DAIRY NEWS – Animal care should be a top priority for all members of each dairy through every stage in a cow’s life. The 2024 Dairy Wellbeing Workshop presented by Professional Dairy Producers® (PDP) is the perfect opportunity for dairy employees to see firsthand how choices and management practices impact the health and productivity of every animal.
Limited space is available in the two repeating one-day workshops that will be held on Tue., Feb. 6, and Wed., Feb. 7, at the Tundra Lodge Resort Waterpark and Conference Center in Green Bay, Wis. Registration begins at 8:00 a.m. and the program will conclude at 4:30 p.m. each day. Pre-registration is required, no walk-ins can be accepted.
Each one-day session will begin with a behind-the-scenes tour at the American Foods Group facility in Green Bay, where participants will see for themselves how animal care on the farm impacts cull-cow quality. They will also have an interactive conversation with beef buyers, market experts and USDA meat inspectors about what they see every day, including carcass conditions, body condition and condemned cows, with a focus on the care, protocol and practices on dairy farms that impact beef quality.
“It’s critical for those of us tasked with caring for animals that we understand how we can make the best choices for their wellbeing throughout their life,” said Janet Clark, Eldorado, Wis., dairy producer and PDP board vice president. “Attending the Dairy Wellbeing Workshop offers an unforgettable experience that will forever change the way one makes herd management decisions.”
The program will resume at the Tundra Lodge Conference Center for lunch and two afternoon sessions:
- “Genomics – understanding the numbers” by Dr. Daniel Weigel, PhD, director of outcomes research at Zoetis, Inc., will help attendees glean a clearer understanding of current genomic traits and what lies ahead in this arena as new genetic predictors for health and other traits are being discovered. He will review how genes are expressed and the role genomic selection plays in our dairy herds.
- “Expressing ideal dairy characteristics” by Dr. Steve Kelm, PhD, professor and chair of animal and food science at the University of Wisconsin-River Falls, will outline the relationship between a cow’s phenotype and the environment she lives in, including considerations for adapting facilities as cows’ average sizes change over time. He’ll also review how selective breeding has influenced the form and function of cattle and where those trends are headed.
This program is accredited for up to 5.25 Dairy AdvanCE continuing education credits and up to 5 ARPAS continuing education credits.
Learn more about the 2024 PDP Dairy Wellbeing Workshop, including speaker information and available continuing-education units, and register your team today by visiting www.pdpw.org or calling 800-947-7379. Follow along digitally in advance of and during the event by following @dairyPDPW and using #mypdpw 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.
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