Feeding some tallow is a good way to pack extra energy into a dairy diet, but too much tallow can disrupt rumen function and depress milk fat production, particularly when diets are high in corn silage. Some studies have shown that adding alfalfa hay to corn silage diets can revive some of that fat production. However, alfalfa silage may not have the same curative powers as alfalfa hay, University of Wisconsin-Madison research has shown.

Nearly fifty years after a landmark paper proposed the existence of what later came to be called jumping genes, scientists are getting their first clear snapshot of one caught in midleap.

Orchardist Dale Secher speaks for many Wisconsin fruit growers when he says that he cares about his customers as much as his bottom line.

Six CALS faculty members will be honored at the Gamma Sigma Delta banquet Monday, April 24 at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s Memorial Union. Banquet tickets are $20. For more information, please call CALS Outreach Services, (608) 263-1672.

A cell membrane protein thought mainly to bind “bad” cholesterol and remove it from circulation also plays a major role in reducing the production of that cholesterol, according to a study published this February in the Journal of Clinical Investigation.

Have you ever seen a purple carrot? How about white, yellow, or red? Most people haven’t, even though such carrots have existed for hundreds of years. You may see them in the future, however. Recent research at the University of Wisconsin-Madison suggests that pigments in these colorful carrots, which taste just like regular carrots, may help prevent heart disease and cancer, and reduce cholesterol.

Alfred E. “Alf” Harper has had a major impact on nutritional science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, across the country and around the world.

Chronic wasting disease, a degenerative brain disorder of deer and elk, has been found in animals in Colorado and Wyoming. While uncommon, the disease has made a lot of hunters, wildlife managers and health officials nervous. CWD is a spongiform encephalopathy, belonging to the same family of disorders as “mad cow disease” and Creutzfeldt-Jakob disease, a fatal brain-destroying disease of humans.

Researchers at the University of Wisconsin-Madison report in current issue of the Journal of Nutrition that small concentrations of two compounds from plants we eat suppress the growth of three kinds of human cancer cells in the laboratory.

Treated lumber is often used for outdoor projects – from raised garden beds, to decks and children’s play structures. But treated lumber is slow to decay because it is treated with chemicals some people fear could contaminate soil and jeopardize our health.