ANSC*4230 - Department of Animal & Poultry Science

ANSC*4230 Challenges and Opportunities in Animal Production
Dairy Challenge Option: Fall Semester 2011
Course Objectives: The appraisal of dairy enterprises together with their relevant
production information in the context of increasing economic return.
Course participants will evaluate dairy operations and data from
DairyComp 305 as teams of 4 followed by a presentation of their findings and
recommendations to a panel of judges.
Interested students will also be selected to represent UoG in the NE
Regional and National Intercollegiate Dairy Challenge competitions: see
http://www.dairychallenge.org
Course Format: The course will be scheduled as four separate ‘challenges’, each
involving a unique dairy farm, with each challenge occurring approximately every third
week of the semester:
Each challenge is focused and time-limited over a period of three days:
Day 1: Release of Farm Biosketch and Dairy Comp 305 Data to teams.
Day 2: Next day - Visit to farm (90- minutes). Likely Friday pm.
Day 3: Team analysis of farm information and development of presentation (6 hours,
Friday night), followed by team presentations (20 minutes/team) to a panel of judges.
Likely on Saturday, somewhere 0900 to 1500 in Room 141 ANNU.
Instructors /Coaches/Judges:
Course Coordinator : Dr John S Walton Dept Animal and Poultry Science
Faculty Coaches/Judges: Dr Ken E Leslie Dept Population Medicine OVC
Mark Carson Eastgen
Other judges: Alta Genetics rep
Jeremy Parkinson
Steven Larmer
Brett Gamble
Clark Sinclair
Colleen Fitzpatrick
Matt Groen
Kelly Hart
Kathryn Fleming
Lucy Wedge
Harrison Todd
Kim McGaw
Note: Judges will appear according to their availability.

Challenges:
Each Challenge is a ‘mock’ of the NAIDC National Competition - for details
see: http://www.dairychallenge.org
For each challenge, teams of 4 will be selected, so that, as much as is
feasible, all students will be on different teams with other students as the semester
progresses. In the very first challenge only, one of the coaches will be assigned to assist
each team.
Each team will be scored on the basis of their presentation (see NAIDC
scorecard), with each challenge representing 25% of the grade for the semester.
Selection of NAIDC teams:
For the North East Regional Competition, participants will be selected on ’first out of the
hat’ basis.
For the National Competition, participation will be decided by the coaches/judges on the
basis of individual performance in all 4 presentations, together with peer evaluations.
Farm Selections:
Generally these will be 3 local free-stall operations selected by the coaches/judges with
agreement from owner/operators. The visit is normally timed to coincide with milking.
Very often this will be on a Friday evening with the presentations on the Saturday
following. The ‘Final’ Challenge will be a large dairy in the USA and will require an allday
trip (likely Friday) for the visit. Please ensure you have the appropriate documents to
cross the border to the USA (Valid Passport and Visa, if required).
Code of Conduct:
Any student with obvious signs of alcohol intoxication will not be allowed to board the
bus for the farm visit, and will forfeit the grade for that challenge (zero out of 25).
On farm, please recognize your status as guests and respect the need for biosecurity.
Avoid upsetting the livestock or getting in the way of normal farm operations.
You will be provided one opportunity to ask questions under supervision, otherwise you
are not allowed to discuss the farm with the owner or farm-staff.
Contact with other teams is discouraged. Within teams, be respectful of the ideas of
others, be committed to the task and exercise leadership without domination.
All farm-related information provided to you is to be treated as strictly confidential.
Please do not discuss farm details with other classmates not participating in Dairy
Challenge, or with family or friends. After each exercise is completed, any remaining
information should be securely destroyed. The only remaining evidence of your
participation will be the team’s PowerPoint presentation. This will be returned to JSW,
who will forward these to the participating farm for information.
Safety:
You are responsible for your own safety and that of those around you. Avoid any
potentially risky situations (bull-pens, slippery flooring, do not climb gates/silo ladders
etc). If in doubt, stay safe.