A3M*ncttw Fartnlrg, Saturday. Jnnt t 7,1998 Dairy Leaders Dedicate Penn State Research , Education Center (ContlniMd from Pago A 1) of trustees. Calling the dairy industry “knowledge-technology inten sive,” Joab Thomas said the new dairy center “fully embraces the land grant mission that includes teaching, research, and service. In my view, these three missions join together in the College of Agricul tural Sciences better than any where else in the University. “The Penn State partnership with the dairy industry and die commonwealth continues to to be an important focus, and we are delighted to reaffirm this relation ship with the new dairy facility. Matching funds from the state made the new dairy research and education center possible. These very important investments by the commonwealth of Pennsylvania reaffirm the leadership role of the land grant university. It under scores the importance that Pen nsylvania agriculture continues to have in the development of the eco nomy of the state,” Thomas said. Hairy Roth represented the dairy indusby. “Historically, the performance of the Pennsylvania dairy industry has been signiflcant ly influenced by Penn State and the research and educatiort generated by the dairy science faculty and staff,” Roth said. “The influence of the ongoing Penn State dairy prog rams in research, education and extension may be difficult to mea sure quantitatively, but it is easy to observe. In the 1930 s the efforts of Penn State literally kept the dairy farmers alive. In the 1940 s the arti ficial insemination program was begun. ‘Today the Penn State tradition continues. The potential of new technology that this new facility can produce is unlimited. We are at the right place at the right time. Penn State is close to one fourth to one third of the U.S. dairy popula tion. The production practices that brought us through die 1950’s and 1960‘s must continue to change to met today’s and the future’s dairy farm economic needs. Likewise, many good young men and women are eager for an education and the many new things to be discovered in agriculture. We know the educa tors and researchers have served our industry and specifically dairy farmers very well in the past The awesome challenge is to continue to turn out the answers to the prob lems we have today and the prob lems we have tomorrow.” Lamartine Hood said the new state-of-the-art dairy facilities pos itions Penn State to attract the best faculty and the best students. “The products of these efforts give our cooperative extension system the kind of quality information that has been its hallmark in serving the industry at the grassroots level,” Hood said. “Certainly in Pennsyl vania and beyond, our College of Agricultural Sciences will con tinue its roll in contributing to research, extension, and resident education programs to the dairy industry. “This new facility will allow us to enhance our research and to con tinue to provide the latest informa tion to Pennsylvania dairy farmers. The profitability of our dairy indusby depends on how well we work with industry and govern ment partners to find new and prac tical solutions and scientific advances in production, distribu tion. safety, and consumer under standing of our products and pro cesses. One of the ways the land grant university strengthens its commitment to the industries’ competitiveness and the public's health and safety is to maintain facilities that provide the best arena to conduct research and provide learning experiences for our students.” The new Pennsylvania Secret ary of Agriculture Charles Brosius said both he and Governor Tom Ridge share the belief that the pro fitability of farmers and farm fami lies must be increased. “It is appropriate that these new facilities position the university in the forefront of dairy research and education,” Brosius said. “Since we all know Pennsylvania’s dairy industry leads the common wealth’s number one industry— farming. The opening of these facilities represents the best in the partnership between the common wealth and it’s land grant' institu tion, Penn State. I’m proud, humbled, to be able to participate in this important occasion.” Obie Snider said, “We accept with enthusiasm this tremendous facility. I bring from the trustees sincere thanks to the common wealth for support of Penn Slate and the college’s dairy research and education. We applaud your generous and discerning invest ment in the future of Pennsylvani a’s dairy industry. “Remarkable progress is being made in breeding, feeding, health and nutrition. Penn State’s College of Agricultural Sciences will lead on the cutting edge. These facilities will encourage and challenge teaching and research for many generations. “These facilities, like facilities of the past, will inspire dreams to come true. This dairy and research center will make giant contribu tions to an industry that is vital to a healthful economy in Pennsylvani a. Indeed, we can only respond with great anticipation and enthu siasm by joining together to say ‘we are Penn State.’” Daniel Hagen said, “The new facilities put Penn State at the cut ting edge of modem dairy prac tices. They will provide us with improved capabilities to conduct research and educational prog rams. Studies in ruminant nutri tion. forage utilization, reproduc tive physiology and lactation, and young stock management benefit tremendously from these new, flexible facilities.” Because the primary functions of the new facility are research and education, it includes some fea tures not found on a typical produc tion farm. For example, because of the size of the buildings and their public use, they were constructed without wood, and strict building codes required a sizable sprinkler system for fire control. The feed center provides storage and mixing of feeds for all animals in the dairy operation. The facility has five new upright silos of vari ous capacities for storing forages and grains for research studies. Sixteen overhead bins store ingre dients for conventional and experi mental feeds. Hay. bedding, and commodities are stored in a new pole bam. The feed center also includes three new horizontal silos. The 60-cow tiestall bam is dis igned with wide feed alleys to accommodate equipment to feed each animal individually for nutri tion studies. Walls are constructed for maximum natural ventilation in the summer. The heifer bam can house 160 replacement heifers from three to 24 months of age. The bam has a drive-through design with half freeslalls and half bedded pack. Officials at the dedication of Penn State’s new $5.5 million dairy research and edu cation facility are from left, Daniel Hagen, Lamartine Hood, Joab Thomas, Charles Brosius, Harry Roth, and Obie Snider. The facility will be equipped for individual feeding. Steve Spencer, professor of dairy science, helped design the center’s computerized milking system, which has a data acquisition and control system that transfers' information from milk flow measuring devices to computers. The milking parlor, constructed almost entirely of stainless steel, consists of a double-10 herring bone stall arrangement with rapid exit gates. For greater visibility, the stalls are arranged in front of the operators’ area instead of at the rear. Milking parlor gates, indexing rails, and rapid-exit stall fronts are operated by compressed air. fum- V % One of the stops on the tour of the facilities was this calf area where each Individual is limited to Its own feed bln. ished by two 7x5-horscpower two stage compressors, with operator controls in three locations. It also has automatic teat dip sprayer units. The milking system consists of 20 automatic take-off units with arm-type detachers, milk meeters, and automatic cow identification. Vacuum is furnished by tow 10-horsepower water-ring vacuum pumps, chosen for their low noise levels. Milk is cooled within minutes and stored in a 4,000-gal lon tank. The fireestall bam houses 120 adult cows and allows cows to be separated into groups of .20 for research. Equipment will be installed for individual feeding. Twelve-foot-wide outdoor black top travel lanes permit animals to