February 16, 2012
AMES, Iowa — An annual report of research related to animal agriculture at Iowa State University is available online.
The animal science department has included the research projects completed in 2011 for beef, dairy, horses, poultry, sheep, swine and companion animals. The research relates to production efficiencies, environmental quality, animal product food safety and animal behavior and well-being.
"The research was conducted to support the viability of each of these industries in Iowa," said Maynard Hogberg, chair of the Department of Animal Science at Iowa State.
Hogberg said most of the research was funded by external grants from industry or the federal government because budget cuts in appropriated funds have eliminated operating funds for research. The Iowa Agriculture and Home Economics Experiment Station at Iowa State also supported the research projects.
"To the credit of our scientists, they have been very successful in bringing funds to work on problems of importance to animal agriculture," he added.
An international team of scientists coordinated by Iowa State won a federal grant last year to improve feed efficiency in swine. Iowa State animal scientists are part of similar national projects on dairy and beef cattle.
Iowa State is leading swine health research projects with USDA support that have animal welfare and production aspects: A study on heat stress is looking at the physiological impacts on pigs and another project seeks to understand and solve lameness, which could save pork producers $23 million a year.
The report is available without charge on the Web at: http://lib.dr.iastate.edu/ans_air/