I had the opportunity to speak at the 12th Western Dairy Management Conference (WDMC) in Reno, Nevada last week. In addition to myself, my colleagues Dr. Randy Shaver and Dr. Kent Weigel from the Department of Dairy Science at the University of Wisconsin – Madison were on the program. By all accounts, the 2015 WDMC was a success. The registration count of 1,735 attendees came close to setting a new record for the conference. Attendees represented 41 different states and 15 different countries.
The WDMC is held every other year in odd years and is the largest extension conference geared toward dairy farmers in the world. I have been on the WDMC planning committee since 2011, and we meet as a committee in the off-years to plan the next meeting. I have been invited to speak at the WDMC three times over the years (in 2003, 2005, and 2015), and I organized and lead a panel discussion on reproductive technologies in 2013. The sessions are always well attended, and the interaction at the meeting is excellent.
The topic I was asked to address this year was: “Milk vs. Blood – Which is better for PAG pregnancy diagnosis?” During my talk, I shared our recent data in which we assessed factors associated with PAG levels in blood and milk in dairy cows during the first trimester of gestation and their implications for pregnancy diagnosis. I have uploaded the proceedings paper to the Meeting Proceedings listing and my slides to the Meetings Presentations listing under the Extension tab on my home page of this web site. Please let me know if you have any questions regarding this information.