Located on a 42-acre site about a 45-minute drive from the city of Madison, WI, the new facility will broaden both laboratory and field research aimed to improve soil health, forage production, forage quality, dairy nutrition, nutrient-use efficiency, ecosystem services, milk production, and resiliency in the face of climate change.
According to ARS Acting Associate Administrator Dr. Nora Lapitan, the new facility will enable research that better replicates conditions of modern dairy farms, from studies with free-stall pens to the use of automated milking systems that reflect the more than 35,000 robotic units operated on dairies worldwide. This new facility will foster holistic studies of dairy forage agroecosystems, including the improvement of manure management and the application of nutrients back to the field, as well as the prevention of potential environmental impacts that could arise from manure use, including preventing the occurrence of manure-borne pathogens.
Attendees who spoke at the groundbreaking ceremony included:
- Dr. Dennis Hancock, Director, ARS U.S. Dairy Forage Research Center
- Dr. Rosalind James, Director, ARS Midwest
- Dr. Troy Runge, Associate Dean for Research of UW–Madison CALS
- Dr. Cynthia Czajkowski, Interim Vice Chancellor for Research of UW–Madison
- Dr. Nora Lapitan, ARS Acting Associate Administrator
- Tammy Baldwin, U.S. Senator, Wisconsin
Source : usda.gov