In the Real Science Exchange Legacy Series, we celebrate the pioneers who have shaped the dairy industry. In this episode, we honor Dr. Don Beitz, a distinguished professor at Iowa State University. At the 2025 ADSA Annual Meeting, a symposium was held titled “Donald C. Beitz Recognition Symposium: 50-Plus Years of Dairy Science Research.” The guests on this episode, all former graduate students of Dr. Beitz, were speakers at the event. Join us as we explore Dr. Beitz’s contributions and enduring impact on our industry.

This episode features Dr. Glen Broderick and Dr. May Beth Hall, speakers at the 2025 ADSA Ruminant Nutrition Symposium: Anomalies in Analyzed Nutrient Composition of Feedstuffs.

This episode features Dr. Jocelyn Johnson with STgenetics, a speaker at the 2025 ADSA Breeding and Genetics Symposium: Creating Carbon-Friendly Cows and Leveraging Omics to Improve the Sustainability of Dairy Production.

Eve gives an overview of current and future consumer trends where dairy can play a role. Functional foods, health and wellness, high protein foods, fermented and cultured foods, women’s health, brain health, and aging are all part of the mix. (7:26)

Dr. Lock presented a Real Science Lecture Series webinar on June 3, 2025. This episode takes a deep dive into the current science and applications of feeding high-oleic soybeans in dairy diets. You can find the original webinar at balchem.com/realscience.

In this episode, we showcase student research at the 2025 ADSA Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. Abstracts can be found here: ADSA 2025 Annual Meeting

This episode features speakers from the 2025 ADSA Opening Session Panel: Designing Dairy 2045—Envisioning the Future of Cows, Dairy Products, and Farms, which explored the long-term future of dairy.

In the Real Science Exchange Legacy Series, we celebrate the pioneers who have shaped the dairy industry. In this episode, we honor Dr. Bill Weiss, professor emeritus at The Ohio State University. This episode was recorded at the 2025 ADSA annual meeting in Louisville, Kentucky, where Dr. Weiss received the 2025 ADSA Award of Honor.

This episode features speakers from the 2025 ADSA Applied Nutrition Symposium, “Milk Pricing Dynamics and Strategies for Enhancing Milk Fat Production.”

In this episode, we feature some of the winners of poster and oral presentation competitions at the 2025 ADSA Annual Meeting in Louisville, Kentucky. Abstracts can be found here: ADSA 2025 Annual Meeting

Dr. Dahl presented a Real Science webinar on heat stress on April 1, 2025. You can find the webinar at balchem.com/realscience. This episode of Real Science Exchange further explores the key elements of Dr. Dahl’s webinar.

This episode was recorded in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the 2025 Tri-State Dairy Conference. Dr. Fessenden gives an overview of his presentation which covered both research and field information on automated milking systems. He recommends going back to basics and formulating a rumen-friendly PMR with a complementary palatable feed that encourages the cows into the robot system. (5:57)

Dr. Schwanke begins by describing how we can shape cattle personalities through handling and management and adapting our strategies to accommodate different personality traits so as to not cause undue stress. Personality traits are consistent across time and context, which is nuanced by the other animals in a particular group. There are five generally recognized personality traits: boldness, exploration, activity, sociability and aggressiveness. Some debate exists as to whether dominance should be considered a sixth trait or if it’s just an outcome of the other five. (5:43)

Dr. Hutjens’ presentation focused on herds producing seven pounds of milk fat and milk protein per cow per day, and the genetics, on-farm management and nutrition to make that happen. The panel discusses where components could top out, how added dietary fat has influenced components and the importance of high quality forage to de novo fat synthesis. (4:09)

Dr. Firkins’ presentation covers key aspects of how to improve digestibility of different diet components: fiber, starch, fat and total diet. (4:31)

This episode was recorded in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the 2025 Tri-State Dairy Conference. Dr. Boerman notes we know cows experience a negative metabolizable protein balance in early lactation, which means they’re mobilizing skeletal muscle to make up for that. Dr. Boerman and her group have been interested in strategies to measure how much muscle they’re mobilizing, when they’re losing it and when they gain it back. (3:51)

Balchem’s Bourbon & Brainiacs event took place at the Frazier History Museum during the 2025 ADSA annual meetings in Louisville, Kentucky. Dr. Ryan Ordway, Balchem; Dr. Matt Lucy, University of Missouri; Dr. Normand St-Pierre, Ohio State University; Dr. Paul Kononoff, University of Nebraska; Dr. Manda Williamson, University of Nebraska

This episode was recorded in Fort Wayne, Indiana, during the 2025 Tri-State Dairy Conference. Dr. Carpenter gives an overview of her presentation. She summarizes an Extension risk management project regarding heifer development, assisting dairies in benchmarking their heifer growth and development. Key focus points include reducing morbidity and mortality and timely breeding to achieve goals for age at first calving. Dr. Carpenter also emphasized heat detection and conception, as well as recordkeeping as important considerations for success. (4:10)

Guests: Dr. José Santos, University of Florida; Dr. Jeff Firkins, The Ohio State University; Dr. Bill Weiss, Professor Emeritus, The Ohio State University; Dr. Jimena Laporta, University of Wisconsin; Dr. Jim Aldrich, CSA Animal Nutrition; Dr. Tom Overton, Cornell University; Dr. Mark Hanigan, Virginia Tech University; Martin Bengtsson, Balchem; Dr. Barry Bradford, Michigan State University; Dr. Turner Swartz, South Dakota State University; Dr. Adam Lock, Michigan State University; Dr. Goeff Dahl, University of Florida Balchem’s Bourbon & Brainiacs event took place at the Frazier History Museum during the 2025 ADSA annual meetings in Louisville, Kentucky. This bonus episode features a rotating slate of guests throughout the entirety of the episode.

Dr. Jaborek gives an overview of his presentation including sire selection, how beef on dairy crosses compare, feedlot performance, liver abscesses and red meat yield. (6:21) Beef sire availability and quality have changed over time with the development of selection indexes and selection criteria. Calving ease, growth, ribeye area,and quality grade are important traits. (10:03)