The dairy industry has long trumpeted the fact that milk builds healthy bones and teeth.
Turns out it could also help build a world-class dairy research facility at the University of Saskatchewan.
In an arrangement approved by the Saskatchewan dairy industry, the province’s 225 dairy farmers have agreed to donate a portion of their milk quota to the U of S in hopes it will spur construction of a new research barn on the university’s Saskatoon campus.
Under the agreement, each of the province’s dairy farmers will reduce their milk production quota by approximately 0.57 percent and transfer the use of that quota to the university.
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The donation, the equivalent of 49,000 kilograms of butterfat per year, is worth an estimated $4 million and will allow the university to increase its herd of 65 lactating cows to 100 animals, the size of an average dairy herd in the province.
The donation will also allow the university to sell its existing quota and use the proceeds – an estimated $1.7 million – to kick start construction and secure additional funding.
Dairy Farmers of Saskatchewan (DFS) has urged the U of S for years to replace its 37-year-old dairy barn and acquire new equipment that better reflects what would be found in a modern dairy.
The proposed new barn, which would cost $9 to $11 million, will contain computerized feeding stations, a robotic milker, state-of-the art climate control and ventilation systems and specialized flooring that reduces lameness and ensures better herd health.
DFS approached the university with a proposal to build a new facility in 2005. Members approved the quota donation scheme in late 2007.
The dairy farmers’ donation amounts to an average contribution of $17,700 per farm family.
For larger dairy operators, the individual donation could be $50,000 to $75,000.
Bernard Laarveld, a professor and dairy researcher with the university’s animal and poultry science department, said industry participation will be critical to the success of the proposed project.
“We’ve always maintained a close connection with the dairy sector and they know that we’ve been struggling with the fact that our existing research and teaching facility is basically obsolete,” Laarveld said.
“It was built in 1972. It’s a small herd and it simply doesn’t reflect any more the current industry standard in terms of technology or equipment or animal care. Clearly, we are ready for a cycle of reinvestment.”
Because the existing facility has struggled to stay abreast of industry advancements, dairy researchers at the U of S find it difficult to conduct cutting edge research that is relevant to the industry.
Laarveld said the new barn will facilitate more advanced dairy research in animal welfare, herd nutrition, feed development, animal genetics and reproduction technologies, mastitis and the adoption of new barn technologies and novel dairy management techniques.
It will also be used by the Western College of Veterinary Medicine and by researchers from the Vaccine and Infectious Disease Organization in the development of new vaccines.
The university’s College of Engineering will help design energy efficient heating and ventilations systems and odour containment features, as well as the incorporation of green technologies such as manure digesters and gasifiers that convert dairy waste into heating fuel, agricultural fertilizers and carbon dioxide for use in university greenhouses.
Laarveld said the project will also allow the university to improve student training and outreach and public education initiatives, an area that the province’s dairy farmers identified as a priority.
The new building will offer full visitor services with enclosed viewing galleries, interactive display monitors, classroom space and a series of overhead catwalks.
“The dairy industry is very concerned that the consumer has a very clear idea of how food is produced,” Laarveld said.
Jack Ford, a dairy farmer near Foam Lake, Sask., said the sizable contribution from the province’s dairy producers will make it easier for project proponents to secure funding from government and corporate sources.
More than 80 percent of DFS members voted in favour of the quota transfer plan.
“The dairy sectors in other provinces have approved checkoffs and so on but to my knowledge, no other province has done anything to the extent that we’re doing here,” said Ford, who serves as chair of the DFS research committee.
“If we had had 55 percent support from our members, then that might have been a cause for concern, but when you get more than 80 percent support, that gives you a pretty (solid mandate). We only have 2.8 percent of the national quota here in Saskatchewan, but we don’t consider ourselves followers. We consider ourselves leaders.”
The DFS donation will also be managed in a way that allows the university to access additional government funding for dairy research.
Laarveld said the university will rent the donated quota from DFS for $400,000 a year rather than take ownership of it. DFS will then return the money to the university as an annual industry contribution, which will allow the university to meet industry support requirements that are part of most research grant applications.
“It’s a complicated system but in effect, what will happen is that their donation … will allow us to go out and begin leveraging for provincial and federal research money,” Laarveld said.
An annual $400,000 donation from industry could easily be leveraged into an additional $1.2 million in research grant funding each year, he added.
The barn project has received university approval and an application for capital funding has been forwarded to the federal government’s Knowledge Infrastructure Program, a two-year $2 billion fund aimed at renewing infrastructure at Canada’s post secondary institutions.
A capital campaign is also underway seeking donations from companies that service the Canadian dairy industry.
“Because we are so advanced in our planning, if we get funding approval through the Knowledge Infrastructure Program, we could have a shovel in the ground by October or November,” Laarveld said.
