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USSEC Conducts International Dairy Management Training

USSEC and Virginia Tech’s dairy science department cooperated to conduct a technical dairy training session, “Concentrating on New Technologies to Increase Efficiencies” from October 2 – 9.
Participants hailed from Egypt, Saudi Arabia, Morocco, Tunisia, and Turkey. USSEC consultant Sirri Kayhan escorted the 23 visitors representing the Middle East dairy industry.

Participants from Egypt
Participants from Egypt
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Participants from Turkey

The first part of the training was held in Roanoke, Virginia. During this session, genomics or DNA testing was discussed along with upcoming changes in the Nutrition Research Council’s (NRC) nutrient requirements for dairy cows.
Dr. Charles Stallings, professor emeritus of dairy science, gave a lecture, “The U.S. and Virginia Dairy Industries: What is Driving the Changes?” Dr. Bennet Cassell, professor emeritus of dairy science, spoke on “The Genomic Revolution or How Changes in Measuring Genes Have Changed Genetic Improvement.” After lunch, participants listened to results from nutrition research at Virginia Tech, given by Dr. Mark Hanigan, professor of dairy science.
The following day, the group toured Virginia Tech’s new dairy facilities and visited the Florey dairy farm in Dublin where they saw a demonstration of robotic milking.
The group then traveled to Madison, Wisconsin to attend the World Dairy Expo.

Participants during training
Participants during training