feature the latest research in dairy sustainability and animal care. Tune in on Tuesday to learn about opportunities to decrease methane emissions in dairy production. Wednesday’s episode will highlight the Mooving Cows™ game and animal handling practices and hear about cover crops and manure management on Thursday.

Tuesday, April 30

Developing new technologies and practices to sustainably decrease enteric methane emissions from dairy cattle is a priority for the industry. Tune in to learn about obstacles and opportunities, including phenotyping, trait definition, developing a reference population, using milk mid-infrared spectra as a non-invasive approach and manipulating the rumen microbiome. Episode presenters will be:

• Dr. Fransico Penagaricano, PhD, assistant professor, quantitative genomics, UW-Madison
• Dr. Guillermo Martinez Boggio, PhD, research assistant, UW- Madison 

Wednesday, May 1

Learn about the Mooving Cows game developed at UW-Madison to teach cow handling skills and hear the latest in industry quality assurance programs (i.e., FARM Animal Care) expectations, public perception of handling practices. Dr. Van Os will also share plans for future educational tools. Episode presenter will be:

• Dr. Jennifer Van Os, Ph.D., assistant professor and extension specialist- animal welfare, UW-Madison

Thursday, May 2

Manure represents a resource for crop production and soil but can create challenges to achieving water quality goals. While cover crops can provide solutions, there can be trade-offs with production. Join this interactive conversation to review research that can lead to overall benefits in Wisconsin. Episode presenter will be:

• Dr. Matt Ruark, PhD, professor and extension soil scientist, UW-Madison
• Tanner Judd, graduate student, soil science, UW-Madison

Episodes of The Dairy Signal® are accredited through Dairy AdvanCE® (DACE), enabling dairy producers, industry professionals and students to earn continuing education units for watching. Those wishing to earn up to 0.5 DACE continuing education units per episode will complete a brief online quiz pertaining to each specific webinar, whether live or recorded. Dairy AdvanCE is an online continuing education management tool for dairy farmers and other professionals that simplifies finding, tracking and managing continuing education units (CEUs). To learn more, visit www.DairyAdvance.org. Farmers and students are eligible for a free subscription; allied industry professionals can subscribe for a one-time fee of $75.

The Dairy Signal® is a weekly series of educational episodes offering practical insights and resources for dairy farmers and food-system professionals across the value chain. Episodes air live from 12:00-1:00 PM CT each Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday. Live sessions offer attendees the opportunity to engage in open Q&A with the speakers; recorded sessions are available shortly after episodes are aired. Access all previously broadcasted sessions at www.pdpw.org.

For more information, contact PDP at 800-947-7379 or send an email to mail@pdpw.org. Join the conversation digitally by following @dairyPDPW and using #TheDairySignal on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

Professional Dairy Producers (PDP) is the nation’s largest dairy producer-led organization of its kind, focusing on producer professionalism, stakeholder engagement and unified outreach to share ideas, solutions, resources and experiences that help dairy producers succeed.