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.

From glow-in-the-dark bacteria to televised tours of a live cow’s stomach, hot-rod tractors to virtual forests, you’ll find a variety of scientific show-and-tells at the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences Open House, Saturday, August 19 beginning at 10 a.m.

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.

People interested in starting grass-based dairy farms won’t have to travel long distances to learn from current graziers and other grass-based dairy specialists. A Distance Education project based at the University of Wisconsin-Madison’s College of Agricultural and Life Sciences will allow students to “meet” with the experts at county UW-Extension offices and on their home computers. The seminar will be taught at the Animal Sciences building on the CALS campus, with audio and synchronized PowerPoint visuals transmitted over the Internet to county offices and home PCs.

Robert G. Cassens, emeritus professor of meat and animal science at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has received the Nicholas Appert Award from the Institute of Food Technologists. Cassens received IFT’s highest honor for advancing the field of food science through his research on the use of nitrite as a meat-curing agent, and for his defense of the safety of cured meat. He received the award July 24 at the IFT’s annual meeting in Chicago.

Elton D. “Abe” Aberle, Dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, has been named a Fellow of the American Society of Animal Science.

Elton D. Aberle, head of the animal sciences department at the University of Nebraska-Lincoln, was named Feb. 20, 1998, as dean of the University of Wisconsin-Madison College of Agricultural and Life Sciences by Chancellor David Ward.

The Fourth Great Lakes Dairy Sheep Symposium will be held at the Badgerland Area Civic Center in Spooner, Wis., June 26-27, 1998.

University of Wisconsin-Madison Chancellor David Ward will consider four finalists for dean of the College of Agricultural and Life Sciences recommended Tuesday by a college search committee.

Professor Arthur J. Maurer died Saturday, Jan. 10, 1998 at his home in Verona, Wis., of cardiac arrhythmia due to coronary artery disease. He was 55 years old.