Meet The Speakers

Evensen is a professor of engineering physics at UW­–Platteville with research interests in carbon nanotube-based electronics, automated rotational grazing, and advanced automation.

Wilson is a farmer and owner of Wilson Organic Farm in Cuba City, Wisconsin. He has a passion for innovative solutions to challenges around the dairy farm.

Talk summary: Chris Wilson rotates his grazing dairy herd by manually moving lightweight fencing, which is cumbersome. Digital solutions for confining livestock exist, involving use of GPS collars. However, these systems are costly and over-designed for the end goal, which is merely to move the cattle through a grazing area. Therefore, we propose to investigate and develop “local” means to establish and enforce a virtual, progressive grazing area. We will pursue two approaches: moving a physical fence or objects; and moving a virtual fence using short-range wireless technologies. For the “virtual” option, some technologies under consideration are ultra-high frequency RFID and Bluetooth Low Energy (BLE) tags. Using beacons or readers, the animal’s rough location will be monitored, allowing it to be directed toward “acceptable” locations as determined by the farmer.

Pralle is an assistant professor of animal and dairy science in the UW–Platteville School of Agriculture. His research interests span dairy cow nutrition and predictive analytics. Specifically, his research strives to develop data-driven management tools and strategies to optimize the nutrient supply to and the metabolic health of individual cows. Pralle’s position is funded by the Dairy Innovation Hub.

Buttles is a farmer and owner of Stone-Front Farm in Lancaster, Wisconsin. Stone-Front Farm has a long history of breeding exceptional cows.

Talk summary: The incidence, consequences, and financial impact of bovine fatty liver syndrome, a metabolic disorder than can develop in pre- or post-calving cows, has been investigated with a newly-developed blood-based serological biomarker panel by Pralle. This was determined by sampling a cohort of 500 cows from three privately-owned dairy farms. In addition to cow blood samples, production, reproduction, health records, nutrition data, and genetic information were also collected.

Montgomery is a professor and director of the School of Agriculture at UW–Platteville. She is the UWP campus liaison for the Dairy Innovation Hub.

Kohmann is an assistant professor in the Department of Plant and Agroecosystem Sciences and an extension specialist in the Division of Extension at UW–Madison. Her background is in forage management, with a focus on ecosystem services.

Talk summary: Adequate nutrient management of forage crops is crucial to provide livestock with nutrients and energy for production and reduce risks to the environment. The dairy industry of Wisconsin relies heavily on corn silage production, often rotated with alfalfa harvested for hay in 3- to 4-year rotations. Liquid or dry manure from dairies is applied in these systems provide nutrients for plant growth and dispose of stored manure. Managing manure application adequately has proved effective to improve water quality in Wisconsin. Soil cover has also been identified as a major determinant in reducing nutrient losses from agroecosystems, reducing potential pollution to the environment. More specifically, studies of alfalfa interseeded into corn silage indicate significant reductions in nutrient losses through runoff, while increasing economical profitability at the system level. Another advantage of this practice is improving alfalfa production compared to typical spring seeding. There are currently no manure application recommendations specifically tailored to this novel system. This project aims to evaluate establishment, productivity, and nutritive value of alfalfa interseeded with corn silage receiving manure application and provide better manure application recommendations for this system. This project will also measure soil respiration across treatments to better understand how manure application might affect greenhouse gas emissions from manure application.

Wiesner is an assistant professor of environmental science at UW–River Falls. Her research interests include agricultural atmospheric science and climate resiliency, land-atmosphere interactions, remote sensing, and ecosystem management. Wiesner’s position is funded by the Dairy Innovation Hub.

Wodack is a junior studying atmospheric and oceanic sciences at UW–Madison.

Talk summary: In spite of the popular perception that larger dairy farms cause greater environmental damages than smaller operations, there is limited scientific literature on the effect of farm size on distinct environmental concerns and in particular green house gas (GHG) emissions. This project intends to improve the monitoring and verification of GHG emissions at the Mann Valley Farm at UW–River Falls as a case study from a small–medium farm. The goal of this project is to optimize measurement strategies for GHG accounting within fields and barns, and to compare measurements with modeled values following IPCC (Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change) GHG guidelines. Furthermore, the project aim to establish a GHG baseline for Mann Valley Farm which can be used to assess impacts from future management and/or cropping changes. The results of this research will also serve to assess the degree of climate resiliency of Mann Valley Farm to future weather extremes, which can help ensure its environmental and economic sustainability.

Steffes is a student at UW–Platteville who is majoring in agriculture education with a minor in dairy science. She is a dairy products technician for Pioneer Sweets.

Talk summary: Steffes will give an update on Pioneer Sweets, a student-run business, that creates super premium ice cream at UW–Platteville's Dairy Pilot Plant right on campus. Tera Montgomery, UWP's campus liaison for the Hub, is Pioneer Sweets advisor.