For the last 10 years, my research program has been focused on several aspects of growth and development of cattle, primarily dairy replacement animals. My group has endeavoured to delineate and refine the nutrient requirements of growing cattle starting at birth through to lactation. This work is being continued at the amino acid level, where we hope to develop field applicable recommendations for balancing for amino acids in young growing cattle. |Further, we have investigated endocrine and ontogenic control of several processes including pubertay and mammary development. The work on mammary development was particulary groundbreaking because it allowed us to re-evaluate what was thought to be a problem (negative impacts of nutrient intake on mammary development) and refocus an entire area of research. We are continuing this work to refine by looking at specific cells in the neonatal mammary gland that have stem cell like activity. Data analyzed to date suggest either increases in cell proliferation or programming that lead to increased milk production during lactation - all due to early life nutrient intake. ||We are also endeavoring to improve our understanding of ruminant nitrogen utilization during growth and lactation. Given the interest in improving nitrogen utilization, we are pursuing studies to help us understand the potential efficiencies of nitrogen utilization in lactating dairy cattle. This is being done for two reasons: to reduce the environmental impact of dairy cattle and improve farm profitability by reducing purchased feed costs. Further, given my role with the Cornell Net Carbohydrate and Protein System, we are also interested in challenging the model and developing data sets that will allow us to better parameterize the model for application in the industry. We have made progress in the last year in refining the model and have made it more sensitive to nitrogen inputs and predictions of nitrogen use. We will continue to refine this model. We are staring research to better delineate the regulatory mechanisms involved in milk protein synthesis and excretion. Milk proteins are in high demand for human and other animal consumption and are being used in many functional food approaches. This work has a two fold effect - improving the production of food and improving the efficiency of nitrogen use of cattle to reduce environmental impact.

Enhancing the critical thinking and problem solving skills of student in animal science, dairy management and nutrition through classroom and experiential learning activities. This includes exposure to agricultural and dairy systems throughout the world.