NMC Annual Meeting draws members from 21 countries
More than 325 global milk quality experts gathered for the 2024 National Mastitis Council (NMC) Annual Meeting, held January 29-February 1, in Dallas, Texas, USA. The attendees traveled from 21 countries, 29 U.S. states and six Canadian provinces, and represented milk quality, mastitis and udder health researchers, dairy producers and dairy industry partners.
This year’s meeting revolved around the theme “Boots on the Ground – Making Milk Quality Happen.” Meeting topics ranged from judicious antibiotic use to mastitis diagnosis to mastitis treatment costs to bedding’s impact on milk quality to dry-off procedure monitoring and training to animal husbandry.
“Milk quality starts on the farm,” stated Keith Engel, NMC Annual Meeting program chair and GEA business development manager – hygiene. “This year’s program featured presenters who work to make high-quality milk happen from applied on-farm research, industry experts who work directly with dairy producers and dairy producers who make high-quality milk happen every day. They shared understandable information and milk quality enhancement strategies that can be applied on many dairy farms around the world. Understanding and implementing ‘boots on the ground’ udder health procedures will enhance animal welfare, dairy farm profitability and consumer demand for dairy-based foods.”
Middleton earns Award of Excellence honor
During this event, NMC honored John Middleton, Columbia, Missouri, USA, who has spent most of his career with the University of Missouri. He received the NMC Award of Excellence for Contribution to Mastitis Prevention and Control, which is sponsored by Boehringer Ingelheim. The 2014 NMC president, Middleton currently serves as the University of Missouri associate vice president and chief of staff in the office of the university president and as a professor in the department of veterinary medicine and surgery in the College of Veterinary Medicine.
NMC awarded scholarships to seven outstanding graduate students to attend the NMC Annual Meeting. This year’s NMC Scholars were Michelle Buckley, Iowa State University, Ames, Iowa, USA; Andrew Sommer, University of Wisconsin, Madison, Wisconsin, USA; Tana Jo Almand, University of California, Davis, California, USA; Mary Jane Drake, University of Pennsylvania, Kennett Square, Pennsylvania, USA; Alessandro Bellato, University of Torino, Grugliasco, Piedmont, Italy; Desiree Corvera Kløve Lassen, Technical University of Denmark, Kongens Lyngby, Denmark; and Brandon Alfredo Gonzalez-Cordova, University of Concepcion, Chillan, Region de Nuble, Chile. The NMC Scholars program fosters the development of mastitis research and milk quality professionals from around the world.
In the National Dairy Quality Awards (NDQA) program, NMC honored six U.S. dairy operations as Platinum winners. These top-quality milk producers included Fessenden Dairy, King Ferry, New York; Larson Acres Inc., Evansville, Wisconsin; Michigan State University Training and Research Center, Lansing, Michigan; Naatz Dairy Farm, Mantorville, Minnesota; RKB Dairy, Faribault, Minnesota; and Stuart Farms Inc., Lowell, Michigan. These herds ranged in size from 142 to 2,791 cows. Annual milk production (per cow) averaged from 26,313 pounds (11,935 kg) to 31,445 pounds (14,263 kg). For average somatic cell count (June 1, 2022-May 31, 2023), these dairies varied from 63,000 to 96,000 cells/ml.
NMC adds Canada to NDQA competition
To broaden NMC’s reach and exposure, the NMC board of directors approved opening its NDQA program to Canada. For 2024, NMC will accept U.S. and Canadian dairy operation nominations – from July 1-August 31. For more information about the NDQA program, go to: https://www.nmconline.org/ndqa.
During the NMC Annual Business meeting, members elected Justin Graham, BrooksCo Dairy, Quitman, Georgia, USA; and Pamela Adkins, University of Missouri, Columbia, Missouri, USA; to the NMC board of directors. Executive committee members are Keith Engel, GEA, Hampshire, Illinois, USA, president; Justine Britten, Udder Health Systems, Meridian, Idaho, USA, first vice president; Roger Thomson, Michigan State University and MQ-IQ Consulting LLC, Battle Creek, Michigan, USA, second vice president; Alfonso Lago, DairyExperts, Inc., Tulare, California, USA, secretary-treasurer; and Christina Petersson-Wolfe, Virginia Tech University, Blacksburg, Virginia, USA, past president. Other board members include Simon Dufour, Université de Montréal, Montreal, Quebec, Canada; Rick Watters, Quality Milk Production Services, Warsaw, New York, USA; Christy Dinsmoore, Novi, Michigan, USA; Juan “Rodrigo” Pedraza, Zoetis, Willow Park, Texas, USA; Amy Vasquez, Danone North America, Ithaca, New York, USA; Stephen Jones, DeLaval, Trinity, Florida, USA; Ian Ohnstad, The Dairy Group, Dorchester, Somerset, England; and Brandon Treichler, Treichler Consulting Services, Canyon, Texas, USA. Linda Tikofsky, Boehringer Ingelheim, Trumansburg, New York, USA; and Lowell “Jim” Davenport, Tollgate Holsteins, Ancramdale, New York, USA; retired from the board.
The 64th NMC Annual Meeting is set for January 27- 30, 2025, in Charlotte, North Carolina, USA. For additional information, go to: www.nmconline.org.
