NEW PRAGUE, Minn. — Become a practitioner of “Putting Science Into Practice” by attending the 62nd National Mastitis Council (NMC) Annual Meeting, Jan. 30-Feb. 2, at the Sheraton Atlanta Hotel, Atlanta. This event will help the global dairy industry capitalize on available strategies to prevent, treat and control mastitis, enhance udder health and foster animal health.
“We – dairy producers, dairy educators and dairy consultants – know we do a lot to put science into practice,” stated Christina Petersson-Wolfe, NMC Annual Meeting program chair and Virginia Tech associate professor – dairy science. “As an industry, we know that putting science into practice improves animal health and profitability. One of our challenges is learning how to communicate this to consumers. Plus, we also want to meet consumers’ demands.”
The 2023 NMC Annual Meeting theme revolves around the theme of “Putting Science Into Practice.” To view the meeting agenda and/or to register, go to: http://meetings.nmconline.org. NMC is preparing for and executing a “hybrid meeting” – with in-person and virtual attendance options available.
The NMC Annual Meeting kicks off on Jan. 30, with an optional dairy farm tour. The first stop is Glo-Crest Dairy, which is owned by Scott and Jennifer Glover. The 210-cow dairy is located in the beautiful, rolling hills near Clermont, Ga. – less than an hour north of Atlanta. “Milk quality is our number one priority at Glo-Crest Dairy,” stated Scott Glover. “The practices we have in place to care for our cows has captured our farm the ‘Cream of the Crop’ award each year since 2004!”
Next, the tour group will stop at Mountain Fresh Creamery, which is also owned by the Glovers. In July 2011, they opened the creamery where they bottle non-homogenized and low-temp pasteurized milk from their farm. They offer whole, chocolate and lowfat milk, buttermilk and cream, along with making their own butter and ice cream.
The final stop is at W Dairy, Madison, Ga., owned and operated by Everett Williams and family. The family milks about 1,800 cows three times daily. This herd of crossbred cows has a rolling herd average of more than 28,000 pounds of milk. Williams farms nearly 4,000 acres.
This year’s NMC Annual Meeting General Sessions feature:
- Animal Well-being/Health
- Milking Systems
- Use of On-farm Technologies
- Labor Management and Consumer Relations
- Mastitis Management/Manejo de Mastitis (presented in Spanish)
Short course topics include:
- Getting the Most Out of Precision Dairy Monitoring Technologies
- Staph. aureus is back?!?
- Review of Milking Research
- An Organized Approach to Developing a Long-term Action Plan for Herds with Poor Teat Ends
- Airflow Analysis of a Milking System (features The Teaching Parlor)
- Milk Time Testing in Automated Milking Systems
- What, When, and How of Mastitis Therapy
- Quality and Quantity Count
- Managing Compost-bedded Pack Barns for Optimal Milk Quality
- How to ‘Advocate for Dairy’ with New Messages and Tools that Connect with Consumers
- Should We Treat Her or Should We Eat Her? How to Make Economically Sound Mastitis Treatment Decisions
- How to Successfully Evaluate Milking Center Data to Stimulate Improvement on Your Dairies
- Monitor and Evaluate Udder Health Management Using PCDART and the Latest DRMS Decision Support Tools
- Cleaning the Milking System (features The Teaching Parlor)
Other highlights of the upcoming meeting include a silent auction, which supports professional development efforts, and recognition of the National Dairy Quality Award winners, NMC Award of Excellence for Mastitis Prevention and Control recipient, and NMC Scholars.
National Mastitis Council is a professional organization devoted to reducing mastitis and enhancing milk quality. NMC promotes research and provides information to the dairy industry on udder health, milking management, milk quality and milk safety. Founded in 1961, NMC has about 1,000 members in more than 40 countries throughout the world.
–National Mastitis Council