The labs of Drs. Jennifer Van Os, Sarah Adcock, & Allie Andrukonis
Last Saturday was the annual open house at the UBC Dairy Education & Research Centre. Despite the light rain, we got an estimated 870 visitors, many on bicycle! In addition to drinking free chocolate milk, our guests learned about dairy farming and research on animal welfare, reproduction, and nutrient management. Along with UBC honors undergraduate …
Come visit us at the UBC Dairy Education & Research Centre on Saturday, July 22! Download a copy of the flyer here
Moisture can create muddy surfaces on pasture or in housing systems such as drylots and bedded packs. Dairy cattle show signs of increased stress in rainy and windy conditions, but previous research had not separated the effects of inclement weather from muddy ground conditions. We housed pregnant cows and heifers in dirt-floored enclosures to evaluate …
Last week I attended the 2017 American Dairy Science Association meeting in Pittsburgh, PA. I presented a poster on our project “Sampling strategies for dairy cow welfare assessments“, which is nearly ready to submit for publication. During her M.Sc., Julia Trieb visited from Austria and collected about two dozen animal-based measures on 10 California drylot …
I recently attended the 35th annual Western Canadian Dairy Seminar in Red Deer, Alberta. It was a big year, with over 900 attendees! I had a great time meeting producers and discussing their concerns about and ideas for improving cow comfort. I also chatted with some folks about thinking outside the box (but inside the …
I have changed my name from Jennifer M. Chen to Jennifer Van Os, and going forward I will be publishing as J. Van Os or J. M. C. Van Os. I recently learned that “os” means ox in Dutch – conviently fitting for someone studying cattle!
My colleague Anne-Marieke Smid, a Ph.D. student in the UBC Animal Welfare Program, is nearing the end of a study she’s conducting. She is housing lactating cows in groups of 12 at a time. They have deep sand-bedded freestalls indoors and get access to an outdoor area. In one of her previous studies, she gave …
Last week was the 49th annual B.C. Dairy Expo, which included a Farm Tour. Nine local dairies in the Fraser Valley held open houses. This pdf brochure shows the list of farms and their features. I managed to visit the 4 dairies in Abbotsford and the 2 in Deroche. What the participating farms had in common was a …
Greetings from snowy British Columbia! I’m thrilled to have joined the renowned Animal Welfare Program at the University of British Columbia as a postdoctoral fellow. I’m based at the UBC Dairy Education and Research Centre in Agassiz. The above photo shows a view of the facilities and Mt. Cheam after last week’s fresh snow fall. It’s quite a …
Last week I attended the 100th Annual Convention of the California Cattlemen’s Association & California Cattlewomen, which was held in Sparks, NV. I presented a poster about our recent study on feeding motivation in feedlot cattle, and Helene Dillard, the dean of the College of Agricultural and Environmental Sciences at UC Davis, stopped by to check it out. …