The Wisconsin Agricultural and Life Sciences Alumni Association presented Activity and Leadership Awards to five students who graduated from the Farm and Industry Short Course program in the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

It’s important to keep antibiotic residues out of milk, and few dairy producers think they will ever have a problem on their farms. But producers whose herds’ somatic cell counts are high have reason to be concerned, according to a University of Wisconsin-Madison dairy scientist.

With fertilizer and energy prices high this year, Wisconsin growers may plant more soybeans and less corn. But state farmers, who planted 1.5 million acres of beans last year, face new pests that could cost them more than $50 per acre.

If your purchased-nitrogen budget is limited, you’ll see much better returns by applying some nitrogen to all responsive acres rather than applying all of your nitrogen to some fields and none to others, according to Larry Bundy, a soil scientist at the UW-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

Nitrogen prices are skyrocketing and 2001 corn prices will probably be no better than last year’s — not a great situation for corn growers. One easy way to save money on nitrogen this year is to take full credit for the nitrogen that’s already in your fields, according to Larry Bundy, a soil scientist at the UW-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

Yearling Holstein steers that were dehorned and then put on feed gained weight much more slowly than herdmates that had been dehorned as calves, research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Lancaster Agricultural Research Station has shown.

Holstein steers can pack on the pounds grazing kura clover/grass pastures, trials at the UW-Madison’s Lancaster Agricultural Research Station have shown. Steers grazing kura clover/grass outperformed those on red clover/grass, and far surpassed gains on alfalfa/grass reported in earlier studies at Lancaster. The kura clover-based pastures had no problems handling intensive grazing pressure, according to researchers at the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences.

Lydia Zepeda, an associate professor of consumer science, has been chosen as director of the Center for Integrated Agricultural Systems at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.

The Wisconsin School for Beginning Dairy Farmers’ Grass-based Dairy Seminar at the University of Wisconsin-Madison offers its students much more than a unique learning environment. It offers them opportunities to meet with Wisconsin’s working farmers at professional conferences.

Bob Williams of Pardeeville, who recently retired from the Wisconsin Department of Agriculture, Trade and Consumer Protection, received the 2001 Service to Agriculture Award from the Farm and Industry Short Course at the University of Wisconsin-Madison.