Precision Feed Management Certification for Dairy Professionals
Each state in the region has set goals for nutrient reductions in nitrogen and phosphorus. The challenge faced by the dairy industry is that its 820,000 dairy cows are found on over 10,000 individually operated dairy farms, where diets differ in forage type and quality, commodity type and quality, and feeding systems. To complicate the situation, daily rations can not only vary across farms, but within them as well.
In order to help reduce nutrient pollution and implement the NRCS Feed Management Standard 592, specialists in Pennsylvania, Maryland and Virginia are working with NRCS and the American Registry of Professional Animal Scientists to develop a process to certify nutritionists as feed management planners. With few areas in the nation working with the dairy industry and NRCS on feed management, the Mid-Atlantic is being looked at as a potential standard for how other states can train nutritionists for a feed management certification and meet their post-certification, professional needs.
Check the events page to find out when the next training will be offered, or contact your state representative to learn more about certification.
Publications
State Contacts
| Virginia Ishler, PA (Project Lead) |
| Charles Stallings, VA |
| Rick Kohn, MD |