West Central Research and Outreach Center

(Dairy Star) Dairy farmers are always looking for ways to be more efficient and productive on their farms, while also creating the best welfare environment for their animals. For organic producers, the practice of raising calves on cows is gaining more traction for all these reasons.

The wean-to-estrus interval (WEI) is defined as the number of days between weaning and the first day standing heat is observed. This is a critical timepoint to breed newly weaned sows to ensure herd productivity and maintain a high number of litters produced per sow per year.

Working to find outside-the-box solutions that address existing limitations of energy technologies is a unifying goal among many ARPA-E programs. The WCROC will be demonstrating next-generation ammonia production thanks to funding from ARPA-E.