Real Science Exchange-Dairy
Balchem Real Science Exchange isn’t just any old boring podcast. You’ll get to know top researchers like you’ve never known them before. Go behind the scenes and hear the conversations that take place over a few drinks with friends. Join us as we discuss the hot topics in animal science and share a range of new ideas.
Episodes
Recommendations for identification and selection of bioactive compounds to develop antimethanogenic feed additives. Dr. Yáñez-Ruiz (8:23)
How can we search for molecules that modify how feed is fermented in the rumen? Conventionally, we have used scientific literature to look for plant extracts and compounds that have been researched before. Now, we have computational technology that offers opportunities to model how molecules inte...
Dr. Nichols opens by outlining her background in protein nutrition research spanning Canada, the Netherlands, industry R&D, and now academia at UC Davis. Her research has focused on mammary amino acid metabolism, nitrogen efficiency, and the interaction between protein and energy supply in dairy cattle. (1:00–4:05)
Dr. Räisänen shares her path from Penn State to Finland, Switzerland, and now Aarhus University, where she is leading ...
Dr. Ricklefs-Johnson talks about bone health and the cardiovascular health benefits of cheese. Calcium, phosphorus, and vitamins D, K, and B12 are all important for bone health, and cheese is a good source of each. In the past, saturated fat in cheese would have been demonized, but research is finding that saturated fat isn’t created equally across all food types, and cheese has many unique fatty acids. Cheese consumption is associ...
Dr. Rico’s presentation was titled “Of cows and bugs: Using insects as alternative feeds in dairy cattle nutrition.” He gives an overview of his presentation, noting that while insects are not a major focus of US dairy nutrition, they are of interest in other parts of the world as a protein source to substitute for soybean or fish meal. (2:12)
Dr. Dou’s talk was “Alternative feed for livestock: Opportunities and challenges to suppor...
This episode’s guests were speakers on a Hot Topic Panel titled “Farm Management for the Future - Managing for Health, Welfare, and Performance” at the 2025 ADSA annual meeting.
Dr. Nelson gives some background on how the Hot Topic Panel idea came to be and introduces the rest of the guests. (1:07)
Dr. Devries describes his research program in dairy cattle behavior and nutrition, particularly using behavior as a metric for understan...
Genetic resilience and the dynamics of inbreeding and diversity in dairy breeding. Dr. Maltecca (6:43)
The main issues in managing genetic diversity in dairy cattle include inbreeding depression and continuing selection without exhausting the available variability in the population. These are difficult to investigate in a breeding population, as there is not a model algorithm where there is the luxury of designing an experiment. Dai...
Host Scott Sorrell begins the episode by setting expectations for a science-first conversation on chelated trace minerals, noting panelist affiliations while emphasizing that the discussion is grounded in research, not promotion. Stephen Ashmead, Senior Fellow for Chelates with Balchem, shares the origins of chelated mineral technology through Albion Laboratories, founded in 1956 by his grandfather, Harvey Ashmead, after recognizin...
Greg Nye introduces himself and Mountain View Dairy, where he manages three facilities and associated farm ground. He outlines the design and construction timeline of their fully enclosed feed center and shares the three primary benefits behind the project: reduced shrinkage, improved ration consistency, and enhanced employee safety. (1:41)
Greg explains how external receiving and intentionally separated traffic flows eliminate cros...
This episode’s guests were speakers on the Joint ADSA-CSAS Breeding and Genetics Symposium:
Dairy Welfare—Breeding and Management Strategies at the 2025 ADSA annual meeting.
Jessica’s talk was titled “Herd Sustainability Index: Using milk recording data to evaluate dairy herd sustainability.” This index provides a national percentile ranking benchmark for producers relative to sustainability from DHI data. The index evaluates ten in...
Rob and Adrian share their family’s journey, from Dutch immigrant roots to managing large-scale dairy operations in California and Colorado, and discuss how communication, leadership structure and disciplined decision-making have helped them successfully scale their operation. The conversation also dives into lessons learned from facility design, sustainability initiatives and the launch of a consumer colostrum brand rooted in dair...
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 e...
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.
Dr. Broderick’s presentation was titled “Protein analysis methodology.” The high points of his talk include recommendations for nitrogen analysis in feeds, potential improvements in determining protein degradability and undegradability in the rumen, and near...
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.
Dr. Johnson’s presentation was titled “Advancing dairy sustainability through feed-efficient genetics and genomics: Research insights and applications.” She gives an overview of her talk, which focused on data STgen...
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)
The panelists discuss the healthfulness of saturated fats, the resurgence of butter, milk’s bioactive compounds, and how best to reach the public about the health benefits of dairy. (10:...
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.
Dr. Lock gives an overview of the evolution of our knowledge of biologically important fatty acids in dairy cows. Much like we think more about amino acids than crude protein thes...
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
Abstract 2186: Effects of feeding alternative forage silages on early lactation performance and gas production in multiparous Holstein cows. (00:15)
Guests: Barbara Dittrich and Dr. Heather White, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Co-Host: Dr. Clay Zimmerman, Balchem
Barbara substitu...
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.
Dr. VandeHaar explains the idea behind creating the panel discussion for the opening session and his selection of the other three podcast guests as panel members. (2:02)
Dr. Baes was the genomics expert on the panel. Her talk focused on w...
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.
Dr. Weiss shares about his early life, schooling, and academic career. (2:29)
Panelists introduce the...
This episode features speakers from the 2025 ADSA Applied Nutrition Symposium, “Milk Pricing Dynamics and Strategies for Enhancing Milk Fat Production.”
Dr. Lock gave the highlights of his presentation on dietary opportunities for promoting milk fat. (2:18)
Dr. St. Pierre’s presentation focused on the change we've had in the way milk and its components are priced. (5:25)
Dr. Van Amburgh’s symposium talk covered amino acid supplement...
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
MS Oral Presentation, Production
Guests: Trinidad Fernandez-Wallace and Dr. Lautaro Rostoll-Cangiano, University of Wisconsin-Madison
Co-host: Dr. Laura Niehues, Balchem
Abstract 1218: Immunity at the crossroads of cellular metabolism:...
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