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New MSU dairy center could be 5 years away

A fire on Michigan State University’s dairy research center earlier this summer is speeding up plans for a major overhaul of facilities.

Barry Bradford tells Brownfield the fire in the feed center compromised the integrity of feed silos on the farm and rather than retrofit the 60-year-old facility, plans for new infrastructure investments in a new location are underway to better reflect today’s dairy industry and lessen nutrient management challenges south of campus.

“We are looking closely now at a piece of ground that has already been donated to MSU near Grand Ledge, that’s kind of our working model to potentially use that piece of ground,” he says.

MSU plans to survey the state’s dairy industry for input but the new center will include hands-on teaching for undergraduates, graduates, and veterinary students, along with consumer educational components.

“We think both for cash flow reasons and for research capacity reasons, it’s going to make sense to look at milking between 500 to 700 cows,” he explains.

Dairy is the largest sector of Michigan’s agricultural industry and Bradford says he hopes research also includes genetics that lead to reduced methane production, agronomic and animal management interfacing, along with animal welfare and wellbeing studies.

Once funds are secured, Bradford says it could be at least three years before a new center is operational, he’s optimistic that’s about five years from now.