ADS Department Head Letter
It’s been a busy 2024 so far in the Department of Animal and Dairy Science.
New faculty member
This month, Dr. Erin Kaiser joined the faculty in ADS. Her focus is regenerative medicine with a focus on novel neuroprotectants and neuroregenerative agents to combat traumatic brain injuries and stroke. She received her doctorate here at UGA, and she was an undergraduate here receiving a BS in Animal and Dairy Science. One of her true loves is horses, and we’re excited to have her join the faculty.
UGA Focus on Genetically Enhanced EPD's sale
Last week’s UGA Focus on Genetically Enhanced EPD's sale was outstanding! Patsie and Carroll Cannon with Cannon Marketing, and Brooklyn Graham with Live Auctions TV did a phenomenal job! Brooklyn worked hard to get great videos of the bulls and heifers even with several days of delays due to weather. Kip McMillan, Chad Westmoreland, Caleb Williams, Tim Hunnicutt, and Mark Wade Gunter, our Eatonton farm staff, had the cattle looking good. Thanks to Tammy Cheely for being a clerk at the sale. Our undergraduate students in ADS Block and Bridle and UGA Cattlemen's had the purebred heifers halter broken, and they did a great job with setting up pens and moving cattle.
Three purebred heifers averaged $3,966. Two GAR Home Town sired bulls, and 1 GAR Dual Threat sired bull tied to top the sale at $5,500, each. Thirty-two bulls averaged $4,198. Twenty-five yearling heifers averaged $2,848. Carroll T. Cannon sent me the following note after the sale: ‘Last week we sold the most balanced set of bulls in the sale's history. They had power and growth along with lots of eye appeal in addition to calving ease… By the way, the top ten averaged $5,050. That's impressive.’ Several of our undergraduate students did an excellent job helping with the sale. Special mention should be made of Katlyn Davis, Annabelle Jerman, Madison Race, Maegan Stanley, William Gatch, and Campbell Turcotte.
Meat Dawgs score big
This month, our 2024 UGA ADS Intercollegiate Meat Judging Team won the 2024 South Plains Intercollegiate National Division Contest! Members include: graduate coach Clint Lee, and team members Sara Anna Chandler, Axel Harrell, Emma Grace McConnell, Sara Thomas, and Stephanie Youngblood. As a team, they were High Team Overall Contest, High Team Total Beef, High Team Beef Grading, High Team Lamb Judging, 2nd High Team Placings, 3rd High Team Pork Judging, 3rd High Team Beef Judging, and 4th High Team Questions. Emma Grace McConnell was the high individual in the contest, Sara Thomas was the 3rd high individual in the contest, Sara Anna Chandler was 10th high individual in the contest, and Axel Harrell was 8th high overall alternate.
I hope that you enjoy our newsletter. And, as always, if you have comments or concerns, you can reach me at ffluharty@uga.edu.
Sincerely,
Francis Fluharty
Animal and Dairy Science Department Head
Dawg Day of Giving
March 26, 2024
Mark your calendars for Dawg Day of Giving Tuesday, March 26th — give a gift of any amount and help us reach our goal!
Give to the Animal and Dairy Science Beef and Meat Research Fund which provides support for beef and meat research and teaching for undergraduate students, graduate students, and faculty in the department. This year’s donations are earmarked to complete the fencing at our newest teaching farm for undergraduate students, Down Under. Our goal is to use this property to create a student-run purebred Angus operation consisting of approximately 40 cow-calf pairs.