Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

Approval of Minutes: The 2013 meeting minutes were posted to the NIMSS website. Chair Wayne Greene called for a motion to approve the 2013 minutes. Rusk moved and Dahl seconded; motion passed. Discussion – Topics Important to Southern Region: A. FTE’s and Teaching Credit: Rusk suggested asking Deans to put FTE reporting into the faculty salary survey. There was discussion on the best information and format. Greene agreed to draft a request to Alan Matthews to extend the survey to include FTE in T/R/E for hard funded faculty positions. B. Southern Section Meeting Issues: Noble raised the issue of a conflict with SAAS this year and suggested having the Southern Section meet 2 weeks after the NCBA convention but this was not accepted as a good possibility. The change of dates is not likely to occur in the future unless some interaction with SAAS occurs. Greene will contact ASAS Executive Director or Mark Legendre to ask about timing of SAAS. C. Sharing Information Relative to State Budgets: Harmon suggested that funding is so different between states that it is hard to compare without knowing the Federal part, and that is complicated by the fact that information differs by year. Greene suggested possibly sharing strategies among states instead. Harmon asked about funding teaching and indicated they now have >$50k in course fees. At Florida, Dahl indicated, they collect expendable fees and long-term equipment fees, some up to $250. Harmon indicated $100 is the max at KY. D. Teaching Loads and Subjects: Brown asked about whether teaching loads/subjects should be shared across schools and the possibility of multi-state courses. There may be suggestions from the committee Janice Swanson is chairing, including a survey of distance ed. Ag*Idea was suggested as one option. Discussion about logistics ensued and the possibility of challenge grant opportunities. Green suggested pulling together from the Southern Region the courses in u.g. and grad programs that would lend themselves to share across schools; he will send out poll to see what courses are needed that we can’t teach at our respective institutions or at which we are not doing such a good job. Conner indicated that Ag*Idea would be a possible degree program format if well thought out ahead of time with participants well defined. It was mentioned that 75% of the fee goes somewhere else for undergrad but it does let students take special problems at other schools. Reporting on Multi-State Projects: A. S1025 – Systems for Controlling Air Pollutant Emissions and Indoor Environments of Poultry, Swine, and Dairy Facilities – Bob Harmon, Monitor: This project has been terminated; no longer in NIMSS. Dahl moved to remove; Noble seconded. Motion passed. B. S1027 – The Poultry Food System: A Farm to Table Model – Don Conner, Monitor: A Development Committee is in place as SDC 349. Casey Owens had suggested combining with another project but the decision was made not to combine. The project lacks momentum but the committee will meet at PSA in the summer to decide about a re-write vs. termination. This project existed for 35-40 years as a NC project, but is not supported well now. Conner thought it ~50-50 chance to have a project in by September, though they were productive in the past. Conner moved to support the project now with a strong evaluation in the future. Dahl seconded. Motion passed. C. S1032 – Animal Production Systems: Synthesis of Methods to Determine Triple Bottom Line Sustainability from Findings of Reductionist Research – Bob Harmon, Monitor: This project has a new title and replaces the old 1032; approved to 2018. Report from Harmon: The overall mission of the project is to use a systems approach to develop strategies to reduce environmental impact and enhance sustainability (environmental, social, economic). Briefly, the objectives are: 1) Engage collaborators from the needed broad range of disciplines, institutions, and stakeholder groups to work together and share data, 2) Facilitate organization, synthesis, and integration of research findings and supporting data, and 3) Discover, substantiate, and interpret the impacts of modifications to animal-production systems. Plans include a quarterly webinar for collaborators to share progress, development of a site to share data, and a workshop at each annual meeting. The annual meeting program was a workshop on systems thinking and how techniques of systems thinking can help in research and extension on sustainable animal protein production at all scales. The workshop was facilitated by professionals, The Systems Thinking Collaborative. Twenty-eight participants were present representing all member universities. This meeting represented the kickoff for the new project. The major outcome from the meeting was the development of a Causal Loop