If Dick Battaglia had drawn a roadmap for transporting his Department of Animal and Veterinary Science at the University of Idaho from the past to the future, he couldn’t have planned a better route. The Nancy M. Cummings Research, Extension and Education Center is a major milestone in that journey.

Animal scientists and students will apply classroom learning and emerging techniques to animals at the Cummings center. Photo: © Pam Benham. All rights reserved.

“The mission of our department is to provide research, education, and extension programming that helps livestock and dairy producers across the state,” he explains. “Our department combines the best we’ve learned from the past with the realities of today to project as best we can what the needs will be in the future…the best of the past mixed with the best of the present to build the best future.”

On one end of the research spectrum is a new agricultural biotech facility at the UI campus in Moscow, to be dedicated this fall. It offers some of the best technological capabilities in the West. On the other end, the addition of a 925-acre working ranch near Salmon provides an opportunity to apply research in a real-world setting.

What the Cummings center will do for beef producers, Battaglia hopes the proposed Bi-State (Idaho/Washington) Dairy will do for the dairy industry. Together, they will complement laboratory research and classroom education to better prepare producers for changing industries.

This spring, the UI and Washington State University jointly proposed creation of a 1,000-cow dairy that will replicate the needs and challenges of a comparable commercial dairy. As programs for beef producers begin to emerge at the Cummings center, dairy producers no doubt will identify similar benefits that could be derived from a full-scale dairy herd and research center.

“It fits perfectly with our model,” Battaglia says of the proposed dairy that would be operated cooperatively by the two land-grant institutions. “In addition to having the excellent biotechnology laboratory, the addition of the ranch and a Bi-State Dairy will give us an excellent base for field research.”

It is a perfect match. Combined, they suggest that the product indeed is greater than the sum of its two parts…a compounding effect, he suggests. Development of the Bi-State Dairy will require federal funding, and in turn, strong support from Northwest dairy operators who will benefit most from its programs.

“In addition to having the excellent biotechnology laboratory, the addition of the ranch and a Bi-State Dairy will give us an excellent base for field research.”

Considering research that will occur at the new biotech facility, the Cummings center, and the proposed dairy, the college will be perfectly positioned to provide a full range of expertise “from conception to consumption,” Battaglia explains. Programs capitalize on the collective strengths of geneticists, nutritionists, reproductive physiologists, health specialists, and meat scientists.

Central to that spectrum of services, the Caine Veterinary Teaching Center in Caldwell focuses on animal health, ensuring that animals successfully make the transition from conception to consumption. Six of the 29 UI Animal and Veterinary Science (AVS) faculty are assigned to the center that will focus on the educational and research needs of veterinarians. It also provides the fourth year of study for Oregon State University and Washington State University students in large-animal veterinary science.

“We expect the Caine center to lead the herd health programming for both dairy and beef producers,” Battaglia says. He envisions the center utilizing both the Cummings Ranch and, if created, the Bi-State Dairy to implement its medical research and practices. Those three components will be as interdependent as the three-pointed mission of AVS—research, extension and education.
 

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