Colorado Dairy Nutrition Conference Celebrates 20 Years

The 20th Annual Colorado Dairy Nutrition Conference will be held Jan. 27 at the Union Colony Civic Center in Greeley. The conference is held in conjunction with the Colorado Farm Show, which runs from Jan.27-29 at Island Grove Park in Greeley.

The event also marks a changing of the guard. The chairman of the Department of Animal Sciences at Colorado State University, Bill Wailes, who has been planning the event for the past two decades, will turn the reins over to a new faculty member. Assistant professor of Animal Sciences and dairy extension specialist Noa Roman-Muniz is coordinating this year’s conference. Roman-Muniz will also deliver the welcome address at 8:30 a.m.

"I was just stubborn enough to keep the conference going," Wailes said. "Now the Colorado Dairy Nutrition Conference provides the latest research, leading edge ideas and the way to apply those ideas on the farm. The message this year will help dairy farmers deal with lower milk prices through strategies such as feed efficiencies, rationing and supplements."

Among the speakers will be research nutritionist Jeff DeFrain, who will discuss factors influencing profitability on California dairies and the importance of feed efficiency. University of Arizona animal sciences Professor Robert Collier will talk about supplements in his address, "Use of Niacin Supplements for Heat Stress in High Producing Dairy Cattle." Bill Stone, technical services director for Diamond V, a commercial feed producer, will talk about finding lost feed dollars by reducing variations in rations.

The conference will be held in the Hensel Phelps Theater at the Union Colony Civic Center. For more information on the Colorado Dairy Nutrition Conference, go to www.ansci.colostate.edu or call (970) 491-7604.

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