WOOSTER, Ohio — The OSU Extension dairy working group team invites all dairy producers to attend the regional winter dairy conference scheduled for March 9 at Fisher Auditorium on the OARDC campus in Wooster, located at 1680 Madison Ave. The conference begins with registration at 9:30 a.m. and concludes at 3 p.m. The theme of the conference is dairy cattle nutrition and management and includes a number of Ohio State University specialists on the program. Topics and speakers include:

• Less is more with reduced lignin in alfalfa: Mark Sulc, OSU Extension Forage Specialist
• Numbers can lie! The importance of good feed sampling: Bill Weiss, OSU Dairy Nutrition and Interim Chair, Department of Animal Science
• The most interesting economic stuff ever! Dianne Shoemaker, Extension Field Specialist, Dairy Production Economics
• Wading through a sea of numbers: How to evaluate a feed lab test: Bill Weiss, OSU Dairy Nutrition and Interim Chair, Department of Animal Science
• Automated Milk Feeders for Calves: There’s more to manage than the milk dispensing equipment: Maurice Eastridge, OSU Dairy Nutrition
• Handling cattle to maximize milk production: Katy Proudfoot, OSU Extension Animal Welfare & Behavior Specialist
• Salad bar and dessert: Managing the feeding system on farms with robotic milking systems: Maurice Eastridge, OSU Dairy Nutrition

Cost of the conference is $10/person and includes morning refreshments, noon lunch and handout materials. Pre-registration is requested by March 2 to the Wayne County Extension office at 330-264-8722 or RSVP by email to parker.1269@osu.edu. Sponsors of the dairy conference include Farmers National Bank, Farm Credit Mid-America, Wayne Savings Community Bank and Farmers State Bank.

— OSU Extension