The Specific Aim of this proposal is to systematically evaluate the profitability of dairy reproductive management strategies and develop a suite of simulation models and decision support systems that will allow scientists, farmers, farm consultants, and extension agents assess the economic value of reproductive programs.(More)

Title	Genomic Selection and Herd Management Tools to Improve Feed Efficiency of the Dairy Industry
Team	VandeHaar, M., Weigel, K., Armentano, L., Moody Spurlock, D., Tempelman, R., Veerkamp, R., Cabrera, V.E., Worku, M., Hanigan, M., Staples, C., Beede, D., Shaver, R., Wattiaux, M., Dijkstra, J., Pursley, R., Weber Nielsen, M.
Term	60 months, 2011-2016
Amount	$5,000,000
Sponsor	Integrated Solutions for Animal Agriculture Agriculture Food and Research Initiative National Institute of Food and Agriculture

This project will train 60 small beginning dairy farmers and help them to apply strategic decision-making regarding financial risks via three workshops across Wisconsin. Follow-ups will be established during workshops to later verify and measure positive application of the learning. To facilitate the adoption of new financial risk management strategies, part of the project will involve the creation of a user-friendly computer decision-making suite (i.e., the Wisconsin Benchmark Dairy Ratio tool) which will be used as an instrument of discussion and learning. The Agriculture Financial Advisor (AgFA©) dataset will be the foundation of these computer tools. Related curricula have been delivered across the state using the FAST tools suite from the University of Illinois. Evaluations have indicated that producers have greatly appreciated these trainings, however, they are requesting similar tools be created for Wisconsin's specific conditions. (More)

Title	An Integrated Approach to Improving Dairy Cow Fertility
Team	Cabrera, V.E., Fricke, P., Ruegg, P., Shaver, R., Weigel, M., Wiltbank, M.
Term	48 months January 2010 - January 2014
Amount	$1,000,000
Sponsor	Integrated Solutions for Animal Agriculture Agriculture Food and Research Initiative National Institute of Food and Agriculture
Web Link	http://fyi.uwex.edu/repromoney/

This is an Extension-Research Integrated project addressing FY 2009 NIFA-AFRI Integrated Solutions for Animal Agriculture priorities of: (1) Improving Fertility in Agricultural Animals and (2) Preventing and Controlling On-Farm Disease. Our overall objective is to improve the reproductive efficiency of dairy cattle using an interdisciplinary team approach that will identify and remove barriers to reproductive success by linking outcomes of basic and applied research with an innovative producer responsive extension program. (More)

Title	Strategies of Pasture Supplementation on Organic and Conventional Grazing Dairies: Assessment of Economic, Production, and Environmental Outcomes
Team	Cabrera, V.E., Gildersleeve, R., Wattiaux, M., Combs, D.
Term	48 months January 2010 - January 2014
Amount	$575,000
Sponsor	Organic Agricultural Research & Extension Initiative Agriculture Food and Research Initiative National Institute of Food and Agriculture

This is an extension and research project is designed to investigate the impacts of pasture supplementation decisions made by Wisconsin organic and conventional grazing dairies on selected economic, production and environmental variables. It is anticipated that organic dairy producers, transitioning producers and even conventional producers will benefit from this project as it identifies the farm level factors that influence pasture supplementation decisions and feed resource management on dairy farms. Project results will be utilized to develop outreach materials and decision aids that will be useful to farmers, extension agents and other agricultural professionals as they assist organic, transition, beginner or grazing dairy producers with farm planning and risk management decisions. (More) 

Title	Success for Small Beginning Dairy Farmersd
Team	Cabrera, V.E., Vanderlin, J., Kirkpatrick, J.
Term	18 months July 2009 - December 2010
Amount	$32,000
Sponsor	North Central Risk Management Education Center National Institute of Food and Agriculture

This project will train 60 small beginning dairy farmers and help them to apply strategic decision-making regarding financial risks via three workshops across Wisconsin. Follow-ups will be established during workshops to later verify and measure positive application of the learning. To facilitate the adoption of new financial risk management strategies, part of the project will involve the creation of a user-friendly computer decision-making suite (i.e., the Wisconsin Benchmark Dairy Ratio tool) which will be used as an instrument of discussion and learning. The Agriculture Financial Advisor (AgFA©) dataset will be the foundation of these computer tools. Related curricula have been delivered across the state using the FAST tools suite from the University of Illinois. Evaluations have indicated that producers have greatly appreciated these trainings, however, they are requesting similar tools be created for Wisconsin's specific conditions. (More)

The recent history of the U.S. dairy industry can be characterized as one with significant fluctuations in the price of milk at the farm level. Dramatic increases in energy and feed costs have added the new dimension of input price variability contributing to an increasingly risky production and marketing environment. Starting in August 2008 the Livestock Gross Margin for Dairy (LGM-Dairy) insurance program has been added to the list of risk management tools available to Wisconsin dairy farm operators. This insurance program protects against unanticipated declines in gross margins which are defined as milk revenue minus feed costs. LGM-Dairy program could be considered a combination of the use of a put to limit milk price declines and a call to limit feed cost increases. This project will provide a better understanding of this new risk management tool and will develop educational materials to illustrate how LGM-Dairy could be effectively used by a variety of Wisconsin dairy farm operations. We will examine the role of LGM-Dairy for a variety of farm sizes and technologies versus traditional price risk management strategies. We will focus on the implications of alternative biofuels scenarios and climatic conditions. (CRIS)

The Specific Aim of this proposal is to assess management strategies to improve cost-efficiency and profitability in Wisconsin dairy farms through participatory research on dairy farms. Systems analyses and operation research will be used to simulate dairy herd systems to test and integrate new technologies and knowledge (e.g., nutrition, reproduction, physiology, health, genetics) for strategic dairy management. Emphasis will be given to artificial intelligence using computer simulation research and the development of custom-made software and a decision support system (DSS) tool, which will be carefully designed, user-friendly, and extensively tested. This project will follow a participatory framework with scientists, dairy producers, Extension agents, and dairy industry consultants to provide research-based farm management responses to current industry needs. The participatory approach will include the development and maintenance of a Web portal as a communication hub in the process of technology transfer. (CRIS)