Brief Summary of Minutes of Annual Meeting

NCAC-6 Livestock Production Minutes of Annual Meeting January 24, 2006 Atlanta, GA Attendees: Donald Marshall (SD), NCAC-6 Administrative Advisor; Jim Kinder (OH), Neal Merchen (IL), Abel Ponce de Leon (MN), Maynard Hogberg (IA), Vikram Mistry (SD), Janice Swanson (KS), Karen Plaut (MI), Don Beermann (NE), Alan Grant (IN), Don Kirby (ND), Dan Schaefer (WI), Muquarrab Qureshi (USDA-CSREES) Absent: Bob Thaler (SD), Ric Grummer (WI), Mike Smith (MO) Jim Kinder, NCAC-6 Chair, called the meeting to order. The committee moved immediately to reviews of new/revised projects and mid-term project reviews. New/Revised Project Reviews NC_temp107 - An Integrated Approach to Control of Bovine Respiratory Diseases Grant and Swanson, reviewers This is a very well-written proposal with an overall goal of conducting a coordinated research effort to better understand the etiology of bovine diarrheal virus and develop methods for combating it. The committee has an excellent array of multi-disciplinary expertise and the strengths and contributions of individual participants are well defined. Objectives are clearly stated and probability of successfully addressing the objectives is high. Past annual reports from this committee reflect good teamwork and productivity. Grant recommended approval without revision. Moved by Hogberg, second by Plaut, the committee unanimously recommends approval without revision. NCERA _temp89  Swine Production Management to Enhance Animal Welfare Hogberg and Ponce de Leon, reviewers Objectives of the project are very general and vague. It is difficult to determine what the committee intends to do from the objectives and objectives do not seem to be aligned with expected outcomes and impacts. The committee is unique in the sense that it is the only committee that addresses management issues in swine production. While the committee has changed its name to include animal welfare, there is no expertise in animal behavior or welfare among the participants on the committee. The committee does have a long history of collaboration among participants in research and dissemination of research findings has been good because several participants have extension responsibilities. Hogberg recommended that the proposal be revised before approval. Moved by Ponce de Leon, second by Kinder, to recommend approval following revision as follows: " The proposal must be revised to reflect more focused objectives " The committee should consider recruiting participant(s) that have expertise in animal behavior/welfare The NCAC-6 committee recommends approval following revision. NCERA_temp199  Implementation and Strategies for National Beef Cattle Genetic Evaluation Beermann and Schaefer, reviewers Objectives are clear and well-stated and the issue is important. The potential to attain objectives is difficult to assess (in research) because the research approach is stated only in very general terms. Objectives and the approach for extension and outreach activities are well-defined and of high priority. Beermann recommended that the project be approved following revision to include more specificity in the research approach to achieve objectives. Moved by Schaefer, second by Hogberg, to recommend approval after revision to provide greater clarity and specificity in the research approach. The NCAC-6 committee recommends approval following revision. NCERA_temp87  Beef Cow Calf Nutrition and Management Committee Hogberg and Grant, reviewers Objectives are clearly stated and include several strategic directions to address nutritional, management, and reproductive considerations in beef cow enterprises. The proposal would benefit from more detail regarding the ways in which strengths of different participants will be used to accomplish the objectives. However, it was assessed that probability of successfully addressing objectives is high. There is a strong educational component to the proposal and past activities of the committee include effective programs for dissemination of results. Overall, there appears to be good collaboration and synergy among participants. Hogberg recommended approval without revision. Moved by Beermann, second by Swanson, the NCAC-6 recommends approval without revision. Mid-Term Project Reviews NC1008  Advanced Technologies for the Genetic Improvement of Poultry (formerly NC-168) Plaut and Swanson, reviewers This is an excellent project that fulfills all expectations for multistate research in exemplary fashion. Objectives are cutting-edge and well-defined. Roles of participants are well-described and productivity of the committee has been outstanding. The progress on the project is excellent with publication of the chicken genome at 6X coverage in Nature as a highlight. Linkages among participants are numerous as evidenced by many papers with multiple authorships, sharing of reagents, cell lines, sequences, etc. The working relationships go across 5 international centers. The project clearly has global implications. The science is highly competitive and will provide significant benefit for the industry. It has tremendous potential in terms of commercialization of some of the resources and(or) technology. Plaut recommended continuation of the project without revision. Moved by Beermann, second by Hogberg, the committee recommends continuation without revision. NC1012  Improved Crop and Livestock Management for Protecting the Non-Glaciated Upper Mississippi Valley Schaefer and Plaut, reviewers This is a well-written project with good objectives and goals and a good interdisciplinary make-up of participants. Annual reports provide evidence of impact of the research of individual committee participants. However, tangible collaboration among NC1012 scientists and across disciplines seems to be lacking. Committee member attendance at annual meetings is difficult to discern from minutes and annual reports. Progress towards joint publications should intensify and collaboration among participants should