Yesterday, January 15, 2015, we held our second in a series of meeting about the CNCPS 6.5 biology in Grantville, Pennsylvania. Galit, Lynn, and Mariann made a quick trip down to Grantville braving some of the coldest temperatures this winter—neg. 28°F for Lynn when she left. At least the wind was not blowing. Our presentation partners for this meeting were Sally Flis from DairyOne Forage Labs and Peter Yoder from Perdue AgriBusiness. We, New Yorkers, drove down the night before and met up at the Pennsylvania Farm Show—which is huge!
Since I am the Blog Master, I am always hounding everyone for pictures. As I have gotten out and about, I have come to recognize that reaching for my phone to take pictures is not an instinct I possess. I have been nagging people less in meetings now…
I did, however get some pictures at the Farm Show. I discovered two things: I like to take pictures only of brown cows (but you knew that) and I am TERRIBLE at getting pictures of cow faces (maybe terrible at pictures in general). Udders, I can do.
Here is one for you Black and White people—even I think this heifer was very photogenic. She was just so CLEAN.
And this goat was the cutest, most inquisitive thing! I grew up showing cows and I always liked how, for once, you spent time washing, brushing, and clipping until the cattle just shown. Then they got to sleep in deep beds of straw.
The next morning at the meeting, we had a great exchange between nutritionists and industry people. Most of the people involved in the model, either on a university level or commercially have been trying to make sure enough information about the new features is available to make a smooth transition from 6.1 to 6.5. We feel these meetings, with the opportunity for question and answer exchange in a non-competitive setting, are really beneficial. Really, we are seeing people who staunch competitors are parking their egos at the door and just asking good questions. Beyond the meetings we are seeing continuing lines of communication set up through email threads. As at our last meeting, we only addressed the changes the new biology brings to the CNCPS model.
We will continue with more meetings later this month and through March. These meetings are open to anyone—however, pre-registration is required. Check our calendar for meetings near you. We are not opposed to setting up more if enough people in a given geographic area will attend. Contact anyone at AMTS for more details.
One more jersey udder—see there are Holsteins and even a Brown Swiss behind her.
