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Production Research: Past, Present, and Future: A Review

Department of Animal Science, North Carolina State University, Raleigh 27695-7621

Dairy production research was in its infancy when the Hatch Act was passed in 1887. This source of continuing research funding stimulated matching support from the Agricultural Experiment Stations to develop a broad-based, yet scientifically sound, national research effort. Major advances in genetics and breeding, nutrition and feeding, reproduction and lactation, and management have resulted in a dairy industry that has attained a high degree of specialization and efficiency. Future research will depend heavily on a multidisciplinary approach. Equipment and instrumentation will require even higher investments than in the past. Federal funding for agricultural research already has been targeted for longer range fundamental inquiries. Hence, state and other research funding will be necessary for research at the interface between basic findings and their demonstrated usefulness. A host of unanswered questions continues in all areas of current dairy production research. New research tools and the advances in molecular biology bring a fresh perspective to approach difficult problem areas in genetics, reproduction, nutrition, lactation, and management. Continuing increases in herd size will require heavy reliance on computer-assisted management tools in the future.