Experts will discuss current topics in dairy farming

Miner Institute’s annual Dairy Day meeting will be held Wednesday, Dec. 5 from 10 a.m. to 3 p.m. at the Joseph C. Burke Education and Research Center, 586 Ridge Road, Chazy. This meeting is free and open to the public.

This year’s speakers include Dr. Mike Van Amburgh of Cornell University; and Dr. Rick Grant, Dr. Heather Dann, and Michael Miller of Miner Institute. Dr. Van Amburgh will give two talks titled Colostrum as a Communication Vehicle to the Calf and Nutritional and Economical Management of Heifers. Dr. Grant’s talk will be titled A Tale of Two Fibers: Optimizing peNDF and uNDF. Dr. Dann will present Milk Fatty Acid Testing: Useful for the Herd, the Group, and the Individual Cow. Michael Miller will present a talk titled The Next Step in Corn Silage Hybrid Evaluation: Fiber and Starch Yields.

In 2017, we awarded the first annual Harry A Randy Education Fund prize. The recipient was able to travel with some Miner staff and the Advanced Dairy Management students to the western United States to visit farms and attend the World Ag Expo. The second annual drawing will take place at Dairy Day 2018 for a spot on the February 2019 trip to visit the Western Dairy Management Conference in Reno, NV and dairy farms in Oregon. Recipient must be present at Dairy Day to win.

Vendors will be available throughout the day. Door prizes are available and hot lunch is offered for $5 per person. In addition, Miner Institute will be collecting non-perishable food items for the Mooers Wesleyan Food Pantry which serves residents in Mooers, Mooers Forks, Altona, Sciota, Chazy, and West Chazy.

Pre-register for Dairy Day or get more information by contacting Wanda Emerich, emerich@whminer.com or 518-846-7121, ext. 117.