2000 - Volume #24, Issue #6, Page #5

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Measuring A Cow's "Output"

Measuring A Cow's "Output" LIVESTOCK Dairy (17) 24-6-5 Farming giant J.G.Boswell is building a 47,000-head dairy operation near Fresno, Calif. In Northern Indiana, Dutch investors are putting up several 10,000-head dairies. Handling manure from gigantic operations like these is becoming a focus of more and more research by animal scientists at Universities across the country. One approach is to try to reduce the volume of manure by modifying diets. The more digestible the diet, the less manure cows will produce, says Wendy Powers, an assistant professor of animal science at Iowa State University. One tool she uses to evaluate various diets is to strap bags onto the back end of cows to gather their daily "output".