Diagram that will provide the basis for addressing research gaps during the next 5 years. In addition, a detailed discussion was hosted on perceptions of sustainability. An impressive list of impact statements were reported in the final report and the project has been quite productive. Recommendation: Commend the group on the new project and recommend continuation of the project. Harmon moved; Conner seconded; motion passed D. S1035 – Nutritional and Management Abatement Strategies for Improvement of Poultry Air and Water – Mary Beck, Monitor: This project has no report in NIMSS but it appears a development committee has been established. Tony Pescatore may be involved in a writing committee; Beck will clarify; Conner seconded; motion passed. E. S1037 – Integrative Functional and Physiological Genomics of Poultry – Mike Kidd, Monitor: This project has terminated; no report was given (Kidd did not attend the meeting). It is no longer in NIMSS. Schrick moved to remove from list; Dahl seconded; motion passed. F. S1040 – Genetic Selection and Crossbreeding to Enhance Reproduction and Survival of Dairy Cattle – Geoff Dahl, Monitor: This project terminated on 9/20/13 and was replaced by SCC084. Notes for Coordinating Committee SCC084 from Dahl Met at DMI headquarters in Chicago, October 21-22, 2013 Attendees: Dr. Chad Dechow (Penn State), Keith Gibson (Penn State), Dr. Brad Heins (U Minnesota), Dr. Kent Weigel (U Wisconsin), Dr. John Cole (USDA-AIPL), Dr. Les Hansen (U Minnesota), Dr. Rebecca Colburn (Virginia Tech), Dr. Heather Huson (Cornell), Dr. Albert DeVries (U Florida), Dr. Diane Spurlock (Iowa State), Dr. Mike Schutz (Purdue), Dr. Nancy Cox (Administrative Advisor), Dr. Geoff Dahl (U Florida, representing Department Chairs) Previously known as S-1040, current project has a focus on genetic analysis to improve efficiency of dairy cattle. Station reports from all participating stations and a number of data sharing arrangements among participants resulted from discussion. Major education and outreach effort through workshop “Advancing Dairy Cattle Genetics: Genomics and Beyond”, February 17-19, 2014, Phoenix, Arizona; Registration for the conference is $150, and may be made at the following website: http://www.ans.iastate.edu/events/dairygenomics/. Asked that Dahl emphasize to Chairs/Heads that grad student travel support be provided by departments to increase participation. Two new members (Huson and Colburn) from stations previously engaged in the project (S-1040). John Cole elected secretary for project. Next meeting will be held October 23-24, 2014, in Ames, IA. This meeting will be organized by Diane Spurlock. Dahl moved support for this year; Bertrand seconded; motion passed. G. S1044 – Nutritional Systems for Swine to Increase Reproductive Efficiency – Dave Gerrard, Monitor: Project has been replaced with S1061 and approved to 2018 with Nancy Cox Administrative Advisor. The committee met January 9-10 in Orlando. Dahl moved support continuance; Harmon seconded; motion passed. H. S1045 – Genetic (Co)Variance of Parasite Resistance, Temperament, and Production Traits of Traditional and Non-Bos indicus Tropically Adapted Breeds – Keith Bertrand, Monitor: There are 11 universities or government research entities participating in this project. This group met in May 29-31, 2013 at Whitaker Arena, University of Arkansas, AR to discuss progress on the project, and 21 people from all the participating institutions plus some extra institutions (Clemson, Oklahoma State Univ.) attended the meeting. The attendance at this year’s meeting was the highest of any year of the current project and was much higher than the last year’s meeting (9 people from 6 of the participating institutions). The attendance at the meeting is very encouraging and signifies that there is still great interest in this project. The S-1045 Group continues to hold their meeting each year at one of the participating universities or government research entities. However, the attendance at the annual meeting has waxed and waned through the years, and the Group should still consider holding their annual meeting in conjunction with the Southern Section Animal Science Meetings or Annual Animal Science Meetings in order to save on travel costs and to maximize the probability of participation at the meetings. An annual report was also submitted in June of 2013. The project produced 21 papers and reports during this fourth year of the project compared to 27, 15 and 17 papers and reports for the first, second and third years, respectively. There are four objectives in this project. The first objective involves the estimation of genetic variation associated with susceptibility or resistance to measures of disease stress in cattle managed on forage. Two of the stations (AR, MS) reported on status of research concerning objective 1a (Infectious