The CDCB Board of Directors and Producer Advisory Committee (PAC) met jointly on August 24, to ensure the CDCB Board receives grassroots input on priority topics and tour three facilities in the Madison, Wis., area.
ABS Global hosted the CDCB Board of Directors and Producer Advisory Committee on a tour of their new production center near Leeds, Wis., located on a nearly 400-acre site that includes solar panels, crop production, state-of-the-art semen processing labs and capacity to house 480 dairy and beef bulls.
At the Arlington Research Station, University of Wisconsin-Madison researchers Francisco Peñagaricano and Kent Weigel, along with the farm manager and graduate students shared details about research projects that use the Hokofarm Roughage Intake Control System to precisely measure individual cow feed intakes. This farm is one of the five U.S. research institutions collaborating with CDCB to collect data for feed efficiency genetic evaluations.
Photo Caption: Lloyd Holterman (center) described the features of the cross-ventilated barn at Rosy-Lane Holsteins near Watertown, Wis. Genetic selection criteria for the Rosy-Lane herd of 1770 cows and 740 young females emphasizes Net Merit $, Productive Life, Daughter Pregnancy Rate, Livability and Kappa Casein. Holterman is serving his third year on the CDCB Producer Advisory Committee and chaired the PAC in its first two years.