be more evident. The intended outputs of this committee would be significant accomplishments. The committee is encouraged to document progress towards these goals in its annual reports and to follow through with its original intentions. Schaefer recommended continuation of the project with significant revision. Moved by Schaefer, second by Merchen, to recommend continuation with the following points addressed in revision: " The committee must document the nature of interdisciplinary collaboration in the project " Efforts to generate extramural funding for the project should be reported " Publication of co-authored papers that reflect collaborations among disciplines should be completed The NCAC-6 committee recommends continuation of the project with revisions as identified. If these points are not effectively addressed, this project may not receive a favorable recommendation for renewal in the future by NCAC-6. NCR173  Biochemistry and Genetics of Plant-Fungal Interactions Merchen and Mistry, reviewers NCAC-6 questions why this project is reviewed by our committee given the lack of any linkage to livestock production. Accomplishments of the committee have been excellent based on annual reports filed for the 2003 and 2004 meetings. A website has been developed where experimental protocols are posted to encourage development of standardized methods. Evidence of collaboration is very good  committee members have published at least five refereed papers since 1999 that reflect collaboration. Attendance and participation at annual meetings appears excellent. Merchen recommended continuation of the project without revision. Moved by Merchen, second by Plaut, the NCAC-6 committee recommends continuation of the project without revision. NCR206  Nutrition and Management of Feedlot Cattle to Optimize Performance, Carcass Value and Environmental Compatibility Beermann and Grummer, reviewers This project presents clear goals and objectives and accomplishments of the committee have been good. There is a reasonable record of publication by participants. Accomplishments and impact statements provide evidence of good progress on objectives one and two of the project (develop and document improved management strategies that improve efficiency, environmental impact, beef quality and beef safety). There is less evidence of attention to work on animal health and well-being, although this is identified as an objective. Linkages among participants in research are not readily identifiable but the educational linkages are quite strong. There is strong participation at annual meetings and joint discussions with industry representatives is commendable. Recommended by Beermann that project be continued without revision. Moved by Beermann, second by Hogberg, the committee recommends continuation of the project without revision. Primary reviewers of the above-mentioned projects will forward word files to AA Don Marshall with final reviews and recommendations. Dr. Marshall will arrange for posting of reviews on NIMSS. The committee briefly discussed the need for an additional project review. NC_temp1981 has submitted a revision of an earlier proposal that would change the status of that committee from its current NCR status to NC. The proposal was received too late to be reviewed at this meeting. Hogberg and Plaut will conduct a review on behalf of NCAC-6 and forward a recommendation to the full committee for consideration. The committee discussed the recurrent problems of incomplete reporting by NC and NCR committees to allow full evaluation of progress in mid-term reviews and at the time of applications for project renewals. It is perceived that the problem originates due to a lack of guidance and advice that committees receive on expectations in progress reports. Committees often do not have a clear understanding of the kinds of evidence (e.g., review of accomplishments, clear indications of impact, productivity, evidence of collaboration and synergy, extramural funding, etc.) that is used in evaluation. Annual reports often do not clearly report attendance and participation by members. NCAC-6 believes that reporting would be improved if guidelines and expectations were more clearly conveyed. Schaefer and Merchen will communicate with the NCRA office to obtain a checklist of guidelines that are used in evaluation of project progress. NCAC-6 will develop a draft of recommendations to the NCRA office for guidelines that administrative and CSREES advisors can share with committees to make them more fully aware of expectations for progress. Other Business The North Central region will host the 2007 meetings. Discussion of location considered the advantages and disadvantages of holding the meeting in conjunction with another major meeting (e.g., NCBA, World Poultry Congress). Past history indicates better attendance when the meeting has been held in conjunction with NCBA and there are advantages in making meeting arrangements. Therefore, the North Central region will plan to host the 2007 meeting in conjunction with the NCBA meeting in Nashville in late January. The Chair of NCAC-6 will take leadership in making meeting arrangements and establishing an agenda. Specific dates will be forthcoming following communication with NCBA. The committee adopted a change in term length of committee officers. Previous governance involved election of a Secretary to a three-year term followed by a three-year term as Chair. Moved by Schaefer, second by Ponce de Leon, to change the term lengths to two years. The motion passed unanimously. Merchen is currently serving as Secretary by appointment to complete the term of Don Boggs. Merchen will assume the Chair of the committee for the next two years. Nominations were opened for Secretary. Plaut was nominated by Ponce de Leon, second by Schaefer. Grant was nominated by Plaut, second by Kinder. After spirited campaigning by both candidates, Plaut was elected Secretary for a two-year term. Minutes recorded by Neal Merchen, NCAC-6 Secretary.