Bovine Keratoconjunctivitis), two stations (AR, TX ) reported on research status of objective 1b (Bovine Respiratory Disease Complex), and one station (VI) reported on objective 1c (Specific External Parasites. Objective 2 seeks to characterize diverse, tropically adapted breeds with an emphasis on cow fertility and productivity. Two stations (MS, TX) provided research reports on their activity on objective 2. Objective 3 seeks to establish a DNA bank for the characterization of molecular markers, genetic parameters and future gene discovery. Four of the stations (AR, MS, NC, TX) provided an update on their activity on this objective. Goal of Objective 4 is to evaluate the relationship between hair coat and production traits in beef cattle. Four of the stations (AR, MS, TX, VI) provided an update on their progress on objective 4. All four objectives appear to be progressing satisfactorily. Care should be taken to ensure that all the stations are connected through the use of some common sires whenever possible. It is also important to ensure that all stations are using common scoring and measuring systems for the diseases to describe hair shedding. The project is set to end on August 30, 2014. The Group wants to submit a new project; the deadline for the new project proposal is March 1, 2014. The next meeting of the Group has been scheduled for May 27-30, 2014 in College Station, TX and the meeting will be in conjunction with the WERA Beef Cattle Breeding Group. During the Southern Department Heads/Chairs Meeting in Tampa, FL, Keith Bertrand, the monitor for the project, moved that the Heads/Chairs approve another year of continuation for the project. Geoff Dahl seconded the motion and the motion was voted on and passed to continue the project. I. S1047 – Enhancing Reproductive Efficiency of Poultry – Mike Lacy, Monitor: Project has been dropped and terminated in NIMSS. No development committee is in place so is dropped from SAC-2. Dahl moved removal; Conner seconded; motion passed. J. SCC81 – Sustainable Small Ruminant Production in the Southeastern U.S. – Ralph Noble, Monitor: The committee is meeting in conjunction with SAAS in Texas this week. The project has had active publication record, collaborations with 1890’s. Extension brochures for goat industry have been developed. An international Goat Conference is planned with focus on parasites and use of forages to decrease use of grain; funding is being sought. Noble moved to continue support; Schrick seconded; motion passed. K. SERA -15 – Competitiveness and Sustainability of the Southern Dairy Industry – Mike Looper, Monitor: Schrick indicated the project has been very active but lost a key member. Met at the SE Dairy Conference. Schrick moved continuance; Rusk seconded; motion passed. L. SERA-41 – Beef Cattle Production Utilizing Forages in the Southeast to Integrate Research and Extension Programs across State Boundaries – Neal Schrick, Monitor: Participants continue to perform well in the extension component of this project with several multi-state events (ex. Mid-South Stocker Conference, Deep South Stocker Conference to name just a few). Last year, the group host a symposium at SS-ASAS with proceedings published in JAS. In terms of research activities, a few universities have formed multi-state projects (ex. Clemson, Tennessee, USDA-ARS Lexington – to study fescue effects on semen parameters) but this is not the norm for most. Dr Steve Oliver who serves as the project research adviser has recommended they take a stronger approach to building multi-state research activities as a whole. A sub-committee of this group has visited with NPLs in the past to discuss funding opportunities and the potential to submit a large integrated proposal. Completion date for this project is September 30, 2014 and a large part of the agenda for their upcoming meeting on Sunday, February 2 in Dallas will focus on the re-write and objectives. Again, strong participation as a whole from the group with what I believe will continue to be a very active, extension-oriented program with research activities/opportunities continuing to build. Schrick moved continuance and urged re-write; Dahl seconded; motion passed. Other Business: • Schrick brought up the issue of definition of “sustainability”; from the Nebraska Beef Roundtable with industry and academic representatives came comments that McDonalds and Wal-Mart are now only taking “sustainabile” beef. Greene asked Schrick to find out more on this topic. • There was a discussion of technology and social sustainability. GMO’s, for example, are viewed as Frankenfood. Many ignore the science and rely on perceptions, as with climate change. • Dahl indicated that the 2015 meeting will be in San Antonio in connection with NCBA on Tuesday and Wednesday Feb. 3-4. • Dahl moved to adjourn; Harmon seconded. Meeting adjourned.